Will of a Prince

Squabee and Sarah were walking peacefully down the stone street, talking softly to each other.

"Hey, Sarah. Can I ask you a question?"

Sarah looked at her with a bit of surprise. Squabee wasn’t normally the curious type, but more the person who would roll with whatever craziness happened around her thanks to her power.

"Sure. What is it?"

"It’s about the people of this kingdom. When was the last time you saw someone other than us walking in these streets?"

Sarah thought to herself for a while.

"Well, we’ve seen the guards and we saw Enki. Other than that, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone since we first arrived here. However, it would be disingenuous to neglect mentioning that I have heard them before as we’ve walked these streets."

"That’s just the thing. Hearing people is normal, sure, but how can we keep hearing them and never see them? Even if it was a completely random interaction, I feel like we should have many more of those for being here so long."

Squabee was right. This kingdom was much larger than Iron Kingdom and they had hardly seen a soul besides themselves.

"What about the situation that happened yesterday? Where the neighbors complained about hearing us talk about... naked people..."

"It’s the same thing as usual. All we saw were guards. Think about it, Sarah. Do we even have neighbors? I haven’t heard or seen them if they do exist!"

Sarah scratched her head. Squabee was making a lot of sense, but they were only going off of a few days’ worth of data, so it was difficult to come to any immediate conclusions.

"Maybe they simply want to be left to themselves."

"How can you still be arguing with me?! This place is not normal!! Well... I know we are trapped in a moment in time or whatever, but I think the people of this kingdom are giving us a hint of what kind of kingdom we’re living in! Enki said he needed more information, right? Why don’t we just take today to look around the kingdom for the sake of research?"

Sarah looked at her with surprise.

’Since when was Sqaubee so proactive... wait a second.’

"Are you just suggesting this to get out of training?"

Squabee started blushing and coughed into her fist.

"Oops. I’ve been compromised!"

Sarah sighed and slouched her back as she walked.

"You’re hopeless. However, what you said made me curious. We can look around the kingdom most of the day, but we still have to do training of some sort, so Slimo and Lidia do not get mad at us."

Squabee nodded in agreement.

"Fair enough. Let’s start by Enki’s place since he’s close to the gate of the kingdom."

They both trotted lightly through the hollow street towards Suber Charms. Sarah was the first to enter the place. Enki was in his usual spot behind his counter. His shimmering golden eyes looked at them with surprise.

"Oh! It’s you guys! Gotten a little more powerful since last time, huh Squabee?"

Squabee looked at him confused.

"Huh? I don’t know what you mean. We came to talk to you about something"

Sarah walked forward.

"When was the last time you had a customer in your shop?"

Enki’s eyes narrowed.

"Just a moment ago, an older fellow visited me for hearing aids. Can you believe it? Hearing aids from someone as great as me!!"

"Do you know who he was?"

"My identification charm told me he was someone named Samuel, but he had a nickname like Doc or something."

Sarah rubbed her face.

’Since when does Doc need hearing aids? And how the hell did he get here before us?! We were ahead of him!’

"That’s one of our friends. Anyone else?"

"Hm... besides that criminal you’re associated with and the pretty lady, I have not had anyone in about three years or so!"

Sarah paled.

"Three years?! How the hell can you stay in business?!"

"Sometimes the guards come and buy charms from me, but they always end up disappearing not long after. I wonder if my shop is cursed or something... but you two seem to be doing fine, so maybe not!"

"What do you mean by disappear?"

"To be honest, they probably just find out about the horrible aftereffects of my charms and never return!"

Enki chuckled a bit but sighed.

"I think I should be more honest with them..."

"You think?! What kind of business are you running here?!"

"One that keeps me alive long enough to make more charms!"

Sarah ran her fingers through her hair, trying her best not to knock some sense into Enki.

"Anyway, three years a crazy long time. How many people have you seen on the streets when you try to advertise your business?"

"Nobody! Not a single person! It’s so aggerating too. I always hear voices coming from the streets next to mine. I wish some of that business would wash over here sometimes."

"You haven’t thought to move your business?"

"I can’t afford to! I’m dirt broke!"

"I see. Well, I think I heard everything I needed to hear. Thank you for talking with us."

"Wait just a moment!"

Enki reached into his mythical robes and pulled out a small monocle. Sarah grabbed it from him and studied it cautiously.

"What’s this?"

"You’re going to need it for that one next to you if ever plan on controlling that power she has. It’s a lighter identification charm variant than the glasses. It only tells you information about a Zalo... well, it actually only tells you information about her exact Zolo power. That is the drawback."

"So, I don’t have to worry about getting cancer if I put this on?"

