Chapter 267: King!
White couldn’t find any correlation between the floating Memory Orbs of each King and the seven black suns that acted as power sources for the chains.
In fact, going through a quarter of the Kings’ memories didn’t even seem to logically have any effect on somehow freeing the book itself, but he never once doubted the system’s words, for rarely was it ever wrong.
As for having to go through 250 Memory Orbs, which was essentially him living through 250 lives of beings far more powerful and far more ancient than he was, it sounded like a difficult task, but it was one White found endearing.
He had already been itching to learn everything he could about them in the first place, and without wasting any more time, he began with the Ancient King nearest to him.
Grabbing the orb floating before the King’s head, he inhaled deeply and quietly exhaled before his eyes shut closed and he fell silent.
It was a long silence before White once more opened his eyes, his hand retreating from the orb.
This time, he didn’t rush his retreat, nor did he take a step back, simply observing as the King’s Memory Orb faded away along with the King himself and his throne.
All of it turned to blue ash that drifted into the space.
White remained standing where he was for a long time, staring quietly ahead, the visage of someone who had been deeply shaken by something, before finally asking,
"How much time has passed?"
The panel flashed.
[Exactly 144 Hours have passed since you’ve been in his Memory Orb, and you spent an additional 24 hours simply standing there blankly once you exited.]
The system panel flashed, and White inhaled sharply.
A full week had passed for him, yet after living through approximately 560 years of another person’s memories, it hardly seemed like much time at all.
[Mission Status: 1/250 Memory Orbs]
The system flashed.
Well now, he still had 249 more Memory Orbs to go through.
Without wasting any more time, he walked up to the next King and grabbed his Memory Orb, falling silent once more.
__________
Time...
As you go through the lives of beings with near-immortal lifespans, you begin to understand how truly unimportant a factor it is, and White, for one, had long lost his sense of it.
The only thing that served as a reminder was his hair, lengthening again and again until it poured down his body and dragged behind him.
His beard grew longer and longer, eventually intertwining with his hair.
But his attention was never placed upon it.
Instead, as he lived through the lives of Ancient Umbrawyric Kings, he eventually reached a point, after experiencing seventy of them, where he fell onto all fours and began to scribble.
Words, not written in English, but rather runic symbols, something the old White never even knew how to read.
Sometimes they were even drawings.
And like a madman, White etched them across the ground without any discernible order.
He gripped Memory Orb after Memory Orb, spoke to himself, sometimes argued with morality and reason with nobody but his own soul, scribbled again and again and again, mumbling words that only he could understand before rising and grabbing another memory.
At one point, the system flashed a bold notification.
[MISSION COMPLETE: 250/250 MEMORY ORBS!]
But it was as though White had long lost the ability to perceive anything around him, for he continued onward.
Memory Orb after Memory Orb, scribbles after scribles.
The thrones and the Kings disappeared, but what replaced them were runic letters and drawings from one who ought to be the next King.
An ordinary human slowly losing his mind from witnessing lives far beyond his comprehension.
Or perhaps one who had already completely lost it.
The total number of thrones remaining within the hall reduced to only three, and eventually, there was only one left.
But even that lasted for only so long before it too was reduced to blue ash drifting through the air.
Now the only thing that remained was White himself, buried upon the ground, using claws dripping with his own blood to carve runic lines directly into the black crystal floor.
[WHITE!]
[WHITE! YOU HAVE TO SNAP OUT OF IT!]
[WHITE! IT’S OVER! THE BOOK HAS ALREADY BEEN UNLOCKED!]
[SNAP OUT OF IT!]
[WHITE!]
The golden system panel flashed repeatedly at the corner of his vision, but his mind was overflowing with too many ideas and realizations for its presence to hold any significance.
He continued scribbling...until at last, he stopped.
If one saw him now, they would never be able to find any resemblance between him and the previous White.
Incredibly long white hair, an equally long beard, and eyebrows so overgrown they nearly concealed his face entirely.
His body had shrunk, not in height, but in thickness.
So much time had passed without eating, drinking, sleeping, or resting even once.
He looked like the incarnation of a miserable madman, yet if a mortal dared look into his eyes...
Those simple dark eyes that now possessed not one, but three rings, neither crimson nor golden, but completely white and slowly rotating within their depths...
They would instantly be driven insane by the pressure and terror contained within them.
"How much human time has passed?"
It was the first question he asked as he slowly forced himself to his feet, the cracking of his bones echoing through the hall like lightning.
[It’s been exactly 6 Years, 6 Months, 6 Days, and 6 Hours since the first King’s Memory Orb.]
