Chapter 36: Holem's Crown
"Elven Irregular? Are you talking about the Elves from the Ancient Legends?" Charles widened his eyes in surprise and asked.
Eddie also started by Charles's knowledge about Elves and nodded in appreciation.
"Yes, I saw that vision 500 years ago. Suddenly, an elf appeared from the City of Miracles and then ascended to a God in less than a decade. He then stood beside humanity during the last planar invasion and helped us repel those foreign invaders. By the nature of Fate, he shouldn't have come to our world and caused a variable in the timeline. But he came to our world a few centuries ago and made a name for himself." He deliberated for a second and then added in a deep tone,
"He now goes by the title 'Sun God'."
'Sun God again?' He took a note of this Sun God and thought of staying away from him in the future.
"Why are mentioning him now?" Charles felt confused by his ancestor's words and asked.
"Well, you are the second 'Irregular' that piqued my interest when I was looking into the future visions. Unlike the other visions, I saw a vague shadow of myself or my family member in one vision. After finding out that the 'Irregular' will be my descendant, I made a plan and created the prophecy like I normally do. After that, I didn't interfere in any of the real-world matters and mostly secluded myself here in this Dream World. I indeed wrote the prophecy. But, I'm not the one who led you and your mom to this city."
Turning his face solemn, Charles nodded his head and soon asked,
"What about Holem's Crown? Why is it sneaking inside the Riverdale city?"
Eddie Nightwind's face went dark as he heard that name, and soon he spoke with a sigh,
"That artifact… Before I tell you about that artifact, I will tell you about how I obtained it. When I found the Holem's Crown, it was drifting in outer space towards an unknown destination. I tried to capture it, but it retaliated with full power. A fierce battle happened in the void, and finally, I managed to capture it in a sealed Time Stone. But, I soon realized that I don't have the power to maintain the sealed Time Stone. In the meantime, Holem's Crown also felt the danger and made a suggestion.
It said that it would surrender to me in exchange for its future freedom. Holem's Crown told me that it could create 'Miracles' by stealing lucks of other peoples and tempted me to sign an Abyssal contract. I was a little naive back then, so I fell for its trap. But I did some tricks before signing the contract, though. That's the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life." Eddie let out a bitter laugh and continued with a deep sigh.
"I tricked the Holem's Crown by creating a realistic illusion and showed it to create ten miracles for me and my descendants to get its freedom." He paused for a moment and spoke while scratching his head,
"In reality, I altered the condition and added two zeros after 10."
"1000 Miracles?!" Even Charles lost his calm for a second and stared at his ancestor full of respect and awe.
"You are the real Trickster!" He was astounded by Eddie's evil trick.
"Well, I should have prepared for the consequence when I tricked the Series-A Artifact to sign a slave-like contract. When I dismissed the illusion, it almost went on a rampage, so do I." He heaved a heavy sigh as he said that.
Charles narrowed his eyes at his words and asked while creasing his brows.
"What do you mean by 'So do I'?"
Eddie stood up from his seat as he shook his head, went near to stand while facing his back against him, and said in a gloomy tone.
"Like me, it also used a strange method and altered a condition. The condition is that after creating a miracle, the user has to bear the consequence." He paused for a moment and soon said while shaking his head.
"User will become the Unlucky one."
Upon hearing those words, a chill went up to Charles's spines!
'Unlucky?… Unlucky Star?…' He froze for a second and soon asked a strange question.
"Ancestor, do you know anyone from the Holmes family?"
"Why do you ask?" Turning around, Eddie asked in a surprised face and soon answered.
"It's been a long time since I heard that word. Marie Holmes… She is my second daughter and was married to Holmes Family under this artifact's proposal. It was a political marriage and I agreed to it without putting much thought into it. In two years, she suddenly became ill and soon died of an unknown curse. After her death, I lost contact with that family and even lost some clue to find the culprit." After saying those words, he even created his daughter's virtual video and showed it to him. It was a video with realistic sound effects.
As he saw the virtual video, Charles's mind went blank for a moment.
She had long black hair, an oval face, tan skin, and deep-set jade eyes like Charles's. But what caused him to be stunned was her facial appearance.
'Her face looks almost similar to me. If not for the tan skin, black hair, big breast, and female gender, she and I would look like identical twins.'
Eddie noticed his puzzlement, let out a chuckle, and replied while dismissing the video by waving his hand.
"Most of our family members have some similar facial appearances, so it's not a rare thing in this magical world."
Nodding his head, Charles pinched his chin and asked,
"Can you tell me more about her? What main class did she choose? What did she like most? Whom did she love in her childhood life? What is her sub-class?"
Eddie went silent upon hearing his strange request and sighed after a long silence. He couldn't even able to comprehend what the hell did his descendant was thinking in his mind and became completely stupefied. After thinking for a moment, he gave up on understanding Charles's character and started talking.
"She is a very active one and always loves eating sweet items. As for her main class, she is a [Psychologist] class mystic and has one powerful unique skill. It has some relation with the power of 'Time'. As for her sub-class, it is the [Fire Mage] class. You have many similarities with her characters and even classes. If you were a girl, I would have thought of you as Marie's reincarnation."
