[Log] Beyond the Stars
Who: Shams, Sieg, Thomas
What: The two other-worlders go to see if the castle master of Budehuc can provide any light on the subject of the Tablet of Stars for this world.
Where: Thomas' lair office.
Thomas' room/office was one of the few places Sieg had committed to memory. He wasted no time in heading back to the castle with the young king, glancing at Shams only a couple of times as they made their way, confident the younger boy could keep up with his enthusiastic steps. "Up this way," he pointed once they were inside the castle. It wasn't all that long before they had reached the castle master's door, and Sieg at the very least had the sense to knock first.
"Hey, castle master guy, you in?"
Looking up at the door to the castle master's office Shams found himself wondering exactly what kind of man Thomas was. According to the stone he and Sieg had found he was the Tenkai star, and Shams wondered if he was like Sieg. Perhaps Thomas was this world's version of Sieg. He couldn't help but smile a little at that. Having two of Sieg would probably be a good, if loud, thing.
"Huh?! Oh! Y-yes, please come in!!" The voice behind the door was muffled, but it sounded as if the young man had to yell. The door was unlocked, and it wasn't too much of a problem to enter through it. At the cluttered desk, the castle master was...not there. Instead, he was somewhere behind it. In the middle of what looked to be an explosion of paper documents and books. Being half-buried underneath it all wasn't fun, either.
Sieg already had a hand on the door, probably about to pop in regardless of whether he'd gotten an answer or not. All the better they'd received one, in that case! He grinned at Shams and then pushed the door open, stepping inside.
"Hey! Hope we didn't catch you at a bad t-" A puzzled look crossed his face as the boy looked around, seeing no sign of Thomas immediately. "...huh? Where the heck are you?"
Shams poked his head in to the room and grimaced. Paper work. If there was one good thing about being stranded in this world it's the lack of paper work. "Are you alright Lord Thomas," he asked stepping in the room.
There was a pause, maybe even a sigh, before the young man answered the two. "I...I'm down here," he anwsered sheepishly. "But I think I'll be all right. Nothing but a few hundred paper cuts, really!" Chuckling weakly, Thomas managed to restack a pile of paper next to him, propping an elbow upon it. "...I'm sure my work is getting back at me for taking a day off," he said under his breath.
Already homing in on the muffled voice, Sieg all but hopped up to peer over the edge of the desk. "Oh, there you are!" he said, grinning. Well, at least it didn't look like Thomas had fallen victim to an avalanche of books and paperwork. Or had that been the reason the castle master was down there in the first place...? "Need a hand?"
"I often feel the same way, sometimes," Shams admitted, following Sieg, "Paper work is a monster." He smiled at Thomas and gave a bow of his head, "I'm Shams, King of Salsabil, it's honor to meet you Lord Thomas." Studying the man before him Shams couldn't help but think that this man was so different from Sieg.
Thomas nodded in greeting, half-embarrassed since he was talking to a king. Wait - Shams was a new person. "Sieg! H-hello. And i-it's nice to meet you, your majesty," he hastily replied toward the formal introduction, trying to stand. "Um, I'm sorry if...if things are a little less than tidy at the moment! B-but if you don't mind helping..." He really didn't want to pile work on these two, but having extra hands was nice.
He stood back from the desk again, grinning as he glanced between Shams and Thomas. "Oh, sure- not a problem!" Sieg looked for the most accessible way around the desk so he could start grabbing piles to stack to the side. "Anywhere you want 'em in particular...?" he asked.
"It's alright," Shams told Thomas, following Sieg's example, "My desk back at home had a habit of getting just as cluttered." He took a stack of papers as well and waited for Thomas' instructions where to put them.
"W-well, I suppose you two can move some of the papers over there," the young man suggested, pointing at the floor space on the other side of the desk. "And the books can go right over here. I'll be able to move the rest myself."
If only he was this eager to help out with manual labor all the time! "Gotcha!" Sieg piped, maneuvering towards the space pointed out. He had to wonder what all these stacks of paper were about anyway! Carefully the boy lowered his stack to the floor, immediately going for another.
"Wait- we came here for someth- OH that's right!" Sieg straightened with his next stack, a few books with a smaller stack of paper balanced atop it. "The Stars!"
