Advent of the Three Calamities

For some reason, I wasn’t even surprised by the sudden development.

Considering his name, I had more or less foreguessed that the governor’s powers were related to dreams. What I didn’t expect was the effectiveness of his power. I didn’t know when or where, but he had somehow managed to make me fall into a state of sleep to call me to his ’dream world’.

...Or at least, that was what I presumed this place to be.

’No, judging from how things are, this probably is really how the office is.’

"Well? Are you not going to say anything...?"

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I looked at the Governor and calmly nodded my head before sitting down comfortably on one of the chairs positioned before the desk.

’With my current status, I’m not a nobody. There’s only a few people who would dare provoke Atlas.’

In some sense, I felt secure knowing that.

...And at the same time, I also understood that his name was the reason why the Governor even bothered to talk to me in the first place.

"I was just a little surprised by the abruptness of the situation. Couldn’t you have directly asked to meet me through a normal means?"

I suddenly narrowed my eyes.

"Or is this some sort of display of power of yours?"

"....."

It grew quiet following my weirds as tensions suddenly seemed to rise.

As I stared at the Governor’s face—clean-shaven, with neatly combed blonde hair—my gaze was irresistibly drawn to his eyes. They swirled in a strange, hypnotic pattern as if threatening to pull me into their depths at any moment.

My heart secretly pounded at the sight of them as I pulled my eyes away and focused on his clothes—a simple, yet boring brown suit.

"Looks like you saw right through me."

Rather than being offended by my words, or showing hints of displeasure, the governor smiled happily as he pressed his hand against the table.

"I like sharp people like you. It makes explaining things a lot easier."

Pressing his palms against the desk, he stood up and leaned closer in my direction.

"Yes, that was a display of power. I wanted you to understand something simple."

"Which is...?"

I suddenly tensed, feeling his swirling gaze trying to suck me even deeper than before.

"....It doesn’t matter where you are in the Citadel. Wherever you are, I can find you and directly incapacitate you."

Snap!

I heard a snapping sound and a small window appeared in front of my eyes. In there, I saw my own body lying down in the middle of a familiar alleyway.

"That is..."

"I see everything."

Snap!

He snapped again and several more windows appeared, each displaying different people, all of which were going about their daily things. From eating, sleeping, toilet, and everything one could possibly imagine.

"I hear everything."

Snap!

The windows began to emit sound, each one louder than the last, until the entire room was engulfed in a discord so intense it made me flinch.

"....And I control everything."

Snap!

All the people shown within the windows collapsed to the ground, their heads striking the floor with a sickening thud.

What followed was a tense and stifling silence as the windows faded out of my sight.

Even as the windows disappeared from view, the scene lingered, the images replaying endlessly in my mind, refusing to let go. Did he just kill a bunch of people without any regard? What sort of—

"Don’t judge me too hastily."

Pulling himself away from me, Governor Dreamist turned around and faced the large window that overlooked the entire city from above. Crossing his hands behind his back, he began to speak.

"Loraine Jackson, Panel 52. Guilty of theft."

A few windows popped up once more, displaying a woman with short black hair and a black hoodie going around certain places and secretly pocketing certain items.

"...Sentenced to three months of slumber."

A new window popped up after that.

"Reynolds Abraham, Panel 27. Guilty of Second Degree Murder."

It displayed a tall and robust man with a bald head, striking down another lankier one in the head, sending them falling against the ground.

"...Sentenced to nine years of slumber."

One by one, new windows materialized, each displaying a different crime followed swiftly by its punishment.

I listened as the Governor’s cold, detached voice filled the room, indifferently proclaiming the fates of those who had committed these acts. His voice was so cold that it almost made my skin crawl from where I sat, but I forcefully kept my expression firm and tried my best to keep myself composed.

This went on for a while before he finally turned his head again and our gazes met.

"Every person I showed you was guilty," the Governor stated, his even. "I don’t just ’kill’ people on a whim, even though I possess the power to do so. Instead, I send them into a deep slumber—a stasis that lasts precisely as long as their sentence demands."

"...And this is what you wanted to show me?"

I clutched onto both sides of the chair.

"Did you want to show me what would happen to me if I were to commit such acts?"

"You..?"

Blinking his eyes, the Governor almost looked confused for a second.

Soon, however, he seemed to have understood the situation and laughed. His laugh was dry, almost unfeeling, and it only made the tension within my heart rise.

This persisted for a few seconds before he wiped the corner of his eyes.

"No, no... this wasn’t a warning," the Governor said, his lips pulling into a small business smile. In spite of it, all I could focus on were his eyes.

Those swirly eyes of his...

"I just wanted to show you that nothing escapes my sight. I know everything that happens within the Citadel, and with a flick of my finger, I can control anyone. You don’t need to worry about your stay here. As long as I’m around, no one will dare lay a hand on you."

