Chapter 57: First Bearer, 48 BCE
Chapter 57: First Bearer, 48 BCE
Pluto and Cleopatra were standing face to face, Pluto was expressionless, while Cleopatra was surprised.
“Pluto, what are you doing?” questioned Druig seriously, but Pluto ignored it.
“What deal?” asked Cleopatra.
“I will give you power.” told Pluto. “In exchange, you’ll be an apostle of mine.”
“Apostle?”
“You’ll help me when I need help.”
“What kind of help?”
“Anything really,” said Pluto. “If I need a kingdom to run, I’ll call you, if I need advice on dealing with humans, I’ll call you, if I need a representative, I’ll call you.”
Cleopatra hummed. “Tempting, but I won’t be alive for long, am I?”
“You’ll be immortal like me.” blurted Pluto, surprising Cleopatra. “What do you say?”
Cleopatra thought about it a little. “If I accept… could I call you father?”
Pluto was weirded out. “What? Why?”
“No reason.” shrugged Cleopatra. “You’re giving me power, that means I’m to be your apprentice right?”
“Not exactly… but sure, you could call it that.”
“Then… what kind of power will you give me?” questioned Cleopatra.
Pluto opened his palm, facing the sky, and suddenly, a silver ring appeared, floating on his palm, glowing ever so gently.
“A ring?” questioned Cleopatra. “You will give me a ring?”
“It’s a ring that lets you do incredible things… with proper training of course.” said Pluto. “This one controls order.”
“Order?”
“It’s a hard discipline,” said Pluto. “But once you master it, you can turn the smallest kingdom into an empire.”
“Well what does it do exactly?” questioned Cleopatra.
“Many things.” answered Pluto. “Your voice is the law to humans. If they have a weak will, you could dominate them easily, and they will be at your command.”
“That’s it?”
“You could do more, but…” murmured Pluto. “That is for another time. The power of Order is hard to master because of its absolute preciseness, even I couldn't master them all. It is the opposite of chaos, which is also a hard discipline to learn as you need to actually be born with it.”
Cleopatra looked at the glowing silver ring curiously. “If I accept it, what will happen to me?”
“You’ll be connected to me,” said Pluto. “You’ll know where I am at all times, and vice versa. You’ll be immortal, you can’t rebel against me, and you WILL obey my orders.”
“So, a slave?” said Cleopatra with raised eyebrows.
“Not exactly.” Pluto answered. “In the next thousand years, I really don’t need anything, as I am still mission bound, but once I ‘finish’ my mission, I need help. Don’t worry, I won’t treat you as a slave, it’s just a precausion if one would be consumed by the power.”
“So I’ll be free for about a thousand years or so?” asked Cleopatra again.
Pluto nodded. “Because you’re immortal, you’ll need to fake your own death, people will question you about your youthfulness, and you must be prepared for that.”
“That can be arranged.” hummed Cleopatra. “Being a queen has its perks… such us declaring yourselves to be god incarnate…”
Pluto ignored her words and continued. “Once you take the ring, there would be no going back. You will know the existence of beings far more powerful than you could imagine, you will question your existence itself in front of those beings, a cosmic horror… if you accept the ring, your destiny will change forever, and you will fight for a greater cause, will you accept it?”
Cleopatra gulped. “What kind of cause?”
Then, Pluto spoke to her mind, so Druig couldn’t hear it. “Freedom.”
Cleopatra was confused.
“Don’t worry, once you wear the ring, you’ll understand everything.” added Pluto. “So?”
Cleopatra was once again staring at the glowing ring in front of her. She was tempted… should she take it? A power to command men using only her voice… that’s a handy power to have.
“If I faked my death, what will I do next?” questioned Cleopatra again.
“You will wait.” answer Pluto. “Do whatever you want, wander, build riches, stay in a place, seclude yourself to study the ring. But you cannot show yourselves, or a certain sorcerer supreme, or a bald man with one eye will come for you in the future.”
“What if I want to stop a war?” asked Cleopatra again.
Pluto shook his head. “You cannot stop the war entirely as a whole. But you can save the people caught up in the war, or fight in it disguised as someone, up to you.”
Cleopatra frowned. “So I’ll be like you.”
“Again, not exactly,” said Pluto. “You will relatively be free, while I am still mission bound. You could do whatever you want until the time comes.”
Cleopatra hummed. “Can I visit you?”
Pluto smiled. “Of course. I have a house in Sparta, you could use it, take care of Helen’s grave for me if you can.”
Cleopatra finally went silent. She thought about it, the plus, the minus, the consequences…
“All right.” nodded Cleopatra. “I’ll be your apostle.”
Pluto smiled widely as she agreed. “Excellent.”
The ring then floated to Cleopatra’s hand, and to her finger. As she wore it, the ring was attached to her finger, she tried to take it off, to no avail.
“It really is impossible huh…” murmured Cleopatra. “So… what do I do now?”
“Study.” shrugged Pluto as a book appeared in front of him. “The basics are quite simple, but if you want to dig down… even I’m not capable enough…”
“Is it that hard?” questioned Cleopatra as she opened the book. She didn’t understand what it all meant at all.
“You need a long time to study those.” smirked Pluto. “Very well child, let us meet again in the future.”
Cleopatra gulped. It feels like she has been duped… She forces a smile. “Thank you, father.”