"Nope! Not for that model, at least!"

Sarah looked at him with a frown.

"Can you stop poisoning your charms?!"

Sarah slowly steadied the monocle around her right eye and looked at Squabee. Most of the runes remained the same from last time, except there were three new lines underneath all the other ones.

Release: When this user releases their power, they can choose to either bestow their luck to someone else for a short period of time or they can take away the concept of luck from another person for a short period of time.

Transformation: This user is capable of transforming into an Angel Incarnate that grants all those she chooses with extraordinary luck, but not to the same extent their power gives them.

[Zalo’s Blessing]: This user has earned the blessing of the former deity. This user cannot be corrupted.

Sarah read the last line confused.

"What the hell does being immune to corruption mean? Can people get corrupted in the first place? And I thought Zalo was dead? How is it possible she earned a blessing from him in the first place?"

Enki shrugged his shoulders.

"Who knows?! Isn’t this world so interesting sometimes?! Even I’ve never heard of anything like corruption before! It sounds terrifying!"

"Why do you sound so exuberant?!"

Squabee ran over to Sarah.

"What does it say? What changed about me?"

"Well, it appears that you have received a blessing of some sort which makes you immune to some sort of corruption. You’ve also unlocked a release power and a transformation ability."

"What does it do?"

"You can give someone else your luck for a short period of time or you can take away the concept of luck from someone. I have no clue what that last part means. As for the transformation, you turn into something called an Angel Incarnate? I’ve never heard of such a creature before."

Both of them looked at Enki for an answer. He raised his hands innocently.

"Don’t look at me! You are the walking calamity here, not me! But as far as transformations go, users can only transform into creatures that exist or have existed before. I’m fascinated to understand what kind of creature an Angel Incarnate is."

"Wait, so I can actually grant someone else my luck?! That’s fantastic! We should try it now!"

"I don’t see why not."

Enki stopped them as Squabee started preparing herself.

"Hold on a moment."

Enki drew a large red runic circle around them. Sarah looked at him oddly.

"What are you doing?"

"It’s for protecting my shop in case one of you explode or something. As long as I have this enchantment activated, nothing can enter or leave the circle."

"What’s the drawback?"

"It took away half my blood to draw the circle. I’m going to sit down now."

Enki fell to the floor holding his head. Sarah went to walk over to help him, but she was stopped by an invisible force. She laid her hands against it curiously.

"Interesting."

"I forgot to mention. You both only have around a minute before the enchantment breaks. It’s quite a powerful one, so please hurry up."

Squabee nodded and held her hands up towards Sarah. She felt a strange desire in her gut that she clung on to and guided to her fingers.

"Release."

A strange beam of light shot from both her hands, hitting Sarah. After everything calmed down, Sarah looked at herself.

"How do you feel, Sarah?"

"I feel a little different. I wonder if-"

Suddenly, two massive javelins were stopped inches from Squabees head. One of the ceiling beams broke and fell against the barrier protecting her. The ground beneath them started to shake. Numerous animals flooded the store and kept ramming into the barrier. Outside, they could hear two guards yelling at each other.

"Why would you throw your javelins at them! We have to get a hold of those animals for the Queen!"

"I’m sorry! I panicked!"

Just then, a meteor the size of a small rock broke through the ceiling and exploded against barrier. Thunder clouds started forming in the sky around Enki’s shop. Sarah and Enki looked at the scene with horror.

"What the hell is happening?!"

"Give her the luck back! Quickly, before my shop gets completely destroyed!"

Sarah rejected the strange feeling coursing through her. Suddenly, everything started going back to normal. The clouds disappeared, the animals all ran out of the shop, and the barrier fell, causing the javelins to fall to the ground. The beam that laid against it dropped right next to Squabee, missing her by mere centimeters.

Everyone looked at Squabee in shock.

"I thought you were supposed to give me your luck?"

Enki grabbed the monocle from Sarah and started flowing strange purple strings into it.

"What are you doing?"

"I realized I forgot to add something to this. I assumed there were no downsides to her Zalo because of her threat level, but it looks like I was wrong. What I just added should also share some dangers that come with her using the power herself."

"Any new drawbacks I need to worry about?"

"Just the knowledge of the drawback Squabee will receive seems burdensome enough. It must be some drawback for me to not need to add one. I’ve never had this happen before."

Sarah refixed the monocle on her eye and stared at Squabee. Underneath her release power was a new line in red text followed by two blue lines containing new information.

Warning: This user’s existence is reliant on their luck. Upon the user giving their luck to someone else, the world will reject them.

Information updated: Weakness

Weakness: This user is never vulnerable. Ridding this user of their luck is the only way to kill them.