Eldritch

 

"It seems you all have your share. Please excuse me, I should go out and look how the others are doing." (A)

 

Ariana leaves us for some time so we can eat our meal and thus, it's time for a talk.

I don't want to.

 

"Iori, what the hell is this!?" (M)

"Iekh! I'm sorry!" (I)

 

"Grumble"

 

"Makoto, I doubt I have to point that out to you, but this is the worst place where you should do anything to shake her mentality." (H)

 

Did she seriously say this just now?!

 

"Thank you, Ms. Honozuki." (S)

 

Mum is holding me tightly.
And honestly, I need this right now.
Everything feels just wrong, and I... I just don't know!
I'm simply confused!
A bit of reassurance helps.

 

"No bother, please, call me Haruna." (H)

"The forename? Just like this?" (S)

"Sure, never had any love for those stiff courtesy rules." (H)

"Not like I want to ruin this moment for you, but we're still at it to find out what the hell goes wrong here! Especially what Iori has now done again. Intentionally or not." (M)

 

At least I've got the benefit of the doubt that I'm not doing this on purpose.

 

"I need to say, I didn't expect this, but they all seem friendly enough, so I don't see a problem with being here." (C)

"You don't see a problem?! Chiaki, this whole situation is the very definition of a problem! There are far too many unknowns to just fly with it!" (M)

"Iori, don't you have any idea about what's going on?" (S)

"Uh, the way they described their ancestors. How they showed up and just had something like a basic command in their minds. It might be that an unintentional thought of mine made them appear here. I mean it might've been enough that I simply thought about people." (I)

 

• People!
   
• People!

 

"Ahh! No! Stop it!" (I)

"What was that?" (M)

"I, I almost gave in to this thought. It's such a thin line. God, what have I done?" (I)

"What do you mean?" (C)

"If, if what Ariana told us is true I'm responsible that some of them died. The world I created attacked them. That's, that's evil, right?" (I)

"Iori, you're by no means evil if something happens while you can't possibly know the right course of action. Yes, maybe it was a terrible accident for some of them, but this doesn't mean you're at fault. No one here can blame you for not having complete control over everything you can do." (S)

"Already making the list might take years." (H)

"Th-thank you." (I)

"But this isn't explaining everything. Why do they look so strange or are like they are? Mum?" (M)

"I have an idea, but still require more data. At the moment it's at best a half-baked theory." (H)

"Good enough! That's still better than anything else we've got." (C)

"It might be that our outer god here somehow was able to establish the miniature version of a soul cycle in this realm." (H)

"Gasp!" (M)

 

Okay, supposedly it's one of those outrageous things which I have no idea about.

 

"What even is a soul cycle? And how would I make one?" (I)

"As I said, nothing is proven yet. A soul cycle is the passage of birth, life, death, afterlife, and reincarnation that each soul goes through. If the souls are again ready for another round at life they'll be reborn and this repeats and repeats. However, I'm talking here about the great construct that governs not only our world but the whole dimensional cluster it's linked to. While there might be other dimensions with their own rules, you should keep the scale in mind. The simple thought that there's such a system in place for only several hundred souls is ridiculous." (H)

"Then what makes you so sure this is what happens here?" (I)

"Well, the indicator would be their souls itself. Is there anyone without soul sight here?" (H)

"You know that I can't do this very well yet, mum." (M)

"If you mean the ability to see auras, all of us have it." (C)

"Okay, to summarize, their souls are bland. This grey that is overly dominant here looks as if its base was just pressed together with raw material to fit the form. Just the right composition and molded into the required shape. But they're lacking the details. A real soul is intricate and has countless nuances. A symphony of color, life, and emotions. Without it, the body would just be a programmed robot. I'd dare to say that's what most of your constructs are, Iori." (H)

"Then isn't this implying that those aren't real people?" (I)

"That's exactly the point. Some of them are. Those who gained a bit of color. And for some reason they have to show it off for everyone to see." (H)

 

So they aren't just constructs but I literally created souls out of nowhere?
This is absolutely crazy and I definitely am not suited for being the creator origin of sentient beings.

