Rise of the Godking

After an uneventful night, Daneel awoke, not remembering when he had even gone to sleep.

Vaguely, he recalled downing mugs and mugs of spiced and chilled wine until his head had gone hazy. A sweet maid had escorted him to his room, and made the offer to warm his bed if he so wished…but in the state that he had been, without understanding what the hell she had been saying, he had thanked her but refused the offer, saying that he was warm enough for the both of them.

His face burned a bit as he checked the room one last time to make sure that he hadn't forgotten anything. He didn't have too many belongings; the small rucksack with his clothes was secure on his back, and his most important wealth, the crystals, were hidden on his waist. Still looking fondly at the last bed that he might sleep in for some time, he departed to find a merry elf and a thief with an empty face, and so, they set off on the journey with the doppelgänger who seemed to have more character than all of them put together.

The elf was clearly playing with the spell, tugging at the doppelgänger's face so that he laughed and talked casually, cracking jokes to which only the elf laughed. Daneel was amused by what he was doing, but he still felt too much chagrin due to what happened last night to act freely around Alex.

He had pondered on it quite a bit in the morning, too. When he had done so, he had realized that most of the interactions back on Angaria had not involved or needed too much emotional intelligence, as those he had met had all been more or less mature in their own ways. Even if that was not the case, they had gone about growing into themselves by themselves, so all he had done was stay along for the ride.

Here, though, in a way, there were more complex people than he had met in all his life. Toward the end of his journey on Angaria, he had reflected about how he, himself, hadn't grown emotionally at all throughout his journey…and clearly, he was already getting opportunities to learn and truly become a monarch not just in spirit, but in his heart, too.

Right now, he knew that he should apologise, but he also wondered whether it was wise to rake it up again. Alex was still affected by it, of course; he looked straight ahead, as if he was working alone, and the only acknowledgement he had given Daneel was a single glance that hadn't contained any information whatsoever.

As he watched the man, though, a faint hint of pride stirred in Daneel that couldn't really be left behind after being inculcated for all the years he had spent being a king and a ruler, revered by the people and always trusted to do the right thing. Alex was the one who had come forward and almost begged to go along with him, so wasn't he in the right to shout at the man because he had seemed like he had been about to run?

'Ah, forget it! I'll stop thinking about it, for now, as all I'm doing is running in circles, round and round and round with no conclusion. I think I already know what I should do; I just don't see it yet for what it is. I'll find it, in time, and I'll know whether to apologise or do something else. Until then… I have no problem with how we are now.'

And so, it was in this way that they reached the teleportation matrix, then traveled to the same island they had gone to before. They made their journey silently, the elf finally having let go of the fourth man.

For the most part, the elf kept himself, either humming under his breath or walking with his eyes closed. When he was doing the latter, Daneel always kept expecting to see him over a rock or something else on the way, but the elf's feet always seemed to know where to go even if he wasn't looking.

Soon, they crossed the next island and three more without any incident. All four were almost exactly like Graiton. Almost forgetting what had happened between them, Daneel began to ask about the status of each island, but stopped himself when Alex grunted and kept moving even though he had heard a hint of Daneel's question.

With a grimace, Daneel shit his mouth. He was also tempted to ask the elf for more knowledge, but he had already found out a lot, and he didn't want to come off as someone nosy. Right now, he viewed the elf as a precious vault that he had to manipulate with the utmost caution if he wanted to keep getting information that was incredibly valuable, such as the existence of the Will of the realm. Despite his apparent youth, the elf was learned in many things, so though Daneel didn't know exactly how he was going to do it, he believed that this journey was not the right time, yet, to probe about things that would expose more of himself to the ancient being.

In the few hours that they kept walking, though, he fought with this decision. He wanted to ask about magic, about the Mainland, or even about the purpose behind the elf being on Athwarf. All of these questions finally left his mind…when they entered an island ten hops is away from the 'haven', and found themselves in a lush, green wonderland where trees and plants and flowers stretched out as far as the eye could see.

A paved road was beneath them, which they walked on for a few more moments in silence until Alex decided to give an answer in a grudging tone.

"This is one of the attractions of the islands. If someone is thinking about the fact that it is just ten teleportations away from the Haven which I said was remote, then all I have to say is that they are as ignorant as they come. Not everyone has a store of crystals they can use to teleport so quickly. Ordinarily, people who do not want to spend crystals wait for a day to half a day on each island. At a set time, the teleportation crystals of each island are activated so that such travellers can make their way across, and for those taking this route, actively flipping between destinations is also not possible. Hence, the actual time of journey between Athwarf and this place is a fortnight. We got here in a few hours at the expense of an entire processed crystal…which is a fortune to most. Anyway, this place has a zoo with exotic creatures, all harmless but pleasing to the eye. If anyone wants to stay, they can go right on the fork that is coming up…"

The way he spoke to the air made Daneel bristle, but he controlled himself and just absorbed the information. At the fork, he plunged ahead and ignored the road that led to the zoo; for sightseeing, he could come back later as right now, the priority was to get to the beggar king.

A couple more teleportations made in silence brought them to a different attraction. At the very entrance, they were met with four men and women dressed in transparent clothes, laughing and giggling between themselves as they observed everyone coming through the matrix.

Just like the one filled with greenery, this one seemed to have a lot of footfall. Many who arrived directly went to either a man or a woman and were escorted away with their private parts being tugged or played with, and from that, it was obvious what this place was.

Alex opened his mouth to give an explanation, but Daneel silenced him with a look. They went past it quickly, with the elf staring at many people who engaged in lewd actions out in public, and for quite some time after they left it, Daneel's face burned when he remembered just how shamelessly everyone had been indulging in their bodily desires without a care as to who might be watching. Even beds had been laid out near the path, as if meant to tempt passers-by to come along and join, and on each of them, the way the men and woman had contorted into positions had been…

"The beggar king's city is next. If you know what's good for you, stay silent. We can decide on our course of action after we find a place to stay here."

When Alex spoke standing in front of a teleportation matrix a few islands away from the lewd one, Daneel blushed harder and nodded. Taking a deep breath, he went forward last…and as he stepped on their destination, finally, what lay there took his breath away, and made him gawk like a villager who had just travelled to a city that was grander than anything he had imagined in his wildest dreams.