11 Echoes of Time

Third Person PoV

Location: Ruins of Death, In Front of The Royal Palace, Former Re-Estize Kingdom, Sorcerer Kingdom, New World

The capital of the former Re-Estize kingdom, once big and busy, was now a total mess. Everything was smashed and broken. Buildings that used to stand tall were now just piles of rubble. It was like a giant puzzle that got all mixed up, but nobody was there to put it back together. Or rather dared to put it back together.

The streets were messed up too. No more shops, no more people walking around. Just paths through the broken stuff. The air smelled bad, like burnt things and dust.

The palace, which was once really fancy, looked sad with parts of it destroyed by magic. And yet it was the only standing structure in the desolate city.

The throne, where the king used to sit, was now on top of a big heap of broken things. The crown, which was a symbol of the king, was sitting there too. It was like a weird seat made from the pieces of the city.

The city looked like a picture of sadness, frozen in time. Even though a quite a while had passed, the memory of the big disaster was still there, like a shadow over the ruins.

Yet, today was different. Large crowds had gathered from far off lands to this city where no one should have dared to enter. A city that should have been considered a forbidden zone.

In front of the palace, on a makeshift stage stood a single man. The man looked like he was in his late 60's wearing robes symbolic of priests or the clergy. He was rather lively for his age with his shoulder length hair floating in the wind.

He shouted with enthusiasm to the gathered crowd: "Men and women, children or the elderly; I am pleased that you have come here on this day. It does not matter whether you are human or demi-human today, for we have gathered here due to our shared suffering."

The crowds started whispering and a consensus of tacit understanding was reached. That was indeed the reason they had come here.

"Yes, suffering. Tragedies that your ancestors experienced at the hands of that monster. And tragedies we continue to experience by extension. You know who I am talking about even if you dare not speak of him. I am not scared of saying his name. Yes, I am talking about Ainz Ooal Gown."

The crowd was immediately silenced in shock. Even with the passage of time, the overlord of death remained a sensitive topic of conversation. Parents referenced him while telling bed-time stories to their children to scare them into being obedient.

The ruler of death was and always would continue being the very symbolism of evil that treaded the lands.

"Ainz Ooal Gown, an undead who should not interfere in the affairs of the living, spread devastation to every corner of the world from this day, 200 years ago. No one dared to believe that the fearsome ruler of death simply vanished, bringing all his evil minions with him.

The terror he spread still grip these lands in their clutches. This once lively yet now destroyed kingdom we stand on is proof of that. His evil still lurks under the hands of his believers.

His minions and the cult of his worshippers gather in the Baharuth province. They have free reign to perpetuate their evil deeds under the rule of the immortal heretic emperor who submitted to the overlord, Jircniv. These cults spread tragedies throughout the world."

Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix, an infamous figure who was considered to be the henchman responsible for keeping the overlord's ideas alive in this world. If not for the overlord's cult gathering under his protection, they might have already been wiped out by this point of time at the hands of angry denizens of the New World.

New World was a term coined by the Overlord to refer to these lands. A word now commonplace in conversations instead of referring to these lands as simply the world. Even if the overlord left the stage, many of the reforms and ideas he had introduced still existed.

And whether people liked to admit it or not, they were still followed as a matter of course. In a way, the world might have been a worse place without the interference of the overlord. Just look at this gathering.

Humans and demi-humans standing together without conflict or discrimination. Such a notion would have been impossible to imagine without the ruler of death's interference. Of course, the evils caused by his hand, directly or indirectly caused people to consciously ignore this.

"But that all started to change when the lord arrived. The God of Revival preached in 'His' gospel that the world had become rotten and stagnated. Evil in people's hearts brought forward the Overlord of Death to spread havoc on the lands 'He' created.

Destruction had to come before creation. The God of Revival, the 'P Lay Er' responsible for creating our world brought salvation to us. His black knights started hunting down the heretics and we nearly have peace. May we be blessed by the lord."

"May the lord bless us…"

"May the lord bless us…"

***

Location: An Underground Bunker, In a Hidden Corner Of The World

At the same time as the priest preached to the gathered crowd, another meeting was taking place. People would have fainted immediately if anyone had every witnessed these faces. The gathered members were all historical infamous figures.

The first was the aforementioned heretic emperor, Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix. He looked much the same as in his youth except for a few scars on his body that were a testament to the conflicts he had experienced over the years.

