Prince Charles paced the candlelit study, eyes twitching with irritation. He'd just returned from the palace ballroom.
"I broke him, alright? Rhenvar went berserk, but he somehow calmed down. My brother didn't even arrive yet, so the whole plan fell apart." Charles flopped into a velvet chair, scowling. "No major deaths. Not even Willow. The beasts were obliterated before they reached the ballroom. Hell, Duke Clive was defeated!"
Aucteros stood by the window, silent. His fingers tightened on the windowsill.
"So Willow did it," Aucteros muttered. "The garden was leveled?"
"Flattened. Nothing left but ash and melted statues." Charles shrugged. "You said he had a fire blessing. You didn't say it was divine."
His power is more than I thought. And he hasn't unlocked the Worldheart's true power. Good. I can still kill him and save it.
Aucteros exhaled through his nose, long and slow. "Willow… he's been a thorn in my side since day one. Always resisting. Always asking the wrong questions."
Charles smirked. "He's also quite the looker. Honestly, if he were a woman, I'd throw out our entire strategy and use my blessing to force him to be mine."
Aucteros turned, eyes gleaming with disgust. "If I ever catch you using your mind powers to force anyone into your bed, Charles… I'll kill you myself."
"Oh please." Charles waved his hand. "I've seen what's in your mind. The devil doesn't get to play the saint."
"I may be a devil, but even I have lines I don't cross."
And everything I do is for the greater good.
Charles laughed bitterly. "Spoken like a proper hypocrite."
"Enough." Aucteros' voice turned to ice. He returned to the table, brushing open his black tome inscribed with golden glyphs. "You acted too early…"
"I had to, Rhenvar was going to capture the mage."
"Interesting, how did they know your plan? It doesn't matter. We pivot. This failure becomes an opportunity."
"How?" Charles raised a brow. "I went ahead of schedule, but Willow alone changed your fate and could again. Clive wasn't even there to fight the demonic beast, like you said he would. He fought Rhenvar. And by the way, Rhenvar beat him. He's the best our kingdom has to offer. No, our world. The Blessing of Power. What are your enemies? Gods?"
Aucteros tensed.
That's one way of saying it.
Willow is just a product of that damn Chaos God's training. Him and his sister both. We're lucky I killed the Sylvia. She was smart and logical, she saw right through my lies, my plans…
"I don't get it. I read your mind. It was perfect."
He flipped through his book.
"One issue," he said. "Sorry, two. No sense in hiding that from you. Sinephilim, the demon queen, her fate is vacant in my book. No matter. She's useless. I have her power. But you never accounted for others knowing the plan."
"Who?" Charles asked.
"Princess Felicia."
Interesting, her soul is from Htrae. Just like Rhenvar-
"I'll control her." Charles scoffed.
"No. Not yet!"
Souls from Htrae are so predictable.
"Felicia is playing with the script. That makes her dangerous and predictable."
I've killed so many of them, they are pathetic. More like an infestation. Yet Rhenvar-
"So that makes her easy prey?"
Aucteros shifted.
"Yes. And in this predicament, she should be easily manipulated."
Charles licked his lips.
"But not yet. Willow, again," Aucteros tensed. "He befriended her, it may be harder to use her."
"So, we go with the other girl for now?"
"Duchess Veronica. Yes. She's the only one we can trust. Felicia will be needed because she's a princess, but she isn't immune to your power."
He kept reading.
"However, it says Rhenvar befriended the duchess, yet after his explosion at the ball, she's fragile. She doesn't trust easily. That's when we strike. No failures this time, Charles."
"So, what's the plan?" Charles asked.
"You return to the ballroom."
Charles focused on Aucteros. Reading his mind.
"You want me to return to the ballroom. Report on Rhenvar's outburst. Play the frightened courtier. Your hope is that my father will imprison him, and that'll cause a rift between him and the people."
"Exactly."
"Assuming he believes me."
"He should." Aucteros' fingers brushed the pages of his book. "He nearly arrived, and the hunting party returned early. Another page in the book is already written. No one bends fate like I can."
Charles narrowed his eyes. "You keep referring to this world as a book. A script. But these people bleed. It's real."
"It is." Aucteros's grin returned. "And they die."
His own thoughts slipped.
It loops again and again as if nothing ever happened.
He flipped through the book again. "The New Year's Festival is next. You're supposed to encounter Veronica there. However, she's vulnerable right now; the ballroom massacre changed her. So now you strike. Ally with her. Twist her or break her."
"And if she refuses?" Charles glared.
"She won't. Her heart is venom, and poison needs a place to spread."
Charles stood. "So, I get Rhenvar imprisoned, cozy up to the duchess, and prepare the next chapter?"
"Exactly."
"And if it doesn't work?"
"At least win the girl over. She's useful only for the wedding."
The prince paused at the door. "I admit… I'm beginning to enjoy this."
"Good," he said, eyes never leaving the page. "Enjoyment makes obedience easier."
An odd truth, to be sure. Only those whose minds are entangled can comprehend that.
Once Charles left, silence returned. The only sound was the faint crackle of the hearth, and the whisper of haunting plots from his book.
Aucteros slowly closed the tome.
His smile faded.
He clenched his fist and slammed it into the table. The impact left his hand throbbing.
"Why…" He whispered, shaking, "Why did they have to survive?"
He breathed in-
Out.
The candlelit fire dimmed.
"I'll play along. I'll follow the damn plot if I must. But when the time comes…"
Something had changed. A shift. As if something is changing fate itself.
He looked skyward, voice low and venomous.
"I will save this Worldheart. My God blessed me with this mission; I am the true savior."
His reflection in the window flickered.
"I'll save everything from these false Gods."