*****
Olearia Of The Dreaming Paradox has entered.
Olearia is looking for interesting things.
Olearia had found the existence of the Moonier Empire.
Olearia is looking for someone to support.
Olearia is now replaying the scenes of the Moonier Empire.
Olearia had chosen Carlos as Olearia's Mask.
*****
And then, the world blinked.
Carlos awoke in a bed of the silence room filled with only darkness and a light coming through from the only one window that had been opened and beneath a sky too blue to be real, the floor is too clean to feel safe, his pain disappeared, his chest unscarred,his body shrunk and his hands which wore the sword as his companion, the hands which was rough and hard, they become small. His reflection in the nearby mirror in front of his bed showed the face he hadn't seen for a long time, the face that had not felt anything and the body of a boy who through puberty just now is right in front him--- 15 year old of body, he freckled, wide-eyed, innocent yet laced with memory.
Carlos looked around the room as if he had seen a ghost. And the thing is the ghost might be him.
It is a folded ensemble of shadow and fire. The coat was black velvet, stitched with fine silver thread that shimmered like a forest in Isrendal ice mountain, the buttons with golden colour carved with the crest of the royals—an obsidian lion encircled by silver flames. The high collar stood proudly, stiff with starched defiance, and the silver embroidery swept across the chest in a pattern of roaring frames, dancing with regal defiance. Draped beneath it was a heavy crimson cloak, the color of blood and fire, its inner lining quilted with soft silk while on the outside edge it was with animal furs.
Carlos remembers this outfit very well. It was the outfit that he wore for his brother Erevan's 16th birthday and walked with him as the king's duke and personal knight. His brother had put so much effort for him and Erevan didn't want to make a mistake on his birthday. So, his brother designed himself for Carlos and let the tailor create this perfect piece. He was able to wear it and escort his brother through the hall but unfortunately the assassins came and his outfit that his brother had designed by taking a lot of time, was ruined. And Erevan was very sad about that.
The room was silent, but Carlos' mind screamed.
He closed his eyes waiting to wake up in front of hell and heaven doors like those stories his brother had told him about. Carlos always thought those stories were bullshit. Now, he is waiting for that bullshit to come. He waited….he waited… and he waited.
And…..nothing happened.
Carlos' face filled with anger. Now he is pissed. Was it a joke? There is no way a normal human like him can turn back in time. But for the one with the contract of the god, it might, but even so it would still be hard. And the god won't use those powers on them.
And why he, Carlos of all, is now turning back time. He doesn't even have a god that supports him.
"There must be someone behind it"
"You are right, there is someone" the voice echoed in the room as if Carlos' room had now become a cave. The voices are coming from all directions. Carlos carefully listens to the voice of the mysterious man or woman he doesn't know. At first the voice is of the male but as it speaks the whole sentence after the first, it sounds like a woman.
"Who are you?" Carlos asked directly as he had no strength to feel pissed again.
"Me, Oh…"
"I am a Olearia"
"A…..What?"
"A Olearia…" The mysterious man or woman speaks again, and of course Carlos hears every single word. But that doesn't mean he knew what they were saying. Or has strength to ask them. He just woke up from his death, he is already too tired to do all of this again. If he was really in the past then he would just kidnap his brother and run away whether his brother likes it or not. So, yes Carlos is on the verge of slamming his brother's door and kidnap him. He is stopping himself from doing it by thinking of his brother's confused and afraid face. So, no thank you. If the mysterious man or woman wants to explain, he better explain it, Carlos is not asking at all.
"A god.."
"....."
"A god that supports and helps you."
"...."
"Like your past gods?"
"Hmm….No, i don't have supporting gods in the past, and even if someone want to become my god, I… they still need to make contract"
"That is true, you have studied hard. But there is one condition, it applies only if they are normal gods."
"What?" Carlos shockingly said it aloud with a voice he doesn't know he has done to other people than his brother.
/Normal gods, what do they mean by that? By what they were saying, there are many gods more popular than this world,s god?/ Carlos became more stressed and chill running through his veins. He has to stop this feeling.
/Think about your brother, Carlos./ Carlos thinks to himself.
/ It will be okay, your brother is still alive. We can get out of this place anytime. Relax Carlos. Relax./ Minute by minute Carlos becomes relaxed. His panic falling second by second, thanks the gods!.. I mean thanks the Erevan!