Shams sighed, "You forgot why we came here?" he asked Sieg, though he smiled. He placed the papers where directed and turned to Thomas. "Lord Thomas we've come to discuss with you the Star Bearers."
"Star- star bearers?" He blinked, working on clearing the space next to him. It took a few seconds before the words clicked to the related subject. "Oh! The Tablet of the Stars, you mean? What about it?"
"Yeah, that!" With his hands free after setting down the other stack down, Sieg was able to snap his fingers. "We were kinda surprised to find you guys had one too! But... well, you had to gather the Stars right? For what reason..? You guys didn't have to fight the One King, right..?" He glanced from Shams to Thomas, tilting his head.
"In our world there was a Star Bearers as well," Shams said, "I was the Tenrou Star, and Sieg here was our Tenkai." He nodded towards Sieg. "The One King was trying to assimilate our world into his and that's why we were gathered, it happened on multiple worlds. Did not something similar happen to you?"
He stood after setting aside the rest of whatever was left over, dusting himself off. "I see...so we share the same stars. How interesting." The castle master looked between the two, raising his eyebrows slightly. "But yes, we had to gather them. It was an effort in itself, but...no, nothing in relation to the One King. Around this area, it was more of a factional issue." His voice softened. "Along with dealing with power struggles, true runes, and whatnot..."
He'd almost caused another mess as he leaned back only to find out it was another stack of books, and hurriedly Sieg placed a hand on the top of it to keep it from falling over. "Sounds really complicated..." he said, glancing over his shoulder to look at Shams at the mentioning of power struggles and the True Runes. "So did you have to fight against any one faction or something...?"
"We've been told about a little about True Runes," Shams began, looking over at Sieg, "His Holiness the Bishop Sasarai showed me his, and he told me that True Runes carry the memories of their previous beares, and we've been told that there are 27 of them." He paused, frowning at the mention of power struggles. That was something he was far too familar with.
Good thing Thomas' heart didn't leap out of his ribcage with that close call. He would have reacted with a scream, and that was unnecessary. "Um...yes, that's correct," he nodded, "and having all of those memories is hard on the current bearers, I think." He still remembered Hugo, in fact, taking up the Flame Champion's role and all. A thoughtful expression crossed his features. "And the factions were divided between the Grasslands, the Zexen federation, Harmonia, and the Destroyers. The latter two were the ones we all had to fight against in the end..."
Now that just sounded even more complicated, at least, it all did at first. All the new names took a moment for Sieg to sort out, but he caught himself in time before he tried to lean on something else, instead folding his arms as he stood pointedly away from any other precarious stacks. "...Wow... So it... really isn't -too- unlike our situation back home, but instead of you guys having to deal with things from different worlds, it was all stuck to this one world..."
There were a lot of similarities then, but none of them seemed to really help for their predicament. "...Destroyers sounds pretty obvious- who were they?"
"So, you're not in possession of one of these True Runes then?" Shams asked, that seemed odd; Sieg owned one of the Chronicles, and a few of the other star bearers more or less owned another. But if Thomas didnt and yet Sasarai and possibly Geddoe did… what did that mean?
He turned to Sieg, "If it wasn't for the Chronicles it would have been almost exactly the same. There were different factions that all fought for the same goal, but also fought against each other, like your company and the Magedom, and there was friction between the Company and the Furious Roar too, wasn't there? If we hadn't come in contact with the Chronicles, we would have thought it was all from the same world..." Shams trailed off and turned back to look at Thomas, also wanting to know who the destroyers were.
"Indeed, it was," Thomas replied a bit sadly. Recalling almost everything that had happened usually had such an effect, but for the sake of history and record keeping, it needed to be done. Besides, he was imparting this information on the Gate travelers, and they wanted to know. He folded his arms loosely, looking over at Shams. "I'm a Star bearer, but I'm afraid I'm not special enough to have a true rune," he said with a chuckle. "And it's probably something I wouldn't be able to deal with as well as the others have." Another pause was taken, the castle master pursing his lips before replying to Sieg's second question. "...The Destroyers...were Luc, Sarah, Albert, and Yuber. And...they're still present within castle grounds. At least, this is what I remembered the last time I saw each of them."
Shams was right, and Sieg nodded as the young ruler's words sank in. He wasn't sure how things would have turned out in their world if they never found any of the Chronicles. Would he and his friends even have been able to make it out of those ruins alive..? That seemed hardly the problem now. They'd successfully dealt with their problem back home, and it seemed that the people here had done likewise as everything was fine now. And yet...
