Inferno Ascended

Glax had just entered his old room, and was taking a close look at the objects of his old life before Matt took charge. A few parchments neatly stacked on a shelf, the sporting equipment expected for someone of his age and social status, and a few guns. But none of that said much about Glax, except for the mural behind his bed.

Valya.

There was a female figure leaning over the stars, watching the scene below. The throne room Glax saw in his vision was depicted in detail.

And he saw the same golden android beside King Kaine, in the middle of the scene. The difference is that King Kaine was an adult, not a child.

Glax sighed, disturbed by this discovery, as his little sister stormed into the room without knocking on the door.

"GLAX!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHY DO YOU WANT TO RUIN MY LIFE?! Why do you want everything for yourself?! I thought you liked me!" Lais' blue eyes sparkled with anger, while she had both fists on her hips, demanding an explanation.

All this because he was vehement against a marriage of two teenagers!

"You don't understand this now, but in the future you will thank me!" 

"WHAT FUTURE?! YOU ARE RUINING MY FUTURE! When could I get the chance to marry the next Archigeos? Me, a Valosian girl?!"

"First, you are only 14! Second, Lady Megara, not Alexandre, will be the next Archigeos, and that won't even happen soon. You are a Damastios because of your mother. There are many possibilities for your future! Why don't you study to be a diplomat, or something useful and cool? You can make your own name, and you don't have to be a teenage housewife!"

"And getting married isn't useful?! Yes, it is! I don't want to study! I don't want to be in this backwater for the rest of my life! I also want to be an important krios lady. I also want to live in a beautiful palace in the capital. Nobody of note shows up here! And when it does, it's Lord Kroton Alexandre of Echelion, a Prince among the Echelians! My brother is his best friend, but he doesn't want to let me get married!!! I'll kill myself! No, worse! I'm going to the temple to devote myself to an Exalted of Armorion!!!" She threw herself dramatically on her brother's bed, in a tantrum of low artistic quality.

"Whoa, wait. What an offensive girl." Glax crossed his arms. All he needed was a spoiled bitchy little sister as crazy as the dryad Aiops.

He left the room, not wanting to stimulate her tantrum nor keep discussing. He didn't intend to change his mind. After all, even though it was customary and Lais was ready for marriage according to clan customs, Alexander was too young to marry by the same standards.

"MASTER! Don't you like me?! Am I not good enough? Huh?!" Alexander paired to his side as soon as he appeared in the courtyard. Glax quickened his pace, but Alexandre sped up and showed the items in his shoulder bag:

"Does she like flowers? I got flowers. Or does she prefer sweets? I got candy too."

"Ugh! My head! You didn't even talk to each other! You too exchanged half a dozen words, and then fell silent through all dinner like two dummies!"

"I didn't want to say anything stupid! What if she doesn't like me?" Alexandre confessed his fears. "Master, please teach me your methods! You win the best women!"

"Uh?! You know the only thing I do is… do nothing."

"Impossible! All women are crazy about you! And some guys too! Tell me your secret, Master!"

Glax rubbed his face under his mask impatiently.

"Alekos, what can I tell you? Except... Take it easy? Not everything is what it seems. Getting to know a person well is the key to a good relationship."

"You've already said you regretted not having enjoyed the little time you had with my cousin. She died and now you regret that you put things off. But you know what? I don't know if everything you're doing would make up for the time you could have enjoyed with her, and you didn't, for this or that reason!" Alekos burst out.

"Okay, your words are wise. When applied to me. But not when applied to yourself. I'm being a friend by asking you not to run the cart before the horse."

Alekos pursed his lips but said nothing as he saw Adrastos was coming towards them. He greeted his prospective future father-in-law with the best imitation of maturity he could, and asked permission to go talk to Lais.

Adrastos watched as the boy walked away, and called Glax to talk privately.

"I'm intrigued by your reaction against a commitment to the Archigeos' son. But we can talk about that later. I want to know if you made it to the Hall of Bones like you wanted." Adrastos spoke as soon as they entered his father's room, a place private enough. The house was crammed with guests. 

"No, I couldn't. Things got out of hand and,... Didn't you notice anything strange about me?" He asked.

His father placed a hand on his chin and examined him. "You have tanned skin. It must have been while you were in the south…"

"Oh, I guess I know who stimulated my joking side…" he grinned at his father's joke. "You know more about my life than I do, Dad. I don't know if you told me about who I really am before I left here on a suicide mission. But the point is, I forgot everything. Back in Armorion, something happened, and I even forgot my own name. I spent time thinking about being someone else. But I need to know who I am."

The knowing little smile on his father's face faded as he spoke. Glax was being sincere. He had nothing to lose. If he couldn't trust the man who raised him so diligently, then who could he trust?

"Please don't be evasive." He insisted faced with Adrastos' silence. "Lord Demophon believes me to be the son of Emperor Achmeron. I guess it explains why someone wrote this on my face." he placed his hand over the mask. "I think I knew who it was. But like I said, I forgot everything I knew about myself." Glax took the two watches that were under his tunic, attached to the bandolier.

His father's eyes flicked to the globe.

"You found one of them!"

"I'm glad we're speaking the same language, Dad. This one was with a Rhytosian named Master Arsaces. I didn't have a chance to meet him, but his ward gave me away. I don't know exactly what I wanted to find out in the account of the Argos II journey that is stored in the Hall of Bones. I hope you can tell me."

Adrastos nodded, with a tired sigh. "I had noticed that you were acting weird, as if you don't know your own home. You left here saying goodbye affectionately to your sister and promising that you would find a good husband for her. And now you are like a cat and a dog. But I can repeat to you everything I know."

"Start by saying how I got that damn scar. Please."

"Son… your stepmother did it. She never liked you, and through my carelessness she discovered things she shouldn't. She was jealous of your mother, mostly. Even if Kalanthe was dead. I tried my best to protect him, but when the Emperor suffered the attack, and became a recluse, I couldn't get in touch with him anymore. In fact, I figured it was better not to look for him. That's when your stepmother ended up discovering part of the truth. She managed to go too far without my being able to stop her. Getting thugs to ambush you in the forest and leave you to die with this mark on your face. Only when I found out I was able to do something. She was very shocked when you returned alive from the forest, and believed it was a punishment from the gods. She confessed her wickedness out of fear of divine punishment. So I killed her on the spot."

"Does everyone here know who I am?"

"Everyone knows you are my son and Kalanthe's, Glax. Everyone knows you were a beautiful boy who attracted the wrong attention of the gods. Our marriage already had the disapproval of the gods from the start. If they suspect something else, no one speaks. Valosians are not gossips."

"This clock… The information I had is that each of those chosen to travel to Valya took one of them. Each of them contains a spell, doesn't it?"

"I…I really don't know, Glax. Is that what you found out?"

Glax nodded. "Yea. I found out that Chronos' Disk affects me in one way and Hesper's Globe in another. I also think I found out something about me, Dad. But you need to tell me the truth. I'm sure you know it all.

What am I? Am I really human?"