As he was calming down, the god that had been silent as if waiting for him to start speaking again.
"Your panic has gone, I see."
"Did the information I give too much for you?"
"As if you can hear my thoughts." Carlos struck back with his voice. But the gods truly know that just by hearing Carlos' voice. It is shaking.
"If I can see you, then I can definitely hear you…Even if I can't, your voice is proof that you had a panic."
"You are intruding on my personal space."
"Oh, don't worry. I also don't want to hear you rumbling and seeking your brother to sooth panic. After all, I wanna feel thrown up if I find something disgusting like those sisters and their beloved brothers. But I should also thank the gods…I mean Myself that you don't have feelings for your brother like those women."
"We are in a temporary contract, Dear. Even if I don't want to, I can't."
'If we are permanent, I won't even listen to your thoughts nor even your voice."
" I would just let the screen with you and subtitles on it."
"Subtitles. What the fuck are you talking? Do not speak a language I can't understand."
"Language child. You are chewing more than you can talk."
"Now let's get down to business, this is getting boring. Okay?"
Carlos frowns but it doesn't show on his face. If the gods can't hear his voice or feel his emotions, Carlos was sure that the god won't realize. And then Carlos lies down on his bed as if he doesn't care anymore.
"Fine…"
"Good. Allow us to introduce ourselves."
"Hah…Us?"
"We are us, we are everything…Hmm, as long as we dream we can be everything"
"We are Olearia Of The Dreaming Paradox"
"The God of Dreams"
"And, we had chosen you as our mask!" and the clapping sound appears and goes quiet when nobody speaks.
"Mask? And what was with the clapping?" Carlos asked with a bit of inpatient showing across his face yet he managed to control his voice. He is not a fool. The time when that god says normal gods, Carlos had known, the one he is speaking is one of the outer gods of another universe. And that god has taken an interest in him. That means that his reborning or returning back in time was the god's. So, Carlos should care about what he will say. After all he didn't watch the god mad and ruin his room along with the outfit beside him. Hell no, he is not going to ruin the outfit again.
"Mask is our way of describing you as ours"
"Didn't every god have that?"
"No, they don't"
"They don't have names differently or describing as theirs, they only call theirs as toys"
"Andddd.."the voice drawled beside him. If the god is in front of him, Carlos was sure he would see a playful face on the gods or maybe curiosity. The god said again" How do you know?"
The room fell silent again as the only voice they could hear was the soft rustle of wind through the window curtains and the lonely song of the birds on the trees as if they wanted to fix the silence. After not talking for a while and for a moment silence had become unbearable for Carlos. It felt like a conversation with his brother. As the god didn't seem to talk unless he answers, so as a very direct man, Carlos answers—
"Brother…"
The silence stretched, long and fragile, like a thread pulled too tight and the wind still blowing through the wind and Carlos hairs which were messy since awoken had fallen completely on his right eyes.
"Ah…" That murmur makes Carlos smile. His brother is right, a voice can really betray you. Even if Carlos can't see the god, he knows what the god is feeling just by listening to their voice. Now the god is feeling uneasy as if the god just stepped onto the pop or saw the disgusting act between a brother and sister. /Wait. Hang on a second. That god did say something like I being in love with my brother right,..... that dumb god./
Carlos frowned again, but this time it was also shown on his face. And as entirely for the gods that have not been listening to Carlos thoughts but only trying to read Carlos' face. The god can feel the thunder strike him.
" Right, your brother is some god"s mask too." The god said with a shaking voice.
"If we were to believe, your brother didn't get treated… right?"
Carlos sighs. This god knows too much as expected of a stronger being, it knows everything. Still Carlos can't let go of the act between brothers the gods described. What do you mean he is falling in love with his brother. Who would fall in love with their own biological brother, even if it is adopted? That doesn't make it good. Where does that god find something like that?
"Yes, my brother god is a pain in his head" Carlos said, his voice wavering and with anger as he spoke. Damn his brother is his pain in ass too. He had only thought for a while but that can make his calm voice shuttered.
/Carlos just forgot about those thoughts/ Carlos thought to himself.
" Sorry…Let not talk about the past"
"You have already passed through too much."
"Let talk about the contract between us"
"Contract?"