"What- wait, Luc??" Sieg blinked, staring at Thomas. Again he exchanged a glance with Shams. "...guess that'd explain why Geddoe said not to let him have the Chronicle- but... wait, wait- why was his name on the Tablet too..?"
"I'm almost positive the other names were on the Tablet as well," Shams added. "This is different from what happened with us, gathering wise. We may have fought against some of the other Starbearers in the beginning, but by the end we had all joined together..." He looked at Thomas. "But, you lead the rest of the Starbearers, correct?"
The castle master tried to smile, but his worried look was clear. "Y-yes, it's true. Luc has...a long history with all of this. Of course, he's doesn't speak about it openly..." Thomas did know about it, but he was uncertain as if to say it or not. However, he paused at Sham's thought, nodding again. "I see. I can easily say that everyone here also had their differences, but it did work out in the end." He then stopped again, holding up his hands. "Eh? Oh, n-no, not me! Hugo was the one who led us. I-I just helped by making Budehuc a home base!"
It seemed to get no less confusing, at least when Sieg tried to compare how things happened back home and over here. "...I...guess it still makes sense... With the different Stars standing for the different paths that can be chosen... So who's to say that they should stick to one way or another..." He fell silent a moment, perhaps almost uncharacteristically so, finding himself recalling the words spoken to him by the One King. To think that things could have ended up just the same as that... an unbroken cycle.
He shook his head as if to disperse the thought with the motion. "-wait, so... but then why..." He looked at Thomas confusedly before scrubbing a hand through his hair. "Aagh, maybe I'm just thinking about this too hard- it's not like being a Star has made me an expert on it or anything..."
"Nor any of us it seems," Shams said, feeling a little downcast. "I believe Zenoa talked to you more about it than she did with anyone else."
Well, this was definitely confusing, especially when the One King business came into play. The young man just felt like he wasn't really helping the two. "...I-I apologize if I made things a little more complicated during the explanations," Thomas bowed slightly, his smile lopsided.
Sieg shook his head. "Zenoa gave little enough information as it was, but she did kinda talk about the Stars... The rest of the time she just liked being annoyingly cryptic!" He glanced at Thomas and shook his head. "Nah, you don't have to apologize. Not your fault," he assured, managing a lopsided grin. "We just thought we'd ask you since well, you were listed as the Tenkai Star... It was kind of a surprise to even see that there was a Tablet here!" He made a sharp gesture with his hand, feeling it smack against a stack of books. That brought a cringe as he anticipated the worst while hoping at the same time that it would hold in place, however gravity won this round, the boy's hand doing nothing to stay the pile from collapsing.
"....whoops."
Shams smiled at his friends antics and bent to help clean up the mess. "As Sieg said, there is no reason for you to apologize. Though we may not have learned what we wanted, he did learn a great deal about the recent events of the area. And that's always helpful." He gave Thomas a smile, "You have my thanks for that."
He did try. "W...well, you're both welcome- " As much as Thomas wanted to smile back and genuinely thank them for helping him and all in return, the expression dropped when the pile went crashing to the floor. ".........."
It took Sieg a moment to start helping Shams, the first few second spent flailing and trying not to fall over as his feet had become partially buried beneath things. "Real sorry about that!" he sputtered, dropping down to start picking things up and restack them. He flashed an apologetic grin to the young king as well as Thomas. Heh- here they were supposed to be helping and what was he doing! Making more of a mess!
Placing the books back in place Shams looked over Sieg. "Is there anything else you can think to ask?"
While Shams asked Sieg, Thomas did finally snap out of his shock. "I-it's...okay," he said somewhat shakily, stooping down to help pick up the rest while laughing a little. "It happens!"
"You know, you should really get another room for all this or something..." the pale-haired boy muttered as he grabbed another armload. He looked at Shams, blinking a moment. "Huh? Oh... Hrm..." Sieg folded his arms over the stack, thinking. He glanced over at the nervous castle master, arching a brow as he had to wonder if the guy was really all right- he'd never seen anyone so tense before! "So what else can you tell us about this Luc guy?"
