A strange kind of silence descended, different from the suffocating type that made everyone unable to speak.
"Of course you know this, Alariv would have definitely let it slip." Gaius sighed, shoulders slumping before finally letting himself rest down on one of the broken trunks. "They will certainly be difficult to deal with, We've only been able to study the tyrant, the devil though... We haven't even seen what it looks like, the only sign of its presence are the missing scouts that were sent to find it.
"We would've sent chief scout, Rurik to investigate, he would have been able to find something out, but... Alariv and I eventually thought otherwise. As good of a scout he is with his aspect, it's uncertain what he'll face and we can't lose one of our best ascended in this time period."
"In the end, Alariv decided to volunteer, his aspect makes him exceptionally suited for surviving unknown dangers." Gaius eyes finally moved from the ground, moving upward.
Ashoka's smile widened, "You currently lack firepower, don't you?" Yes, this was the core of the issue that the kingdom was facing. A lack of firepower, one which should have been filled up by the king, but wasn't.
With the death of the late king, the crown should've been passed down to one of his sons, all of whom were ascended at that time, and with the powers of the crown, their level would've been elevated to that of a transcendent, filling in for missing late king's protection. This was how it should've been...
But fate was often cruel. Instead of the 3 princes, the mantle was passed down to Eldrin instead, just an ordinary human at that time.
Without the presence of a quasi-transcendent champion to guard Casamir against the terrible monsters of the vast wilderness surrounding them, the kingdom was repeatedly on the verge of a calamity every time a corrupted creature decided to roam near it.
For now, these horrors of the forests were only held back by three of the mightiest ascended of Casamir. First was prince Gaius, the strongest warrior of the kingdom, Rurik, the legendary ascended scout, the sharpest eyes of the Kingdom's walls. And finally there was prince Alariv, the person who never lost a second battle.
There were of course still other ascended present in this country, but other than prince Oswald—who had gracefully refused to ever participate in battles ever again— none of them had unlocked their aspects yet.
But now, the time had begun to run out. A corrupted tyrant was not something an ascended or two could easily deal with. Would they even survive this encounter? What about the next time and after that? The need for a Transcendent had never been higher, and there wasn't any feasible path to transcendence other than the crown itself.
And the crown was currently with a child, one both naive and weak.
"This is my reason for my treason, your highness. It is not hard to sense that the kingdom is facing doom, especially when you live next to the prince and the king himself.
"My only wish is to not let this kingdom I had grown up in fall," He paused, his smile changing, "I don't wish to die."
Hearing that, Gaius snickered, "and here I thought you were loyal to Alariv. Would you betray even him, who saved you from your doomed fate, just to survive?"
Ashoka's smile almost cracked at that, damn it! Nobody told me anything about being saved by Alariv? There's no way I can make it sound convincing, right? In his hurry to solve the mysteries of the crown. His mind raced, trying to think of an answer. If he took too long, gaius would definitely sense the facade in his words. Eventually he sighed;
"Yes, sir Alariv is indeed like a father figure to me, perhaps even more than my own father, but—" He once again paused, his smile turning bitter as he locked eyes with Gaius, "can I not wish for a family of my own? I too wish to be a father, a husband and maybe, if fate permits it, a grand father too. Is this too much to ask for?"
The mood turned silent. Even if Gaius had any sort of lie detection ability, he would not be able to find a lie in his last words. They were words that came from deep within his heart and something he truly thought or wished for, even if his fate was doomed because of the [Cursed]. He did not want to fall into the belief that there might be a way out of this world, such a mindset was extremely dangerous once he had chosen to become a beyonder.
Besides that, I can even be drop dead gorgeous in this world if I ascend far enough! Ah, what a boon it will be to this mediocre face I have!
A gravely howl resounded from deep within the forest, a few kilometres or so away. It was as if a heavy dead body or a carapace being dragged on rough rocks, mixed and twisted, transformed into a deafening howl of wolf.
"So how exactly do you plan to treason against the crown without being discovered?" Gaius finally asked, breaking the silence, "And are you certain we aren't being watched this instance?"
Ashoka waved him off, "There's no need to worry, we are not being watched, as for how..."
Gaius leaned in closer, listening to Ashoka attentively, "Do you know what a domain is?"
"What?" Gaius said, befuddled. How did the topic of supreme come here? But in the next moment, the realisation dawned on him. "You don't mean..."
"Yes, a domain is an extension of a supreme's ability. It is what gives them the weight of authority. A weaker domain means a weaker supreme and vice versa."
"You want to say that the crown is a living supreme?" Gaius finally asked, confusion visible in his eyes. He too had made a connection between a supreme and how the crown operated.
A what crown?! Ashoka's eyebrows shot up, he wanted to laugh, but kept it in, he couldn't get himself killed right now! A living mighty supreme cursed and transformed into a dormant crown? That would indeed be more horrific than what we have here.
"Uh... A living supreme? Maybe, maybe not, I wouldn't be able to tell. But yes, it is something with a status and ability similar to a supreme. Though I would not say it's at the level of a true supreme being, otherwise there wouldn't be corrupted creature breaking into casamir at all, maybe not even a great beast would be able to enter."
"But what does that have to do with your plan? The only thing you are convincing me of is to not help you at all."
"Of course, I'm getting to the important part. Indeed, the crown is a quasi-supreme item, perhaps one based on laws and rules, but that's not all;
"'A domain is an extension of a supreme's will, the authority to rule over their subjects, to watch, to judge and to help."
For a moment, no one uttered a word.