 

"How is this possible?" (I)

"The thing is, it shouldn't. So my only theory which could explain this is that something in this world lets the souls of the deceased continuously be reborn. Like this, they gain personality through all the experiences they make in life. And did I already mention that time runs apparently faster in this world than in ours, which is ridiculously accelerating this process? It's insane. I love it!" (H)

"How can this even be? I already had a hard time accepting that Iori can create whole worlds just like that, but a whole populated world? That's madness!" (M)

"As I said, too much happens here unintentionally. I have no idea how to make it stop." (I)

"Well, now we are here. Time to investigate!" (C)

"Honestly, shouldn't I just teleport all of us out? We don't know... We don't know anything! It's all a big uncertainty!" (I)

"Isn't this fun? A real medieval world." (C)

"This is no game, Chiaki. Those people live real lives. They might become hostile for whatever reason." (I)

 

Like realizing that their whole existence is founded on a single stray thought of mine and there's not a single reason for it but the whims of an adolescent teenager?
Yep, that might upset some of them.

 

"They are just normal people. It's about as dangerous as going into the city on a free day." (C)

"It's still not safe. They said there are knights in my castle. Maybe we better leave. Mum?" (I)

"We are here inside you, right?" (S)

"Yes?" (I)

"I think we should figure out what goes on here. To decide what that means for you. I mean, can we just leave them be? It's really strange to think about this." (S)

"I don't know. What else should we do? It's not like I could dump them on some random street in Japan, right?" (I)

"If there's no problem, why don't leave them be?" (C)

 

Chiaki's way of thinking is really simple.
It's not like I can ignore something like a sentient being I created.
There is some kind of responsibility I have to take.

 

"Well, the fact that those people are living in a space which is ridiculously deeply linked with me makes it a little difficult for me to ignore them." (I)

 

On the other side, I have simply no idea how to tackle this problem.
Literal voices in my head might be an issue but for all accounts they are people and I can't simply throw them out.
I wouldn't even know where.
If recent history showed one thing then that immigrants and refugees aren't welcomed kindly by most countries.

 

"I vote for staying. I'm very interested in this library and we should make sure that they can't open any portals on their own." (H)

 

Before I can say anything Ariana and the man we met before on the plaza enter the house.

 

"Ehm, I wanted to inform you that the preparations are finished and we can embark to the castle. You are... required to go there." (man)

 

He's obviously uncomfortable about ordering us around.

 

"Sure, come everyone! I wanna see the castle!" (C)

"Did they cause any problems for you?" (man)

"No, no. They're all really nice." (A)

 

Thank you for that, Ariana.
She tends to us.

 

"Please forgive Noah. He might just be a little perplexed about your arrival. Something like this to happen is absolutely fantastic. A story of our oldest legends." (A)

 

We all were already set on visiting the castle, so it's not like someone needs to convince us to accompany them.
Mainly, I want to see what they did to my place.
They prepared four rather huge carriages on the square, stuffed to the brim with all kinds of things which are supposedly food.
At least I can see many corocas.

The other plants are unknown to me but while none of them looks safe to eat the fact that they're cultivated on the fields tells me that they're actually fine.
It must've been an effort to gather so much but nobody here looks particularly sad.
If this tribute is something akin to taxes, then no one complains that they are too high.
It might be that the inhabitants of the castle just take enough food to have regular meals, but the sheer amount on the carriages tells that there must be quite a number of people living in my castle.
Well, it's big enough.

The people still eye us with the reasonable concern and worry of people who live in a dark, monster-infested world and never met anyone else.
It's only natural that they're afraid of the foreign and unknown.
In my case, this might even be founded.
Not like I plan anything but I have to admit that I'm scary.
Yet while they're wary, none of them seems to be hostile.

A short time later the carriages start moving.