The second was his former aide. The head of Arwintar's Ministry of Magic, Fluder Paradyne. But in the modern context, this old man was known to be the one that the Overlord passed on his teachings and knowledge to.

The third was Neia Baraja, the head priestess of the Overlord's cult and one of his most fanatic followers.

The fourth was Crush Lulu, the infamous co-leader of the demi-human faction that were corrupted by the overlord's power and diverged from the modern demi-humans. Alongside her spouse, Zaryusu Shasha who was currently absent.

All of these were beings who had been given some form of immortality by the overlord, whether through race change or otherwise.

"The cult of revival is dealing massive damage to our forces. It is only a matter of time that before we are defeated. This cannot be allowed. We must maintain majesty of lord Ainz before he returns Do you have any ideas?" Jircniv spoke.

Even if he might have looked devout in his belief to Ainz, this was far from the truth. His zeal was driven not out of fanaticism but fear. He believed from the bottom of his heart that it was impossible for the overlord to perish.

No, he refused to believe that. That monster was beyond their comprehension. He loved playing such tricks before coming back striking a devastating blow to his victims. It was likely that his disappearance was a part of a grander plan he was concocting.

Jircniv acted as the leader of the overlord's followers, even becoming the most infamous human in history, due to the undying fear he had of Ainz. Especially, after experiencing history personally, there was no way he could entertain the thoughts of going against Ainz.

But now one of worst fears were about to be realized. All his hard work was going down the drain due to this cult of revival that sprang up out of nowhere. If all of this had been a test set by Ainz to ensure his followers loyalty, Jircniv would be the one to shoulder most of the blame.

He also could not kill himself to escape his dreadful existence spent in fear. No, Ainz was the ruler of death. Dying would mean directly falling into his tormentor's hands. He had no choice but to find a solution out of this situation.

"We can launch a full scale war to teach those heretics a lesson once and for all." Neia replied.

Jircniv had to hold back the urge to shake his head out of frustration at this nonsensical suggestion. Even if you called the god of revival a heretic or false god, he was a god nonetheless. Even if Ainz gifted them immortality, it was nothing in the face of a god, a 'P Lay Er'.

"No, we can't do that. Our forces are not enough to take on the rest of the world backed by the false god." Luckily, Crush was more sensible than Neia.

"Then what do you suggest? Should we watch our forces and territory shrink each day. We who once controlled the New world in Lord Ainz's, are slowly becoming a laughingstock in the world. How can we allow such a stain on the lord's reputation." Neia rebuked.

Just before the scene became more chaotic, Fluder spoke up for the first time since the conversation began.

"Calm down, everyone. There is no need to panic. The reason I have conducted this meeting to spread the good news."

"What do you mean, old man? Speak up if you have a solution." Jircniv asked as if he had seen his life-saving straw. The old man's advice had helped him through multiple dangers in the past.

"I conducted research alongside my fellow acolytes on the location where the Lord Ainz's holy land once stood near Carne, the paradise. We studied the residual energies released by the grand scale space magic casted over there for the past 150 we finally have results."

After a dramatic pause, Fluder continued speaking:

"A space channel had been opened between that land and another unknown location using grand scale magic beyond the 11th tier. While it is impossible for us to cast it, we can reopen that torn space for a few minutes so that 2 of us are able to go to the other side.

This can only be done once with our meagre power, so we can't waste this chance to look for Lord Ainz. Of course there are lots more limitations like…"

The words spoken by Fluder were beyond their wildest imaginations. Although they did not understand magic lingo that Fluder went on to explain, they understood one thing. There was finally a way to meet the overlord again.

'So is this one of your plans, Sorcerer King?' Jircniv let his thoughts go wild. From his perspective, all of this was a part of Ainz's plan.

Perhaps the test of loyalty he had thought of earlier, was not to maintain his kingdom, but to successfully seek him out on the other side of wherever that space leads.

"It goes without saying that I must be one of the people to go to the other side as his main representative." Jircniv declared while cutting off the old man's rambling, not allowing any dissent.

No one argued about this fact as what Jircniv said was true. He was the indisputable head in charge of Lord Ainz's immortal empire in the Overlord's absence. It was only appropriate for him to go.

But the same could not be said about the other spot. That remained to be contested.

***

~I don't want the New World to just disappear without it having any part in the plot. And I also find Jircniv thoughts and his interactions with Ainz hilarious for some reason, but maybe that's just me. Hope you enjoyed reading!~