"I see, so not a warning, but a reassurance?"

"Yes, exactly that."

As if I’d believe that.

Nobody would buy that bullshit after witnessing all of ’that’.

He was clearly warning me.

’Regardless of what you do, I have my eyes on you. Especially since you’re such an important figure.’

This felt more in line with what the Governor was trying to say.

Nonetheless...

"Thank you very much for the reassurance."

I smiled brightly in return.

I too could fake my own intentions.

’No, in the first place, I’m not even trying to stir up trouble.’

This warning was meaningless to me.

"That’s great then. It looks like we’re both on the same page."

Clap, clap—

Clapping twice, my vision started to fade. The last thing I heard before my vision turned completely black was the Governor’s voice.

"Welcome to the Citadel. I hope you enjoy your stay over here."

***

Roana, Easter Kasha.

Following the series of events that occurred over the past few days, the Roana was in a state of semi-destruction. The buildings on the outskirts, alongside the walls, were completely broken and required a lot of work in order to fix.

Thankfully, it looked like everything was proceeding well.

With the four major Houses and the Astrid family working together, things progressed rather rapidly, with a lot of the broken areas being repaired, alongside the walls.

But that wasn’t all.

"Food!"

"Line up carefully, there’s food for everyone!"

Kaelion sat by the doorsteps of one of the houses while he watched the numerous lines that were separated from adults, children, and the disabled. He saw them all smiling while waiting outside for their meal.

Seeing their smiles, he couldn’t help but smile too.

"That was quite an altruistic wish of yours, are you sure that you’re satisfied with this?"

A familiar voice broke him out of his thoughts. Turning his head, he saw Kora, one of the Seven Spears of the Astrid family, standing beside him. Her posture was relaxed, her back casually leaning against the side of the house.

Staring at the children and people again, Kaelion nodded.

"Yes, I’m satisfied."

In spite of the current competition, the Head Elder decided to grant him a wish. From resources to anything that she was capable of providing.

Kaelion thought long and hard before he decided to allocate a lot of resources to help those in need.

His action garnered a few weird looks, but Kaelion didn’t particularly mind.

He liked this sight.

...His mind felt light at the sight of it.

And that was all that mattered.

Spending the next few minutes staring at the lines, Kaelion stood up from his spot and patted his clothes.

"Are you going somewhere?"

"Ah, yes... I have an important meeting regarding the competition."

"Oh."

Kora’s expression shifted slightly as she nodded.

Unlike him, she couldn’t leave. She was here to safeguard the place.

The two exchanged a few more words before Kaelion made his way towards a certain building.

—No! I’m telling you, that’s wrong

—What nonsense are you talking about?

—I’m telling you he’s not good enough to fit! Get someone else!

Kaelion paused just outside the building, his ears catching the sound of muffled shouts from within. His brows knitted in concern as he cautiously stepped inside. Pushing open the door, he revealed a small room where several people were gathered around a large wooden table, their expressions tense and voices overlapping in heated discussion.

"Bitch, I’m telling you he’s got too many weaknesses! He’ll get swept!"

"Then who? Who should we get?"

"...Agatha is clearly bett—"

As if sensing his presence, everyone stopped talking and all eyes fell in his direction. Looking around, Kaelion noticed that everyone was there.

Be it Aoife, Kiera, Leon, Amell, Caius...

Casting his gaze in Caius’s direction, who appeared to be sitting in the corner with his eyes closed, he questioned.

"What’s going on here?"

Opening his eyes, Caius replied.

"We’re trying to figure out the lineup for the event."

"...Oh."

Kaelion looked at the paper in front and saw a long list of names.

"We need to find ten people for the event, and we’re now looking for the last person."

"I see."

Kaelion looked at the selected line and read each name.

Aoife, Kiera, Leon...

"Wait a second."

It was then that he realized something as he placed his finger over the paper.

"Where’s Julien?"

He literally saw everyone besides him.

Did they forget about him? No, there was no way, right?

"Julien?"

Looking at him weirdly, Leon looked around.

"Do you see him anywhere here?"

"...No."

"Have you seen him the past day?"

"...No."

"Do you have any idea where he is...?"

"Ah."

Kaelion came to the realization.

Julien... He had disappeared again.

"But don’t we still have a few days to prepare? If he comes back by—"

"Yeah, good luck with that."

Kiera dismissively waved her hand.

"He’s gone, so we need a replacement. If he comes back in time, great. If not—well, it sucks, but we move on. I’ve reached a point where whenever I see him go to the toilet I just assume there’s a one in ten chance he might disappear from either getting sucked by the toilet or whatever nonsense he goes through in his disappearance."

Her words were met with a series of nods.

"Yeah, makes sense."

"Reasonable."

"First time I agree with you."

They were all just used to it.

To make matters even worse, Kaelion realized he couldn’t refute their words at all.

He too... felt the same way.

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