"I thought you were already become my supporter"
"No, no matter how strong I am, I can't break the contract between the gods and your Queen Lilian. And where is your focus child? I have already said that I am your temporary, do you want me to replay the full conversation on a screen?" the god said it with a laughing voice.
"And I respect your queen, Lilian. She is such a great child."
"So, you need to contact me to be my personal butler, right?"
" Yes, I need to… wait. Did you just say your personal butler, how dare you. Do you know…ho…y..wi…"
The gods were rumbling again. But Carlso he can't hear anything at all. He was thinking … he was thinking about someone named Lilian. Lilian Moonier, the first queen and the founder of this Moonier empire. He closed his eyes gently, falling into the dream as one can hear a history of a forbidden kingdom that his brother had always read before going to bed.
*****
Eons ago, when the world was still young and the divine ruled upon our universe
Humans are not really kind nor care for each other. They are the worst creations ever to exist on the earth for their emotions and feelings. Or so the humans think.
But what they don't know is that there are many gods that love humans and their emotions.They like to watch humans killing each other for their hatred, greed and selfishness .For them, it is such a great show.
But even so there are still many gods that care about humans because humans are the teachers who make them feel emotions that they don't know exist. Even so, that doesn't mean that they will help humans. They would be too bored to help. They might be able to learn things they don't know from humans. Even so, in the end they are still gods. They can't fully understand humans nor want to help them. They would have only wanted to watch humans suffer so that they would understand.
Thousands of immortals, hundreds gods per one universe, yet there is only one who was able to bring peace upon our world. And, that one person is not even a god, it is an angel. The most beautiful and perfect being that can compare to the gods.
Her name is Lilian Moonier, the founder of the Moon Empire.
As she is an angel created by this universe's gods with so much love and care, Her beauty rivals that of a goddess, an ethereal radiance that commands admiration and awe.Her eyes are like celestial jades, hold the mysteries of the universe, reflecting both wisdom and warmth. The more you look into her eyes, you can feel the depth of the ocean suffocating. Her hair which is silk with a little of ocean blue cascades like a waterfall from moonlight, framing a face sculpted with the delicate determination, precision of divine artistry. Her lips, a gentle breath of roses in full bloom, carry the power to enchant and unconscious with a small gentle smile. Amaryllis flowers through her every movement, a flawless dance representing her pride, determination and radiant beauty. She is the living statement of the divine created by the universe.
She rose against the heavens, defying the law of the universe, the gods and her creator for the sake of weak, fragile, fleeting mortals. With the nature of earth and soil flowing through her vein and the gentleness of stream in her voice, she silenced their war with the gentle stream turning into merciless and ruthlessness of the storm in the deepest sea, craved a new world for humanity and bestowed them with divine gifts. But in the end,the price of rebelling had to be paid. The radiance of a goddess stripped away, her wings ripped apart by the merciless fellow gods of hers, and in their place, the beautiful and spotless feathers of a fallen angel had been displayed as the sample of rebellion. Yet, her braveness and determination didn't end even after her being discarded from the divine and turned into a fragile human, she led her followers and built an empire for the mortals to live without being afraid all the time. She becomes a ruthless, merciless killer for the sake of her empire. There is no gentleness in her beautiful divine appearness, there is only the true colour of only her being truly mortal. There is no the kindest angle in the world. And for the gods, she is the true child of Lucifer, a rebellious child. But only the opposite one.
There is only a mortal regarded as QUEEN LILIAN of The Moon Empire.
And she who promised to her subjects, her creator, that this empire will become the greatest achievement of her entire life.Thus, true to her words, beneath the watchful gaze of the eternal moon and the gods, the empire rose stone by stone, oath by oath, forged in the quiet glow of silver light and the unyielding will of the queen who came from the world beyond the stars. The believer of the gods had turned back from them and become the royal subjects of the queen. Her empire had become the greatest threat to the gods and at the same time it had become the greatest story.
*****
"CRASH!" Carlos shot up from his dream, heart beating so fast. His hand flew to the knife under his pillow. Eyes wide, breath held, there is nothing.
"Kid…kid. Snap out of it, what are you trying to find?" the god voice echoes with worries, only then did Carlos come back to himself.
Right, no battlefield.
No war.
And no blood.
Only his room and him reaching for the sword, right he didn't have his sword under his bed when he was…15.
The crack sound…it was,
Just a glass pot, fallen from the shelf. That was the sound. That is true, it was already getting close little by little to the edge because of the god's voice. And it was already edge when Carlos fell asleep.