Shams turned his attention on Thomas, waiting for his reply to Sieg's question. Luc was this world's Tenkan star, but he was also one of what Thomas dubbed the Destoryers. It was an ominous name for a group, and he wondered what exactly, they tried to destory.
Well, he -could- take that piece of advice. "I'll look into it," the castle master answered with a lopsided smile, patting a newly-formed short stack. He stood up again, thinking about what he could tell them about Luc. "About Luc...he had his own set of plans with the group he formed six years ago. He was trying to gain all of the true runes to...to erase his existence. And in doing trying to do so, he needed to destroy the rest of our world with him."
When Thomas told them there was a group called the Destroyers, Sieg wasn't quite sure what to have expected. At the most he would have thought it just a generalized name for whatever trouble they were causing. A moment or two after the castle master gave his response, Sieg let out a low whistle. "...guess when they were dubbed the Destroyers, they weren't kiddin'...!" A thoughtful look settled across his face as he couldn't help but think about the One King again. He shivered involuntarily.
"... I see," Shams looked over at Sieg. Luc's ambition was frightfully similar to the One King's and the Order. "But, he's here now, so he no longer tries to destroy himself?" He wondered how selfish a man like Luc had to be. To hate himself so much he was willing to destroy innumerable lives to ensure his own death.
"...I'm not really certain of that," he answered softly. "I know he's been distant, but he's still getting use to everything after he knowing he's done it." At least, this was what happened during the last battles. Thomas glanced back up at Sieg and Shams, smiling faintly. "H-however, I think there is some progress."
Had he told anyone about that? Did anyone else realize how the One King came to be? Sieg was silent in his contemplating, barely catching anything said by the other two. So this world didn't have Chronicles or the Order or the One King, but it had True Runes and people intent on that power, and someone seeking to destroy the world...
"-Huh?" He blinked, glancing between the two.
Deciding that he should withhold making any judgements about Luc until he met the man in person. He looked over at Sieg, "What is it Sieg?"
Thomas flinched. He arched a brow at Sieg's sudden surprise, blinking slowly. "Is something the matter?"
The boy grinned sheepishly at them. "Ah- it's, well, no, not exactly. Sorry, kinda zoned out there." He ducked his head in apology. "I just couldn't help but think about how much it sounded like what happened in our world. I know we talked about that, but... well..." Sieg shook his head, waving a hand. "It's nothing to worry about though since it's all over, right? And even if Luc's around here still, after all that... well, people can change, can't they?"
Shams gave Sieg a smile and turned back to Thomas, "Well, in any case, thank you for your time Lord Thomas. You have been a tremendous help."
He nodded. Thinking that deeply had that effect. Thomas spoke to answer the teen, folding his arms loosely. "Usually they can, Sieg. It depends on their own choice. To move away from it...or to stay in it." He glanced back at Shams, bowing his head with a soft smile. "You're welcome. I'm just doing what I can, your majesty."
"You're right," he grinned, easing away from the stack he'd been leaning on. "But for sure they won't know unless they try." That would be up to the person in question though, wouldn't it? "Thanks though. Sorry about making more of a mess for you," Sieg added, glancing meaningfully at the mini stacks they had made- but at least it wasn't all over the floor anymore.
Shams began to move towards the door, giving Thomas a slight bow. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Lord Thomas."
The castle master shook his head, chuckling. "It's quite all right. I'll fix everything from here." And as the two made their way out, he nodded and waved before returning to sort through the piles once more.
Sieg offered a wave before carefully making his way around the stacks and after Shams to the doorway. "If you say so. Hey, don't work yourself too hard!" He grinned.
Shams waited in the hall for Sieg, "What do you think we should do next?" he asked the Company leader.
Once out of the castle master's office, Sieg stretched his arms out over his head, barely stifling a yawn as he started to head along down the hall. "...mmm.... Well, we could try tracking Geddoe down? ...we could even maybe try finding that Luc guy- although I guess it woulda helped if we knew what he looked like." He paused as his stomach decided to put in its own suggestion, glancing down at it sheepishly.
"...or...maybe we could grab something to eat first," he said, grinning wryly.
"Eating sounds like a wonderful idea," Shams said as he began to move down the hallway to the stairs. "I've been told Karayan food would be something I would enjoy."
"Let's discuss our next move over lunch."
Sieg nodded his head at that. "Karayan, huh? Well, only one way to find out, huh? Anyway- sounds like a plan to me!"