Charles went silent for a long time and soon began to think.
'Similarities… Well, we are from the same family, so there is nothing strange about having similar characters and similar facial appearances. Now, my main problem is A-035… Holem's Crown…Jimmy Holmes… Jimmy might be the descendant of Marie Holmes… It also indicates that he has the blood of Eddie Nightwind… But somehow, Holem's Crown didn't choose him as a successor and took him as a temporary host… No, that doesn't add up… There must be some other reason. It might have chosen Jimmy Holmes as a temporary owner for another purpose. Why did it choose me as its successor?'
He furrowed his brows in suspicion and soon asked,
"Ancestor, did Marie have any children?"
Puzzlement crossed Eddie's face as he heard strange questions from Charles.
"No, she didn't have any children." He shook his head and went silent.
In the meantime, Charles felt more confused.
'Then, why did it choose Jimmy Holmes? What did I miss now?' He also stood up from his seat and walked near Eddie Nightwind. He then peeked at the odd tornado and red clouds for a second and soon widened his eyes.
'Holem's… Holmes… What if the Holmes family's original name was Holem in the first place? I also heard that some humans came from other worlds after the destruction of the first Arcane Empire and became Edhen World's residents… What if the Holem's Crown was an artifact owned by the Holem Family long ago but somehow got lost in time and space? That's not entirely impossible… And by some 'Miracle', Eddie Nightwind found that artifact in the space and brought it to Edhen World where its real owner was…Did it manipulate the 'Fate' itself and made contact with Holmes' family through the political marriage of Marie Holmes? What the f*ck? From when did I start overthinking? But I don't think that it's a mere coincidence…' His lips trembled as he came to a daring conclusion.
'Holem's Crown might be plotting something big… Really big…' His heart thumped harder as he rubbed his sweaty hands and soon asked,
"Is there a way to control that artifact, Ancestor?"
Upon hearing his question, Eddie curled his lips upward and said with a smile.
"Yes. You can control it by tricking the artifact once again."
"You are dreaming. Do you think it is very easy to trick the tricked one?" Charles almost got angry at Eddie's reckless proposal.
An amusing smile appeared on Eddie's face as he shook his head and asked,
"Do you know why I made such a complicated plan to contact you instead of just appearing in front of you?"
Charles stared at the nightmarish yard for a second and soon frowned.
Noticing his frown, Eddie let out a chuckle and said while waving his hand.
"Do you think that it is easy to trick a Series-A artifact?"
"No. Unless you are a legendary trickster, it will be very difficult to trick an intelligent artifact." Charles shook his head and said solemnly.
"Correct. You see, the Holem's Crown uses some strange method to detect its owner or its inheritor. During the past hundreds of years, I studied its strange mechanism and finally made a breakthrough. I tried many methods and finally managed to find a solution." He paused in deliberation and soon took out a reddish paper from the nearby cupboard.
"And, what's that?" Charles asked in curiosity.
"It's a fake Abyssal contract. Like other artifacts, this Holem's Crown seems to have some weakness against illusion-related things. So, what if we use a contract made of 'Illusion' and 'Imagination' to trick the Holem's Crown instead of taking risks?"
Charles got more or less confused by his words and stared at him with a clueless face.
Eddie shook his head and then started to speak.
"You see, this world is not some normal world. The Woolbringer world is somewhat linked to all the planes in the universe and can influence reality itself. Abyss and hell are not exceptions. There is also a strange Abyss-like Superior world hidden somewhere in this Dreamworld. It's the real power of 'Imagination' and 'Dreams'. I already created an Abyssal Contract with the Dreamworld power through countless trials and errors and now waiting for a suitable candidate to complete the task. What do you think? Can you do it?"
Charles went silent upon hearing the old man's question.
'Although he is speaking honestly, I can't show any recklessness.' He thought to himself and posed a question.
"What would you gain by helping me take full control over the Holem's Crown?"
A sly smile crept on the old man's wrinkled face as he stared at him for a moment and then said calmly.
"That artifact can create miracles, so I need you to create a very large miracle for me when I'm trying to complete a ritual."
"Ritual?" Charles blinked his eyes in surprise.
"Yes, it's a ritual to turn my false soul into a true one with the power of 'Imagination' and 'Dreams'. Unlike other rituals, this ritual is a very complex one, and the possibility of succeeding is almost zero." Eddie deliberately paused for a second and continued with a mysterious smile on his face.
"Unless a big 'Miracle' happens, it will definitely end up as a failure."
Charles thought for a moment and soon widened his eyes.
'Big Miracle… He is the one who needs the A-035 artifact most, but it seems he didn't have the power to capture it… No, the Holem's Crown might have already sensed his death and the present 'Him' might not have the power to control it… Yeah, he is just an incarnation of Eddie Nightwind and also a fake soul, not a real one…' Multiple thoughts whirled in his mind as he understood Eddie's plan.
