Chapter 39 - Reading Books Is Harder Than You Think

"How was Sangfroid?" Leron asked worriedly.

"He's alright, he had scurvy." Vladstin's face returned to its neutral state. The emotionless vampire lord sees no reason to hide his true apathetic self since Leron already knows about it. 

Leron was even more distressed. "Scurvy!? How bad was it!?"

"Don't panic, he won't die. I will sense it if his situation worsens. I already gave instructions on managing his health to the Huntsmen." Vladstin waved his worries away, setting down the bag. "Your dinner is here. Let's go to the dining hall."

Elenore went to its post on its badly damaged birdcage, perching there completely motionless.

The two ate in silence at the dining hall surrounded by dead corpses. Leron's meal was fish soup today. Vladstin sipped his blood ration with no care in the world, merely staring off to space. After they ate, Vladstin left to dally on the throne room or go somewhere else entirely, just lazily strolling wherever, and Leron awkwardly waited for sleep to overcome him. 

Leron worried for Sangfroid, but he also knows it was unlikely for Vladstin to lie. He prayed to the Holy Dragon Lord for the first time in a long while. 

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"Which lead shall we focus on today?" Vladstin asked him indifferently as Leron had his early morning breakfast of crumpets and biscuits. 

Leron thought about it, nibbling on his crumbly biscuit. "Hmm.... Let us start by asking the mirror to continue the memory of me tutoring you about the Enciel. It was too long ago, there might be details that I can no longer recall." 

Vladstin nodded, eyes still focused on the food on his hand. 

Leron noticed this. "I-Is there something the matter?"

"What does it taste like?" Vladstin ask. 

"A little stale and bland, but it's alright." Leron picked up one and offered it to him. "Would you like some?"

Vladstin shook his head. "Anything besides blood tastes like nothing to me. I tried wine once, remember?"

Of course, Prince Leron did remember,

it was during their first reunion when he pretended to be a servant and bit him. It felt so long ago, but how could he forget? He touched the two punctures on his lower neck and nodded. 

"Well, it just felt like mud sliding down my tongue and throat." Vladstin said. "I have no hunger or appetite for human food either. When I see one, I am merely curious. I know that pastries are sweet, and oranges are sour, but that was it. I cannot recall the sensation of eating them myself."

Leron's heart clenched at this. Vampire lords may be invincible, but they does not equate their happiness and contentment. They are miserable beings with much power yet..... such a bleak and dreadful 'life'. The Vladstin he knew enjoys food like they were not only for the body but also for his soul, because when there's food, it usually involves spending time with loved ones or enjoying the surroundings he was in.

Vladstin stood up and operated the Looking Glass. He asked it: "Give us the memory of Leron teaching Vladstin about the Enciel."

The circular mirror heeded his orders and showed a scene of two boys under a tree, reading. 

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To be fair, only one of them was reading, and it was obvious as to who that is. The other one laid his head on his lap and listened while twirling the other's hair. 

"The Enciel's relationship with one another according to the Circle of Colors can explain many things in the war history of the Thirteen Kingdoms. There are thirteen kingdoms because they correspond to the 7 gods of colors, and additionally, 6 more tertiary colors because of the different combinations. These are namely red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red-violet."

"What color is Crescentia then?" Vladstin asked. 

"Seeing that your motifs are all about the Crimson Wolf and Rouge, it's highly obvious that it's red." Leron replied. "There are even theories that Rouge or the Crimson Wolf are avatars of the red god Erythrae."

"Avatars?"

"Yes. The Plutterian religion believes that the Enciel can have avatars that can both be a representation of themselves or a descendant of their power. It's a little confusing, so bear with me. I will be explaining to you the relevance of the Enciel to Rouge and Azul. First, let me give you a little test. Base from the Circle of Colors, what is the relationship between Red and Blue?"

"Um, they're both primary colors?" Vladstin remembered.

"Are they opposites?"

"No."

"Are they allies?"

"No."

"Good, you're correct." Leron patted his head. "But Red and Blue get tied together all the time. Blue is the color of Ilvedia, and yet even though based from the Enciel, we're not opposing colors, we still became foes. Long before that, we were believed to have become allies a few times. Then foes again, and the neutral parties."

Vladstin nodded. "I noticed too. Ilvedia is permanently at war with Zhauli, the one with the orange gecko flag, but your people go hot and cold to us Crescentians."

"Hot and cold huh? I think you've just unlocked a new perspective on the red and blue problem." Leron smiled. "Perhaps it was because red is usually associated with fiery and active energy, while blue is icy and passive."

"What is the relevance to this on the story of Rouge and Azul?" Vladstin rubbed his chin, finally interested in the subject.

"There are avatars of the Enciel who are an incarnation of the gods themselves, another form of the god. Historians theorize that Rouge is another form of the Red God, while Azul is another form of the Blue God. They were allies first but became enemies. Eventually, their relationship ended in a conflicting matter, because Azul perished before Rouge can confront him and may have reincarnated in another form to begin the cycle of hot-and-cold again."

"Couldn't that be just a coincidence?" Vladstin was baffled. "The Enciel and the story of Rouge and Azul are both myths. It's still doesn't explain current politics and warfare besides the correlation of the flag colors to the kingdoms' relationship with one another."

"But isn't there too much proof to be a coincidence?" Leron countered him. "I agree with Queen Vanesda that history does repeat itself endlessly. All the Thirteen Kingdoms' interconnected affairs can be explained by the Circle of Colors. The kingdom with a yellow-green flag is at war with the kingdom with a red-violet flag. The kings of Ilvedia, Faldenhorf, and Mystopia have good relationships with each other, and they have blue, blue-green, and green flags respectively."