What: The two other-worlders go to see if the castle master of Budehuc can provide any light on the subject of the Tablet of Stars for this world.
Where: Thomas' lair office.
Thomas' room/office was one of the few places Sieg had committed to memory. He wasted no time in heading back to the castle with the young king, glancing at Shams only a couple of times as they made their way, confident the younger boy could keep up with his enthusiastic steps. "Up this way," he pointed once they were inside the castle. It wasn't all that long before they had reached the castle master's door, and Sieg at the very least had the sense to knock first.
"Hey, castle master guy, you in?"
Looking up at the door to the castle master's office Shams found himself wondering exactly what kind of man Thomas was. According to the stone he and Sieg had found he was the Tenkai star, and Shams wondered if he was like Sieg. Perhaps Thomas was this world's version of Sieg. He couldn't help but smile a little at that. Having two of Sieg would probably be a good, if loud, thing.
"Huh?! Oh! Y-yes, please come in!!" The voice behind the door was muffled, but it sounded as if the young man had to yell. The door was unlocked, and it wasn't too much of a problem to enter through it. At the cluttered desk, the castle master was...not there. Instead, he was somewhere behind it. In the middle of what looked to be an explosion of paper documents and books. Being half-buried underneath it all wasn't fun, either.
Sieg already had a hand on the door, probably about to pop in regardless of whether he'd gotten an answer or not. All the better they'd received one, in that case! He grinned at Shams and then pushed the door open, stepping inside.
"Hey! Hope we didn't catch you at a bad t-" A puzzled look crossed his face as the boy looked around, seeing no sign of Thomas immediately. "...huh? Where the heck are you?"
Shams poked his head in to the room and grimaced. Paper work. If there was one good thing about being stranded in this world it's the lack of paper work. "Are you alright Lord Thomas," he asked stepping in the room.
There was a pause, maybe even a sigh, before the young man answered the two. "I...I'm down here," he anwsered sheepishly. "But I think I'll be all right. Nothing but a few hundred paper cuts, really!" Chuckling weakly, Thomas managed to restack a pile of paper next to him, propping an elbow upon it. "...I'm sure my work is getting back at me for taking a day off," he said under his breath.
Already homing in on the muffled voice, Sieg all but hopped up to peer over the edge of the desk. "Oh, there you are!" he said, grinning. Well, at least it didn't look like Thomas had fallen victim to an avalanche of books and paperwork. Or had that been the reason the castle master was down there in the first place...? "Need a hand?"
"I often feel the same way, sometimes," Shams admitted, following Sieg, "Paper work is a monster." He smiled at Thomas and gave a bow of his head, "I'm Shams, King of Salsabil, it's honor to meet you Lord Thomas." Studying the man before him Shams couldn't help but think that this man was so different from Sieg.
Thomas nodded in greeting, half-embarrassed since he was talking to a king. Wait - Shams was a new person. "Sieg! H-hello. And i-it's nice to meet you, your majesty," he hastily replied toward the formal introduction, trying to stand. "Um, I'm sorry if...if things are a little less than tidy at the moment! B-but if you don't mind helping..." He really didn't want to pile work on these two, but having extra hands was nice.
He stood back from the desk again, grinning as he glanced between Shams and Thomas. "Oh, sure- not a problem!" Sieg looked for the most accessible way around the desk so he could start grabbing piles to stack to the side. "Anywhere you want 'em in particular...?" he asked.
"It's alright," Shams told Thomas, following Sieg's example, "My desk back at home had a habit of getting just as cluttered." He took a stack of papers as well and waited for Thomas' instructions where to put them.
"W-well, I suppose you two can move some of the papers over there," the young man suggested, pointing at the floor space on the other side of the desk. "And the books can go right over here. I'll be able to move the rest myself."
If only he was this eager to help out with manual labor all the time! "Gotcha!" Sieg piped, maneuvering towards the space pointed out. He had to wonder what all these stacks of paper were about anyway! Carefully the boy lowered his stack to the floor, immediately going for another.
"Wait- we came here for someth- OH that's right!" Sieg straightened with his next stack, a few books with a smaller stack of paper balanced atop it. "The Stars!"
Shams sighed, "You forgot why we came here?" he asked Sieg, though he smiled. He placed the papers where directed and turned to Thomas. "Lord Thomas we've come to discuss with you the Star Bearers."
