Elle sat back down on his chair, and everyone took some time off to process things.

  Arthur wasn’t really sure what to think. Everyone had been sure before that both Arthur and Celia in this world were just five years old. Now, Celia was nineteen and did not remember anything before that. Arthur had killed his own father, King Gikanamous, and taken over his place to become a cruel and ruthless ruler who tortured his subjects for his own pleasure. Or at least that is what the Celia who had suddenly aged 14 years in a single month, claimed.

  But what did that say about Arthur? If he had also been five years old, it either meant that he had aged alongside Celia and was also now nineteen, or a little two-foot kid was now ruling all of Chicago. But that train of thought made him remember that the medieval city he was currently in, and was talking about regicide, patricide, and revolutions in, was called Chicago. That definitely soured his mood. So much for a variety of universes.

  “Some people tell me that I used to be invited to the castle before, but I don’t remember anything like that.” Celia claimed, “The first thing I have proper memories of is seeing Arthur kill his father, and that’s it. I had snuck into the palace to steal something, and ended up witnessing that. Then, he became king and started torturing everyone.”

  “No, but you did go to the castle. Hell, you lived most of your life in there. I mean, how else would you remember us?” Elle asked, holding his forehead in stress as he tried to decode the meaning of everything that was happening.

  “You have a massive blue-coloured dragon, Uncle Elle. It is a bit difficult to forget something like that.”

  “The child makes a good point. Dee does leave quite an impression on people, doesn’t he?”

  “Alright, but tell me this,” Arthur leaned in and got his mind running, “Do you not remember anything about your childhood? Your mother or your father? Any family? Where do you even live?”

  “Right here.” She looked around, “At least when I am in the city. That is getting increasingly rare these days because of the increased vigilance, but that’s it. As for family…”

  She went quiet and looked at Elle. Their eyes met, and he nodded.

  “I’ll explain later, Sy. It’s a bit complicated, and she herself doesn’t know quite a lot. Honestly, it’s kind of weird that you remember that I know. But whatever, we’ll figure that out somehow. What do you want us to do right now?”

  “Kill him.” Celia did not hesitate before putting her point forward, “I want your help to kill Arthur Cross and free the kingdom of Chicago from his grasp. Innocent people are suffering every day to help him build…whatever it is he is building.”

  “Building? He is building something?”

  “Yes, Uncle Sy.” It was weird to hear her say that, considering she was just three years younger than him. But at the same time, she was probably actually seventeen years younger, so he let it pass and just considered her to be one of his extremely tall students, “A lot of people remember mining something, but then they come out without too many recollections. Everyone knows there is some sort of construction work that Arthur kidnaps citizens to do, but nobody comes out with their memories.”

  “You mean to suggest that this phenomenon can also be applied to you?” Vil asked, “That something similar was done to your own memories to make you lose them?”

  She nodded.

  Arthur looked at Elle, who looked at Vil. The powers were too similar to Arcadia’s. That, of course, didn’t suggest that she had anything to do with it. But it did mean that there might be another Intellect Module. At the same time, though, Arthur was inclined to believe that wasn’t true.

  All Hail the Queen could make a person believe something that they hadn’t done, but what sort of power would one need to have over that skill to achieve this? To make someone believe that all of their life had never happened? To make people believe that they hadn’t done the physical labour, they had broken their bones over? It did not particularly sound like the same power.

  But perception and memory manipulation? The only thing like that Arthur had encountered was an Intellect Module.

  “I’ll be right back.” Celia stood up and slowly walked out of the cramped underground room they had all been sitting in. The four men behind her also stood up and walked out behind her.

  As soon as she stepped out, all three of them raised their eyebrows and came closer to each other.

  “Are we thinking what I’m thinking? Right?” Elle asked.

  Vil and Arthur nodded alongside him.

  “Has to be an Intellect Module.”

  “It’s a Communication Module.”

  “King Arthur Cross needs to die.”

  “Vil, what the fuck?”

  Arthur shook his head, “What do you mean? Communication Module?”

  That was fair. Arthur had never come across a Communication Module before. He did not even know what that looked like or worked like. But if Elle was confident, then maybe he was wrong about the existence of another Intellect Module.

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  “Also, Sy, no. Never, ever, ever say that out loud again, alright? Nothing like that exists.”

  “Right. Sorry.”

  “But are we not in agreement that we need to help Celia?” Vil asked, “We have killed Arthurs before, so what is so different about this one? If he has been torturing his citizens, then a public execution is the greatest possible penalty!”

  “Vil!” Elle exclaimed, “We do not have any idea who the guy is. She is supposed to be, like, five. And now she’s nineteen. What is to say that the same thing didn’t happen to Arthur? The point is that they haven’t actually fucking grown up, in, like, any way! We can’t just kill a kid just because they look old enough.”

  “I would kill a kid even if they looked like a kid. Kids can be very evil. There was this six-year-old girl who used to work as an assassin for a kingdom neighbouring Helonia, and let me tell you something…she was fierce. One of the deadliest I have ever fought.”

  “Vil…don’t ruin your reputation, man. Just shut up.”