The system panel flashed as the white rings rotated within White’s eyes.
"6666."
He mused beneath his breath.
"Not three, but four. A peculiar representation of..."
He didn’t complete his sentence before,
FLICCCCKKERR!
A bright flicker of light drew his attention, and he turned his gaze into the distance, where he could see it glowing:
The Mallory Umbrawyrio.
It remained as massive as ever, hovering in the sky, no longer held by the chains that once bound it.
Those were long gone, all seven massive black suns nowhere to be found, yet it remained, exuding a grandeur beyond any treasure that had ever existed.
White stepped forward towards it, both hands spreading upward into the sky.
His white hair whipped around him insanely, the white rings in his eyes glowing with an unusual power, and then his lips moved as he began to chant in a language that the old White had never known.
"VAEL’THAR MALLORY UMBRAWYRIO!"
Glory to the Mallory Umbrawyrio!
"KHAL REXAR-MORATH!"
The Book that outlived Kings!
"KHAL IMPERIUM VAEL’THAL!"
The Book that watched Empires rise and crumble!
"KHAL SANGUIS VEYN’THAR!"
The Book that endured when bloodlines vanished!
"KHAL NOMEN ASH’THAR!"
The Book that remained when names became dust!
"ASTRAX AETERNUM!"
The Witness of Ages!
"NEMOR UMBRA!"
The Memory of Darkness!
"CHRONA VAEL’AETERNUM!"
The Eternal Chronicle!
By now, the book had become dark flames, its pages spewing black fire as darkness surged through the ancient hall. Yet White’s voice only grew louder, the white rings in his eyes preventing it from consuming him.
"VAEL’THAR UMBRA!"
Glory to Darkness!
"MATER PRIMA!"
The First Mother!
"ABYSSUS AETERNUM!"
The Endless Abyss!
"SILENTIS ANTE GENESIS!"
The Silence before Creation!
"VERITAS SUPRA TIMOR!"
The Truth beyond Fear!
"POTENTIA SUPRA MORALIS!"
The Power beyond Morality!
"NYX VORATH FINIS!"
The Night that devours all endings!
"ORIGINA UMBRAWYR!"
The Origin of all Umbrawyrs!
The chants were like an offering, the darkness burning from the book receding until it became pitch-black runes radiating a gentle dark light.
As it did, White slowly lowered himself to the ground, falling onto his right knee before chanting once more.
"VAEL’THAR REXAR VAELOR!"
Glory to the Ancient Kings!
"CONQUEROR VAEL!"
The Conquerors!
"TYRANOR VAEL!"
The Tyrants!
"PROTECTOR VAEL!"
The Protectors!
"DESTRUCTOR VAEL!"
The Destroyers!
"SAPIENT VAEL!"
The Wise!
"MADAR VAEL!"
The Mad!
"FORGOTAR VAEL!"
The Forgotten!
"REMEMBRAR VAEL!"
The Remembered!
"VEYR PATHAR TAL!"
I have walked your paths!
"VEYR BURDAN TAL!"
I have carried your burdens!
"VEYR TRIUMPH TAL!"
I have witnessed your triumphs!
"VEYR FALLAR TAL!"
I have witnessed your failures!
"NEMOR."
I remember.
He chanted, his voice falling to a whisper on the final line before, all at once, he rose back to his feet and continued.
"VAEL’THAR VEYR."
Glory to myself.
It was a chant that sounded arrogant, yet one would not find the slightest trace of arrogance within it. Instead, it was recognition. Recognition that he had become worthy.
"VEYR LECTOR."
The Last Reader.
"VEYR ASTRAX."
The Last Witness.
"VEYR HERITOR."
The Last Inheritor.
"VEYR REXAR."
The Last King.
"ACCEPTAR NEMOR TAL."
I accept your knowledge.
"ACCEPTAR UMBRA TAL."
I accept your darkness.
"ACCEPTAR BURDAN TAL."
I accept your burden.
"ACCEPTAR THARUM TAL."
I accept your throne.
"MORTIS REQUIEM."
Let the dead rest.
"VAELOR DORMIS."
Let the ancient sleep.
"FORGOTAR NEMOR VAEL."
Let the forgotten be remembered.
And following that, he declared, not with a shout, but with a quiet whisper as the Mallory Umbrawyrio floated down into his open palms, becoming smaller and smaller as it descended.
"ET MALLORY UMBRAWYRIO..."
And let the Mallory Umbrawyrio...
"COGNITA VEYR DOMINUS."
Know its final master.