"Star- star bearers?" He blinked, working on clearing the space next to him. It took a few seconds before the words clicked to the related subject. "Oh! The Tablet of the Stars, you mean? What about it?"
"Yeah, that!" With his hands free after setting down the other stack down, Sieg was able to snap his fingers. "We were kinda surprised to find you guys had one too! But... well, you had to gather the Stars right? For what reason..? You guys didn't have to fight the One King, right..?" He glanced from Shams to Thomas, tilting his head.
"In our world there was a Star Bearers as well," Shams said, "I was the Tenrou Star, and Sieg here was our Tenkai." He nodded towards Sieg. "The One King was trying to assimilate our world into his and that's why we were gathered, it happened on multiple worlds. Did not something similar happen to you?"
He stood after setting aside the rest of whatever was left over, dusting himself off. "I see...so we share the same stars. How interesting." The castle master looked between the two, raising his eyebrows slightly. "But yes, we had to gather them. It was an effort in itself, but...no, nothing in relation to the One King. Around this area, it was more of a factional issue." His voice softened. "Along with dealing with power struggles, true runes, and whatnot..."
He'd almost caused another mess as he leaned back only to find out it was another stack of books, and hurriedly Sieg placed a hand on the top of it to keep it from falling over. "Sounds really complicated..." he said, glancing over his shoulder to look at Shams at the mentioning of power struggles and the True Runes. "So did you have to fight against any one faction or something...?"
"We've been told about a little about True Runes," Shams began, looking over at Sieg, "His Holiness the Bishop Sasarai showed me his, and he told me that True Runes carry the memories of their previous beares, and we've been told that there are 27 of them." He paused, frowning at the mention of power struggles. That was something he was far too familar with.
Good thing Thomas' heart didn't leap out of his ribcage with that close call. He would have reacted with a scream, and that was unnecessary. "Um...yes, that's correct," he nodded, "and having all of those memories is hard on the current bearers, I think." He still remembered Hugo, in fact, taking up the Flame Champion's role and all. A thoughtful expression crossed his features. "And the factions were divided between the Grasslands, the Zexen federation, Harmonia, and the Destroyers. The latter two were the ones we all had to fight against in the end..."
Now that just sounded even more complicated, at least, it all did at first. All the new names took a moment for Sieg to sort out, but he caught himself in time before he tried to lean on something else, instead folding his arms as he stood pointedly away from any other precarious stacks. "...Wow... So it... really isn't -too- unlike our situation back home, but instead of you guys having to deal with things from different worlds, it was all stuck to this one world..."
There were a lot of similarities then, but none of them seemed to really help for their predicament. "...Destroyers sounds pretty obvious- who were they?"
"So, you're not in possession of one of these True Runes then?" Shams asked, that seemed odd; Sieg owned one of the Chronicles, and a few of the other star bearers more or less owned another. But if Thomas didnt and yet Sasarai and possibly Geddoe did… what did that mean?
He turned to Sieg, "If it wasn't for the Chronicles it would have been almost exactly the same. There were different factions that all fought for the same goal, but also fought against each other, like your company and the Magedom, and there was friction between the Company and the Furious Roar too, wasn't there? If we hadn't come in contact with the Chronicles, we would have thought it was all from the same world..." Shams trailed off and turned back to look at Thomas, also wanting to know who the destroyers were.
"Indeed, it was," Thomas replied a bit sadly. Recalling almost everything that had happened usually had such an effect, but for the sake of history and record keeping, it needed to be done. Besides, he was imparting this information on the Gate travelers, and they wanted to know. He folded his arms loosely, looking over at Shams. "I'm a Star bearer, but I'm afraid I'm not special enough to have a true rune," he said with a chuckle. "And it's probably something I wouldn't be able to deal with as well as the others have." Another pause was taken, the castle master pursing his lips before replying to Sieg's second question. "...The Destroyers...were Luc, Sarah, Albert, and Yuber. And...they're still present within castle grounds. At least, this is what I remembered the last time I saw each of them."
Shams was right, and Sieg nodded as the young ruler's words sank in. He wasn't sure how things would have turned out in their world if they never found any of the Chronicles. Would he and his friends even have been able to make it out of those ruins alive..? That seemed hardly the problem now. They'd successfully dealt with their problem back home, and it seemed that the people here had done likewise as everything was fine now. And yet...