  The knight laughed, “Ha! I only jest. Of course, I do not kill children. I was only testing how far you would be willing to push your morality for little Celia.”

  “Very funny, Vil. Very funny…”

  “Alright, so…”

  Before Arthur could ask them if there was a way to override the apparent Communication Module skill, Celia walked right back into the room in a hurry. Half-jogging, she stopped once she saw the three men and spoke with a quiver.

  “They’re here. The guards are searching around the house, so it won’t be long before they find the entrance. We need to leave.”

  “Already?” Elle asked.

  “Uncle Elle…I’m not the one who humiliated them by making them fall over each other. The soldiers are going to let disrespect like that slide.”

  “Well, half of that was their mistake.”

  She shook her head with eyes in disbelief, “I am not even going to attempt to entertain that. Please, let’s just go.”

  Vil nodded and followed after her as she went back to the other room. Following Vil, Arthur noticed that the four men were arming themselves. Instead of leaving the same way as their leader, they were going to wait here and fight. When he asked one of them why, the answer was clear.

  “They want an enemy, sir. They will get an enemy.”

  Arthur kept walking, though. He respected their decision, but would much rather have seen them get out. There was nothing wrong with just running away if staying was just going to lead to death. They weren’t protecting anybody or buying them any real time. They were just…

  His words to Elle and Vil in the forest came back to him. Arthur was just being a hypocrite by criticizing them. The revolution only comprised of them, sure, but it did mean something. They had gotten all the way over here all by themselves. If they ran away now, all of it would have been for nothing. They would prove that they did not have anything to fight for. That they could just give up and run if need be.

  If they did not protect this place, then who would?

  Celia left through a small, narrow underground passageway hidden behind a weapon rack on the wall. It wasn’t very well hidden, but it would allow them to exit from a different place for now. Even a little bit of distance was good. Soon, as they made their way through the passage in a single file, sounds of swords being drawn echoed from the back. The soldiers had made their way into the hideout.

  They got out of the passageway about half a minute later. Celia, barely able to control her tears, kept walking. Everyone on the streets looked at her and looked away. Arthur wasn’t sure if it was because they were unsure about what she was going through, or if they knew exactly who she was. He’d pity them for both reasons, but at least the former would leave a better taste in his mouth.

  Regardless, there was nothing to be done.

  They started to run as the city gates got closer. For a second, Arthur wasn’t sure why she was leading them there, but then Celia took a quick right turn and jumped up a small wall. Following her led to a ladder that went up to the interconnected roof of the city of Chicago, which ultimately seemed to lead to a hidden exit in the wall itself. They might have been a small group, but they had gotten quite a bit done.

  “There!”

  A sudden scream changed everything. They all looked down to notice a guard who had seen them and was now pointing at them. Celia took a deep breath and started running. The others followed after her.

  Jumping through the rooftops was fun. Arthur hadn’t expected it to be, but it was. Once he got into the rhythm, just like always, he found it way easier than it should have been. A short hop here and there to move past very small obstacles like pails of water or a pile of clothes, then using the momentum to slide over walls connecting two different buildings. He could get used to this.

  Right as he was thinking that, he noticed something unusual. Celia was at the very front of the group and had taken a right. Following her was Elle, and then Vil right behind him. There were about three guards behind Arthur, but they were too far away to be able to make it there. That should have been it. Ever since the guard spotted them, there had only been seven people on the roof.

  Then why was there an eighth silhouette somewhere in the distance? Right in front of him, before he could turn right after the others, he noticed someone standing on a faraway rooftop. Absolutely nothing could be made out about this person. There were no distinct features to him. It was almost like a black shadow had taken the form of a human being and was looking at them.

  Arthur stopped to figure out what was going on. The soldiers closed in from the back.

  Far away, the figure raised its hand towards him.

  _____________

  “Hey, Sy!”

  Right before he left the house, Arcadia had stopped him. She had been sleepy, yawning, but she had come up to him and handed him a transparent vial. There was a weird, viscous pink liquid in it. Thankfully, Arthur had already learned to trust these.

  “What is this?” He asked.

  “Just keep it and use it when you need most.” She explained, “It’s a survival skill reset. They’re very rare, so I only hand them out to every Arthur once. Better not die before you come back again.”

  He smiled, “Sure. Thanks!”

  “Whatever. Just keep it safe. You don’t want to lose it.”

  _____________

  When Arthur opened his eyes, he couldn’t see anything. There was a cloth over his head, and the surroundings were damp. That was one thing he could sense because of the cool yet claustrophobic feeling all around him. It had felt weird that nobody had said absolutely anything throughout the exit from the hideout.

  For people like Vil and Elle to be quiet was impossible. Then how? What had happened? The silhouette had not been the trigger. It had only been the clue. He felt the cloth, which was also wet, press against his nose and stick to it. Someone had used their skill on him way before he actually got on the rooftops.

  “He’s awake.” A stranger’s voice announced.

  “Good.” A second voice said, “Take the hood off, clean him up, and take him to the King. He’s been waiting for a long time to meet him.”