"Sorry. What will you saying." It is not that Carlos was the one following the war, but it is the war that follows him.
The god didn't say anything. Yet Carlos can feel he is being watched silently as if someone is judging him.
"If you are not going to…"
"I still need to get you to choose me to become fully your god…"
"Before making a choice, I want you to hear a story of why I respect your queen."
*****
Long long ago, most of the gods were not born divine. They walked through the world as mortals–fragile, flawed and broken beings. Some were warriors that protected everything they loved, others were kings that united the mortals into one, or they were heroes in other people's preservatives, some lovers or maybe just a reader. Through great trials, sacrifice, sufferings and deeds that echoed beyond the world and the universe and even reached the true divines–beings who stay in the shadow as the brightest stars. And a few rare mortals transcended the limits of their mortality.
They transcended into gods that guard the world.
In becoming gods, they were raised to the level of the true divine–beings that shaped the stars, who changed fate as they wanted it, and wore times that stopped them in every step and everything like a crown. But for something, a sacrifice has to be made. And the sacrifice of the divine was memory. When a mortal crosses the line between the mortal and god , all that they had owned– their names, their fears, their loved ones, their dreams, their fates–vanished like smoke in a thin air. What remains is only godhood: powerful, eternal, faces and foreign with the weight of mortality. They no longer feel their mortal lives– they only remember them as stories that they had walked. After all, the universe has given them new names. They are not the people they used to be. And their lives, they have become the stories that they don't remember but still have them as powers. The gods get their powers from stories, which particularly the whole lives, unlike true divine beings. The more compelling the stories are, the stronger they are. It didn't have to be their stories, it just needed to be stories.
For a human, a life is everything. A singular decision curved through time and space. The day a human was born, it had made a decision. But for gods, each human life is a tale to be told, a tale to be devoured, replayed, twisted, or forgotten. Sometimes they speak of their pasts as stories, not knowing who they once were in this story. They laugh, they mourn for the protagonist of the story not knowing they are that same person they are laughing at. They shaped stories anew, not realizing they were crafting remains of their long-lost souls. And so the gods watch, and guide , and toy with fate–not out of pity but curiosity. For them, eternity is made tolerable by stories that are not theirs. And trying to shape other stories like they did it to themselves without realizing. But for mortals, their stories are their best shot for eternity.
So, the gods make a decision. They will keep this empire alive. And watch this empire's story to his full potential. And after they finished enjoying the story, they will discard it like every other story. For that reason, instead of declaring a war or destroying the whole world, they made a contract with the queen Lilian. Queen Lilian is not an idiot. She may be a mortal right now but she had lived the gods for the rest of her life and served them. There is no way the gods would want to make a contract with mortals, especially her.
They had always regarded themselves as higher beings. The contract is that they will support and won't touch any innocent people of this empire. That kind of part is great but the problem is the other half. The gods will choose one mortal per god to control and become a puppet to them.It sounds good but it is not good at all. It is another way to say that the chosen people had to sacrifice. And the queen knew it. She knows too well that she can't refuse. The gods won't make any interaction with mortals unless they want something far greater than what they can offer.
" if denial can't be in the list of mine, then let the heavens be the bearer of witness as i rise, i shall embrace their gift and wield it with the full potential of my empire"
As the leader and ruler of the empire, the queen has a better idea. Something that will benefit her the most and also make the gods interested.
Let's make this more interesting. You, higher beings will have the choice to choose whoever you want, but the choice to accept will be for the mortals. As even in the higher beings, there are more powerful ones than the others. Just like that we, mortals have greater values than you all think. For example, the thing you called a story is our own life. So, the greatest story should be for a more powerful one, don't you think?
And that had really made the gods really interested. Even to outer gods. Yes, the queen didn't think that that would make the outer gods join. She had only wanted this world's gods to look.
Great lords, you all can watch mortals' lives until they turn 16 years old and decide if they can be a success or a failure. After that you can be the sponsor if you like. If they accept, they are yours and we won't take part in their lives. You can give them blessings, weapons or even choices. You can give them everything you want. They will be yours to control, kill or even create a story for you all to enjoy. Live or die. Suffering or glory, it is your choice. Their stories shall be yours after they die no matter what. They are yours after all. The day they accept, they are not this empire's people. They are players…players for gods.