"What- wait, Luc??" Sieg blinked, staring at Thomas. Again he exchanged a glance with Shams. "...guess that'd explain why Geddoe said not to let him have the Chronicle- but... wait, wait- why was his name on the Tablet too..?"
"I'm almost positive the other names were on the Tablet as well," Shams added. "This is different from what happened with us, gathering wise. We may have fought against some of the other Starbearers in the beginning, but by the end we had all joined together..." He looked at Thomas. "But, you lead the rest of the Starbearers, correct?"
The castle master tried to smile, but his worried look was clear. "Y-yes, it's true. Luc has...a long history with all of this. Of course, he's doesn't speak about it openly..." Thomas did know about it, but he was uncertain as if to say it or not. However, he paused at Sham's thought, nodding again. "I see. I can easily say that everyone here also had their differences, but it did work out in the end." He then stopped again, holding up his hands. "Eh? Oh, n-no, not me! Hugo was the one who led us. I-I just helped by making Budehuc a home base!"
It seemed to get no less confusing, at least when Sieg tried to compare how things happened back home and over here. "...I...guess it still makes sense... With the different Stars standing for the different paths that can be chosen... So who's to say that they should stick to one way or another..." He fell silent a moment, perhaps almost uncharacteristically so, finding himself recalling the words spoken to him by the One King. To think that things could have ended up just the same as that... an unbroken cycle.
He shook his head as if to disperse the thought with the motion. "-wait, so... but then why..." He looked at Thomas confusedly before scrubbing a hand through his hair. "Aagh, maybe I'm just thinking about this too hard- it's not like being a Star has made me an expert on it or anything..."
"Nor any of us it seems," Shams said, feeling a little downcast. "I believe Zenoa talked to you more about it than she did with anyone else."
Well, this was definitely confusing, especially when the One King business came into play. The young man just felt like he wasn't really helping the two. "...I-I apologize if I made things a little more complicated during the explanations," Thomas bowed slightly, his smile lopsided.
Sieg shook his head. "Zenoa gave little enough information as it was, but she did kinda talk about the Stars... The rest of the time she just liked being annoyingly cryptic!" He glanced at Thomas and shook his head. "Nah, you don't have to apologize. Not your fault," he assured, managing a lopsided grin. "We just thought we'd ask you since well, you were listed as the Tenkai Star... It was kind of a surprise to even see that there was a Tablet here!" He made a sharp gesture with his hand, feeling it smack against a stack of books. That brought a cringe as he anticipated the worst while hoping at the same time that it would hold in place, however gravity won this round, the boy's hand doing nothing to stay the pile from collapsing.
"....whoops."
Shams smiled at his friends antics and bent to help clean up the mess. "As Sieg said, there is no reason for you to apologize. Though we may not have learned what we wanted, he did learn a great deal about the recent events of the area. And that's always helpful." He gave Thomas a smile, "You have my thanks for that."
He did try. "W...well, you're both welcome- " As much as Thomas wanted to smile back and genuinely thank them for helping him and all in return, the expression dropped when the pile went crashing to the floor. ".........."
It took Sieg a moment to start helping Shams, the first few second spent flailing and trying not to fall over as his feet had become partially buried beneath things. "Real sorry about that!" he sputtered, dropping down to start picking things up and restack them. He flashed an apologetic grin to the young king as well as Thomas. Heh- here they were supposed to be helping and what was he doing! Making more of a mess!
Placing the books back in place Shams looked over Sieg. "Is there anything else you can think to ask?"
While Shams asked Sieg, Thomas did finally snap out of his shock. "I-it's...okay," he said somewhat shakily, stooping down to help pick up the rest while laughing a little. "It happens!"
"You know, you should really get another room for all this or something..." the pale-haired boy muttered as he grabbed another armload. He looked at Shams, blinking a moment. "Huh? Oh... Hrm..." Sieg folded his arms over the stack, thinking. He glanced over at the nervous castle master, arching a brow as he had to wonder if the guy was really all right- he'd never seen anyone so tense before! "So what else can you tell us about this Luc guy?"
Shams turned his attention on Thomas, waiting for his reply to Sieg's question. Luc was this world's Tenkan star, but he was also one of what Thomas dubbed the Destoryers. It was an ominous name for a group, and he wondered what exactly, they tried to destory.