"So are you saying that the leaders of this kingdom are reincarnations of these old gods?" Vladstin laughed. "That would make my father a reincarnation Rouge and Erythrae, and I can never believe that old man has anything divine about him! And what about me? Does the spirit of the god just pass to you when you get coronated?"

"I said that there may be avatars who are incarnations of the Enciel, but that's not always the case. Encielogist, people who study this correlation of historical events to the ancient gods, even think that godly forms and reincarnation are relatively rare, as likely as one per every millennium."

Vladstin blinked. "There are people who seriously study this stuff?"

"Of course. And they cannot be considered as eccentrics either, there is some sense to their words and they take time to research. " Leron closed his book.

Vladstin sat up. "Then if it's not reincarnated god forms or whatever, what are the other avatars? How do you discern them from just normal kings or leaders who are like normal people? How do you know which Enciel god or entity they were an avatar of?"

"The answer might make you skeptical." Leron said. "It's... through the color of their eyes."

"Huh?" Vladstin tilted his head to the side. 

"The color of your eyes might determine which avatar of the Enciel you most likely are. But it's not that you are reincarnation or a part of that Enciel god. These avatars are weaker than literal reincarnations, but are could still be considered as superhumans. Think of it as affiliation to a certain power."

Leron explained the affiliation of avatars one by one:

"Red-eyed avatars tend to be gifted in combat with weapons like Erythrae, and known to have the strongest willpower and endurance."

"Orange-eyed avatars are good at forging like the god of blacksmithing, Fornax, and some can even survive literal flames." 

"Yellow-eyed avatars are aligned with Zafaran who is known for his speed and agility, both in body and mind. They are quick when it comes to attacks but also on thinking of ways to get the advantage of a situation."

"Green-eyed avatars are good at healing and connecting with nature like the god Viridis."

"Blue-eyed avatars, as mentioned before, are peace-makers and diplomats like Caereleum. They are highly charismatic and know what to say at the right moment to change the course of someone's actions."

"The Indigo god, which surprisingly enough is just named as Indigon, shares many similarities with Freudiel which is his twin brother that sometimes they get mistaken from each other. Indigon is the god of the late evening, the darker part of the night sky, while Freudiel is the god of the twinkling stars and dusk where the sun has barely set. Indigo-eyed avatars have good eyes on seeing the darker and more hidden parts of a person or object. They can see clearly at night too. "

"And lastly, violet-eyed avatars are gifted with superior sight like indigo-eyeds, only that theirs are through distance and aim rather than perceptiveness. Freudiel is also a master when it comes to bows and arrows."

"Wow, that's a lot..." Vladstin gaped his mouth, then it went to a straight line. "Of nonsense. I know many people with these eye colors that don't fit these 'affiliations'."

"Like I said, eye color just determines their most likely affiliation. It doesn't mean they are automatically an avatar of them." Leron reminded.

Leron thought it's really nice to see this skeptical side of Vladstin, he must be particularly cautious when it comes to facts and knowledge. But when it comes to knowing who is being a true friend or not.... He should really keep his guard up more. 

"Then how can you differentiate someone with 'insert eye color' but human and 'insert eye color' avatars?"

"There's no real way, after all, this is just a theory. If that person exhibits those traits very strongly to the point that it's unbelievable, then they may be avatars." Leron handed him another book. "Here's the list of kings and war heroes that fit the affiliations if you need more proof—"

"I don't need to read it. I already memorized all the important figures and their mothers and fathers and uncles and auntie's grandmothers from all the Thirteen Kingdoms." Vladstin counted with his fingers. "I can remember 67 of them fitting these affiliations."

"That's exactly the number of avatars in this book." Leron blinked. "That's really amazing, Vladstin."

Vladstin blushed, but tried to act smug. "Of course! I'm a really smart prince, mother just won't believe it because our interests don't align. And Encielogy sounds too good to be true."

"Isn't the high number of evidence good enough for you?" Leron asked. 

Vladstin then shrugged. "But that 67 is still not enough to prove the existence of such avatars when there are thousands of people with great involvement in history. It sounds too convenient like labeling people to a certain box. These 'Encielogist' will be biased and find ways to relate eye color to everything."

"That's not true." Leron felt a little offended, because he's considering to study Encielogy, but kept it to himself.

"For example: I'm yellow-eyed, my father is yellow-eyed and my mother is yellow-eyed. Is my father an avatar of speed and agility because of how quick he eats and can clear a whole table of rum? Is my mother an avatar because of how quick she can think of punishments to give me and how fast she can take any objects to hurl at me when I'm not listening to her."

"Of course not." Leron shook his head and chuckled. "Those are bad examples—"

"Then what about me? You saw how I am on every wrestling match I joined since I was nine for the last four years." Vladstin leaned closer to Leron. "Do you think I'm an otherwordly being gifted by the gods or something? Is that why you're so insistent on the existence of these 'avatars'?"

Leron gulped. He was exactly correct. Vladstin was the reason why he got interested in Encielogy in the first place. 

He nodded slowly, looking away and waiting for Vladstin to mock him for thinking he's the next magical demigod or something.

Vladstin just smiled at him and took his hand. "I'm flattered that you idealize me that way. But I honestly think I'm just a human like you. Even if I was, hypothetically, I would still want to be a human like you."

"I don't want to be higher or lower than you. I want us to be equals, so I could always stay by your side. Being a god means nothing if it separates me from humanity..... and you."