[The Throne Room: The Aurum Palace]
Aurum raised his left hand slowly, a simple, lazy movement, as if granting the air permission to return to Vanitas's lungs. The weight bearing down on his shoulders vanished.
Vanitas stood up. He dusted the gold dust off his knees with a light motion, keeping his head slightly bowed.
Aurum opened his mouth. The voice emerged from the golden walls, from the floor, from the pores of Vanitas's skin. A voice resembling the flow of molten gold; beautiful, heavy, and searing.
"You died in the Mountains of Silence."
The blood froze in Vanitas's veins. How?! The Observers possess the "Revival Machine", they know who dies, but pinpointing where they died? The Mountains of Silence are a blind spot outside standard alchemical coverage. This means Aurum's "eye" is wider than the middle families imagined. Do I deny it? He looked into Aurum's golden eye. No, lying to this entity is stupid suicide.
"Yes, my Lord," Vanitas said in a steady voice, despite the cold sweat beginning to form under his shirt. "It was the slip of a reckless child, and a miscalculation of the risks. It will not happen again."
"The slip of a child..." Aurum repeated the phrase with a mysterious smile, as if tasting a lie mixed with truth. "What I hate the most is when people misunderstand me, Vanitas."
Aurum leaned forward, his eyes shining with an inhuman light: "I will forgive you because it is the first time."
"I am grateful for your mercy, my Lord."
"Do not thank me yet." Vanitas knew this was not merely a "pardon". He had to shift the helm of the conversation.
"What do you ask of me, Lord of Gold?"
Aurum's smile widened. He leaned back against the throne. "A question." He raised a single finger. "Why do we not grant eternal immortality to everyone?"
Vanitas fell silent. The question was a trap. The traditional answer is "cost" or "limited resources". But Aurum is not an accountant; Aurum is a "Conqueror".
Vanitas raised his head and looked directly into the ruler's eye: "Because they do not deserve it, my Lord."
The movement of Aurum's fingers stopped. Vanitas continued confidently: "Immortality is not a free gift, nor a matter of resources. It is the victor's prize. You fought the war, built the Machine, and ruled the chaos. Why would you reward the commoners who did not pay the toll? He who did not participate in the hunt has no right to sit at the table."
A faint laugh escaped from Aurum. A laugh that made the gold in the room vibrate. "A perfect answer..." Then his features suddenly shifted from satisfaction to biting sarcasm: "...but it is very funny, coming from someone who lost his immortality in a single day, is it not?"
Vanitas felt as though an invisible slap had struck his face. Blood rushed to his face, not out of shyness, but shame. His own logic had been turned against him. He spoke of "victors", while he stood as a "failure" who had crawled back.
He swallowed hard, maintaining his mask with extreme difficulty. "The sarcasm is well-placed, my Lord. That is why... I will work to improve myself."
"But..." Aurum's tone suddenly shifted to disdain. "...what a pity, a mouth of gold and pathetic alchemy skills; even cockroaches master transmutation better than you."
Aurum shook his head in boredom, gesturing for him not to reply to his words.
And then, without any preamble, Aurum asked, a strange look glinting in his eyes: "Aurelia... did you enjoy her in bed?"
Vanitas's heart stopped for a second. The question was blunt, vulgar, and unbecoming of a "god". How should he reply? Should he boast? Should he be bashful? Should he remain formal? No. Aurum likes to play.
Vanitas drew a small sideways smile, containing a hint of polite audacity: "It was an... educational experience, my Lord."
In the air, scattered atoms of gold condensed to materialize into a jeweled goblet. It floated until it settled in Aurum's hand. The liquid inside was not wine, but liquid light. He took a slow sip, his eyes fixed on Vanitas with cautious admiration.
"Educational... heh. I like your choice of words." He set the goblet aside and spoke with the tone of a philosopher explaining life to an ant: "Aurelia was born with a golden spoon in her mouth, Vanitas."
He moved his hand in the air, the motion tracing a gleaming path. "Therefore, she has the right to play as she pleases. Marry whomever she wants, fuck whomever she wants, or even kill whomever she wants. Because she has been eating with that spoon since her birth."
His tone sharpened: "Of course, spoons have tiers. She owns a golden spoon, but there are those who own brighter and heavier spoons. And when someone 'lower' deals with the owner of the spoon, they are often... eaten."
Vanitas understood the veiled warning. He opened his mouth to reply, but Aurum interrupted him with boredom: "That was an old man's talk to an ambitious youth. Now, let's get to the core of the matter."
Aurum leaned forward, and the smile vanished. His face became a slab of golden ice. "First: you will marry Aurelia." "Second..." The smile returned, but this time it was terrifying. "...the true reason for your marriage, you will know after the contract is finalized. I will summon you again then."
He waved his hand as if dismissing a servant. "As for now... go and enjoy the festival."
Snap. A simple snap of the fingers. Vanitas didn't feel a transition. The world folded around him, the golden hall vanished, the throne vanished, and he suddenly found himself standing in the middle of the noisy festival plaza outside.
...
[The Throne Room: One second later]
Aurum remained sitting alone in the vast hall. He took another sip of the golden wine. He looked at the empty spot where Vanitas had been standing a moment ago. His gleaming eyes narrowed.
[Leaked Document: Etherium Labs Archive]
Subject: Investigative Report on the Energetic Anomaly in the Mountains of Silence Researcher: [Data Redacted]
"After analyzing the data received from the border orbits, we find ourselves facing a physical dilemma that surpasses our understanding of the Nihilus Labyrinth in the Entropy Domain. The Mountains of Silence that surround our kingdom are not merely rugged terrain; they are a breach of cosmic alchemical laws."
1. The Spontaneous Creation Paradox of Abominations The foundational principles of Labyrinthology indicate that Abominations only exist as an energetic core within a "Labyrinth" resulting from localized spatial distortion. However, field observations in the Mountains of Silence show monsters moving and preying perfectly naturally outside the boundaries of any detected labyrinth.
2. Critique of Prevailing Theories:
The Mega-Maze Theory: Some claim that the entire mountain range is one giant labyrinth. This theory is technically absurd; engineering energy of this magnitude is impossible without physical reality collapsing.
Zero-Point Energy (Absence of a Center): How can a monster maintain its molecular cohesion without a distorted energy center feeding it? Even in the Entropy Domain, distorted creatures rely on the dense labyrinths scattered there. As for the Mountains of Silence, we are observing biological entities that are "independent" of any known energy source.
3. Conclusive Deduction: The fundamental question: "Are the Mountains of Silence in themselves a conscious labyrinth?" remains pending. If the answer is yes, then we are living next to an entity that exceeds the Observers' capacity for classification. Perhaps in the distant future, if science can fathom the depths of those peaks without explorers perishing, we will get an answer. Until then, the Mountains of Silence remain the "black hole" in the geography of alchemy.