"Now, I might not know what these cryptic words such as "Will" means, but I do certainly know what it means to watch and judge. So let me ask you something, what do you think is the domain of the crown, and what exactly is it channeled through?"
Gaius thought for a second, then his eyes lit up, "it's the people."
"That is correct, your highness. It is the people of casamir that channel the domain and " Will" Of the crown. They are it's gavels, it's sword and it's witness. As long as you work outside the eyes of the people of casamir, it is the same as hiding from the eyes of the crown itself, it is the reason why there even exist a clause in the succession rite for the case of a successful rebellion of a contender." He leaned closer to Gaius.
"It's because it's possible to deceive the crown till the end and kill the king." Ashoka finally finished his line with a clap, his breath ragged from "overspeaking". It was like the time he had to give a presentation in his school, he wanted to speak faster to end his misery as soon as possible, but at the same time, he couldn't go faster and lower his quality of speech if he really wanted those juicy practical marks.
Gaius thought for a moment, and his deep voice resounded in the silence, "but doesn't that mean both of us are also part of the crown's domain, and hence already exposed? It can't be that you hadn't thought of this, right?"
"It is true that both of us are also part of a domain, at least I am, for what we're concerned. That is why I had asked you to first reach a point beyond the borders, which is the range of the crown's domain. As for you—" Ashoka cleared his throat, preparing his next words, "Actually, I had lied, or at least not told the full truth. In truth—"
As he said those words, he stood up and spread his arms as if embracing the sun or basking in its warm sunlight.
"In truth, the land of Casamir doesn't have a single supreme Being," He then stretched his arm forward and pulled out one of his fingers, and then, after letting the silence build, pulled out a second one. "There are actually two supreme entities, two domains existing in the same mass of land, somehow coexisting and even merging at sometimes."
With that, he turned around, facing the kingdom, "the first—" He pointed a finger at what he assumed was where the brass pillar stood, "—is the pillar of brass standing at the centre of casamir, whose domain encompasses all those who live within this kingdom, including me.
"The second one—" He retracted his finger, instead pointing it above his own head, "is the obsidian crown resting upon the King's Head, whose domain encompasses only those of the Royal bloodline."
This was the revelation that he had eventually gained. The question on why all the princes, someone so important in the hierarchy of the kingdom weren't part of the pillar's domain had eluded him for a long time. Eventually, enlightenment hit when he asked the simple question, 'why would something with a level as high as a literal uniqueness not have a domain of itself?'
"And how exactly is that relevant?"
Ashoka smiled in return, "it is because despite what I said earlier, two domains cannot really exist together, the same person cannot be the subject of two supremes at the same time. Of course, there's a loophole to be found in every rule, and one way for a supreme to access the domain of another is to pull them into their own domain, gaining access to their subjects.
"This too has some limitations, since for this to happen, the supreme needs to either be 'conquered' by the other in a mystical sense, or they need to already be weak to begin with. In our case, the pillar of brass is the weaker supreme, while the crown remains higher in the hierarchy.
"What I mean to say is that you and all the others who are candidates for the crown are exempt from the pillar's observation. This is excluding the king himself of course, since he possesses the crown itself."
Gaius remained silent for a long moment, his sharp eyes narrowing as he processed the implications. The flickering starlight filtering through the canopy above cast shifting shadows across his face, making his expression even harder to read. Ashoka could almost see the calculations running behind those eyes.
Finally, the prince exhaled slowly, the sound heavy in the quiet clearing. "So the crown cannot see us… but the pillar still can, as long as we remain within its eye's reach. That explains why you insisted we cross the border." He leaned back slightly against the fallen log, arms still crossed. "Clever. Risky, but clever. You've clearly thought this through more than I expected from an outsider."
Ashoka offered a modest shrug, though his heart was hammering. "I've had time to observe. And a doomed man tends to notice the rules that bind everyone else."
Gaius gave a short, humorless huff that might have been a laugh. "Very well. But I have a question," suddenly his voice turned dark;
"How exactly do you know these things? About the two domains, how the pillar and the crown works and how a supreme being is? Except the old king and us princes, no one, not even Eldrin knows about what a supreme being truly is." His hand suddenly landed on the handle of his blade.
Ashoka let out a nervous laugh in return. Worry not, bladder, because I have already thought of an answer!
"What I say might sound like a bad lie, but I cannot talk about how I know of this. Despite the crowns lethargy in observing the candidates of the crown, there are some things that'll easily call upon it's attention, especially those related to its creation and the 1st king."
Lies. All lies. Nothing but lies had come out of his mouth this time. But in the end, Gaius still couldn't risk it, because what if it was really the case? What if talking about this matter would prompt the crowns undivided attention?
"Alright." In the end, Gaius reacted exactly as Ashoka had guessed. He had been shown a glimmer of hope and he could not let himself risk ruining his chances now.
The tension in the air eased just a fraction, but Ashoka knew better than to relax. One wrong word and the prince's hand could still find his sword faster than he could blink.
"One last thing before we continue," Gaius suddenly asked, "why me? Why not Oswald?"
Ashoka did not bother with any long commentary. The words that he heard so long ago that they sounded like a distant dream, once again appeared in his mind. A smile unknowingly formed on his face.
"Why? Well, there was a broken man who had once shared a bit of his wisdom with me, so let me share his words with you;
'Greed is ambitious, true, but it is also mad. It is a demon, a demon who devours itself in its endless hunger.'"
When Gaius didn't speak, Ashoka took the lead, grinning, "well then, my lordship, please tell me, how exactly you wish to seize the crown for yourself?"