Of course, this world's gods are already thrilled about this. They don't really care about other things. They only care about their own enjoyment. That is how the queen had survived between those blood-thirsty gods while also being their favourites even though she still helped mortals.
But the outer gods, they are different beings. They are not easy to fool like those stupid gods. They are mysterious. The queen had never been in the eyes of those gods even as a perfect being. Still the queen knows that the outer gods are interested in this contract. If they don't, they won't be listening at all. They won't even look at this way unless they are curious. And the queen knows that she had to make those gods to join in this event. It will be a real opportunity, if one of her people gets an outer god's attention, that means that her people will be unstoppable until they die. The outer gods are not like other gods and let alone their mortals die only because they are bored. They will make every single story piece by piece into a perfect story only to store in their collections, they are always like that. They don't want power, even if they do they will make the story perfect so that the power would rise into another level. And the queen will make sure one of those gods chose from her people. Even if she had to be their puppets and also her entire bloodline.
And my entire bloodline, the royal family will choose one god per ruler and serve the gods. They will have no choice but to choose. And their stories will be for the one they chose as sponsor. I will give up my entire bloodline freedom and their lives for the contract to be valid. And the only thing i wanted is that you can't touch this empire, not with the one you supported nor yourself. You can't touch this empire's people at all.
You will have to protect this empire from falling from everything and anything.
The gods may think that that contract carries many benefits for them. But they are wrong. The queen is making sacrifices for the bigger reason. This empire was built by a fallen angel. And it had never been regarded as a new story, no it was never meant to rise, this empire was never meant to make history. The day the empire had been raised, the queen had betrayed the fate that wrote this world's story. The queen had betrayed the other angels, her sisters.
That means that fate will do everything to make the empire fall. Of course the queen had known for a long time. She had been waiting for the gods to make a step so that she could use it for her benefit. The gods are fools. They don't care anything about fate nor the universe rules. But the outer gods know, but they are too bored to care. So, the queen knows that they won't interfere. And she got everything in control. Yes, she made sacrifices but it was for the good. It was either this or death. Even if nobody chooses the gods as their sponsor, her bloodline will be the last defense. As long as her bloodline still has gods as their sponsor, fate cannot do anything to her empire. She just hoped that her bloodline would forgive her. Even if they don't, there is nothing they can do. The contract is already set in stone.
As the contract lasted to this day, the empire had been at peace for a long time. Of course, there are people that think that being chosen by a god is a blessing. Only those who really had been chosen will know that it is a curse. That doesn't matter whether you choose or refuse. Once you get the attention of the gods, you lose everything. Not if you choose gods that prefer normal stories instead of gods that led you straight to death. And the royal family had been under that contract for a long time without being able to do anything. They don't have a choice no matter what. The day you are born with the blood of a royal, the gods are already looking at your future and deciding whether a monster or an angel should be born. Even though queen Lilian had seen this coming, yet she never regretted her choice. And the royal family has no choice but to wait for someone who could break this contract. But even they know that no one would do that for them and let the world fall to chaos. Yet they can only wait.
When shadows were no longer and the endless nights had gone, the Queen's love for mortals is still present to this day as long as the memories are still alive. As long as the future kings guard the throne until the world ends, our true queen will return to this world a newly sole person and change the puppet world.
*****
"So, this is a real story on how these masks started."
"Yes."
"What a selfish queen."
"Oh…why did you say that?"
"Why.. are you gonna kill me because of that."
"Hahaha…no, just curious why you say that."
".....I don't think sacrificing your family for strangers is selfish. It feels like she just wants to be called a saint."
"I see, if it was you, what would you do?"
"Hmm.. What a strange thing to ask. I would never hurt my family."
"That is true. But you are forgetting something. For you, your brother is your family, right? But for her, she had two families. Her family that she had made with her own blood and the other family is the one who had been staying and fighting side by side the whole time."
"Her family is the whole empire. That is why she chose to sacrifice the royal family. Because she couldn't protect all of her family after all, she needs to make a choice, right?"
"At first I didn't like the way she thought. But even so for someone like her who got disowned by her family, this empire is her family. And I respect her for accepting the hate from her own royal family, after all it is her fault. And I like her about that, and Carlos, she became the saint of this kingdom. She saved the world. As a price, she got her one and only son's hate, Elion