Well, he -could- take that piece of advice. "I'll look into it," the castle master answered with a lopsided smile, patting a newly-formed short stack. He stood up again, thinking about what he could tell them about Luc. "About Luc...he had his own set of plans with the group he formed six years ago. He was trying to gain all of the true runes to...to erase his existence. And in doing trying to do so, he needed to destroy the rest of our world with him."
When Thomas told them there was a group called the Destroyers, Sieg wasn't quite sure what to have expected. At the most he would have thought it just a generalized name for whatever trouble they were causing. A moment or two after the castle master gave his response, Sieg let out a low whistle. "...guess when they were dubbed the Destroyers, they weren't kiddin'...!" A thoughtful look settled across his face as he couldn't help but think about the One King again. He shivered involuntarily.
"... I see," Shams looked over at Sieg. Luc's ambition was frightfully similar to the One King's and the Order. "But, he's here now, so he no longer tries to destroy himself?" He wondered how selfish a man like Luc had to be. To hate himself so much he was willing to destroy innumerable lives to ensure his own death.
"...I'm not really certain of that," he answered softly. "I know he's been distant, but he's still getting use to everything after he knowing he's done it." At least, this was what happened during the last battles. Thomas glanced back up at Sieg and Shams, smiling faintly. "H-however, I think there is some progress."
Had he told anyone about that? Did anyone else realize how the One King came to be? Sieg was silent in his contemplating, barely catching anything said by the other two. So this world didn't have Chronicles or the Order or the One King, but it had True Runes and people intent on that power, and someone seeking to destroy the world...
"-Huh?" He blinked, glancing between the two.
Deciding that he should withhold making any judgements about Luc until he met the man in person. He looked over at Sieg, "What is it Sieg?"
Thomas flinched. He arched a brow at Sieg's sudden surprise, blinking slowly. "Is something the matter?"
The boy grinned sheepishly at them. "Ah- it's, well, no, not exactly. Sorry, kinda zoned out there." He ducked his head in apology. "I just couldn't help but think about how much it sounded like what happened in our world. I know we talked about that, but... well..." Sieg shook his head, waving a hand. "It's nothing to worry about though since it's all over, right? And even if Luc's around here still, after all that... well, people can change, can't they?"
Shams gave Sieg a smile and turned back to Thomas, "Well, in any case, thank you for your time Lord Thomas. You have been a tremendous help."
He nodded. Thinking that deeply had that effect. Thomas spoke to answer the teen, folding his arms loosely. "Usually they can, Sieg. It depends on their own choice. To move away from it...or to stay in it." He glanced back at Shams, bowing his head with a soft smile. "You're welcome. I'm just doing what I can, your majesty."
"You're right," he grinned, easing away from the stack he'd been leaning on. "But for sure they won't know unless they try." That would be up to the person in question though, wouldn't it? "Thanks though. Sorry about making more of a mess for you," Sieg added, glancing meaningfully at the mini stacks they had made- but at least it wasn't all over the floor anymore.
Shams began to move towards the door, giving Thomas a slight bow. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Lord Thomas."
The castle master shook his head, chuckling. "It's quite all right. I'll fix everything from here." And as the two made their way out, he nodded and waved before returning to sort through the piles once more.
Sieg offered a wave before carefully making his way around the stacks and after Shams to the doorway. "If you say so. Hey, don't work yourself too hard!" He grinned.
Shams waited in the hall for Sieg, "What do you think we should do next?" he asked the Company leader.
Once out of the castle master's office, Sieg stretched his arms out over his head, barely stifling a yawn as he started to head along down the hall. "...mmm.... Well, we could try tracking Geddoe down? ...we could even maybe try finding that Luc guy- although I guess it woulda helped if we knew what he looked like." He paused as his stomach decided to put in its own suggestion, glancing down at it sheepishly.
"...or...maybe we could grab something to eat first," he said, grinning wryly.
"Eating sounds like a wonderful idea," Shams said as he began to move down the hallway to the stairs. "I've been told Karayan food would be something I would enjoy."
"Let's discuss our next move over lunch."
Sieg nodded his head at that. "Karayan, huh? Well, only one way to find out, huh? Anyway- sounds like a plan to me!"