Stepping through the door into the hall where he had instructed all the Sleepers, now Awakeneds, to assemble, Gilgamesh surveyed the scene. Inside, all the newly Awakeneds were chatting amongst themselves, oblivious to his presence.
He could easily spot the former Sleepers who weren't as useless as the rest, such as Sunny, Cassie, Nephis, Gunlaug and his lieutenants. Of course, Kai, Effie, and Seishan were absent.
Gilgamesh had checked and he had been unable to find Seishan kneeling within his Soul Sea. This was to be expected; even though he had spent some time with her in the Dream Realm, it wasn't enough to sway her loyalty from her Sovereign.
Taking a step forward, the crowd's chatter quieted as he made his way towards the podium with the metalic clang of his armoured feet ringing out sharply, a smirk playing on his face.
The Awakeneds respectfully parted away as he moved between the clear space created by them, with a few more steps, he was at the stairs of the podium.
Climbing up, Gilgamesh walked till he was at the centre of it, his hands clasped loosely behind his back while silently gazing at them all.
His immediate plan was simple enough: enjoy a few days in the real world, observe the current state of affairs, interact with the right people, and determine if any additional steps were needed to establish a Legacy Clan.
However, his first and foremost priority was to aura farm.
With a flourish, Gilgamesh raised his arms, a smirk making it's way across his face in amusement because of what he was about to do next. Slowly, he spoke, the words ringing out of his throat deeply.
"My fellow survivors of the Forgotten Shore, you have done it. You have managed to survive and reach the real world, against all odds."
He lowered his arms, his gaze turning serious.
"For years and years, you have spent wasting away your lives in the unforgiving Dream Realm, under cruel tyranny, hopeless, weak, helpless."
Gilgamesh paused again, surveying all of them, gazing into their eyes as they looked up at him with an almost worshipful intent, hanging on to his words, giving him their undivided attention.
Perfect.
"You had given up, no longer focused on finding a Citadel, but instead on trying to survive to the best of your abilities. There was no such thing as escape no such hope of rescue, only despair... that was, until I had arrived."
The spirits of the Awakened rose at his words, their eyes glazed in remembrance of the time before his arrival.
"I defeated Gunlaug and his lieutenants, reworked the system thoroughly, and as promised, in a few months I had brought you all back to the real world, unharmed, untouched, without even needing to fight against the waves of the filthy Nightmare Creatures."
Pausing again for dramatic flair, he continued, "Now, all I ask of you, is to join my Legacy Clan. Come along with me, my brothers and sisters, join me in carving a new path, a better path for you, me, and humanity itself. That... is all I ask for."
Gilgamesh finally finished his speech, looking at the assembled crowd before him with a somber expression. With a clenched fist, he thumbed his chest, and with that all the Awakeneds forming the crowd erupted into cheers with jubilation and concerning amount of worship.
"I'll follow you to hell and back, my liege!"
"You didn't even have to ask us; we would have joined you either way."
"For glory!"
With a satisfied smirk, Gilgamesh stood there as hundreds of Awakeneds praised him, declaring their allegiance to him. To be completely honest, he had no reason to even make this speech; he could have simply ordered them, and they would have listened. He had done it for the love of the game... and to feed his ego.
Remembering something, Gilgamesh simply raised his palm to silence them, which worked instantly, to his pleasure.
"We will meet again in a week to discuss the future plans. Until then, spend your time with your family and friends."
Done with everything he had wanted to say, Gilgamesh teleported out.
...
"I am really excited to meet my parents!"
Cassie smiled excitedly at him, her eyes gazing into his as she sat on the edge of her assigned bed in the Academy room.
Wanting to interact with her, Nephis, and Sunny before departing to his house, Gilgamesh had managed to find her first out of the other two.
Nodding his head at her with a smile, he took her palms into his Even after spending months in the Dream Realm together, she still blushed slightly at something as minuscule as hand-holding.
For the most part, Gilgamesh was no longer doing these things just to manipulate her. Of course, he still recognized her immense value as his subject and wouldn't let her go no matter what, simply because of her potential as a seer, Cassie would be invaluable and indispensable in the future when he would be traversing the Nightmare Desert, alerting him of the dangers beforehand. He had grown to care for her a lot more than he had initially wanted to.
"No doubt, Cassie, they will be just as excited to see their cute daughter."
Smiling brightly at his words, the seer could not stop herself and went on and on about the numerous and various things she would be doing now that she was no longer in the Dream Realm exitedly. The things ranged from cooking, to buying new clothes, and simply enjoying her time slowly. Paying half attention to her words, nodding and adding his bits to her statements, Gilgamesh couldn't help but think about the future.
The first thing he needed to do was choose a Citadel closest to the Nightmare Desert.
With his limited knowledge of the Shadow Slave world, the only Citadel he knew was closest to it was the one with Saint Tyris, what was it called again? Chained Isles or something right?
There could be many more that he was simply not aware of, but he wanted to spend time there not only to satisfy his curiosity but also see the Noctis coins, and of course, he would get to spend time with Tyris as well.
Shaking his head at the thought, Gilgamesh smiled and focused fully on what Cassie was saying. Once she had stopped, he gently released her hands, her disappointed expression turning to a pleased one as he patted her head instead. Not wanting to sit in the chair, he stood up from his chair to stretch just as he did, he remembered something and smirked, teasing Cassie lightly.
"Don't forget our promised date, Cassie. I'll be there to pick you up in three days, around eight at night."
He hadn't planned the date and time before, so Gilgamesh had to make one up on the spot.
When she heard his words, Cassie paused for a second, processing it, and nodded her head enthusiastically, her bright blue eyes lighting up.
"Of course! I'll... be prepared when you arrive."
Just when he was going to say something, the faint excited talks of two people heading towards the door informed him about the arrival of Cassie's parents. Turning towards the door, Gilgamesh tilted his head before looking at Cassie.
"It seems that your parents have arrived. I'll be taking my leave then. Enjoy your time until we meet again, my seer."
The blind girl blinked, looking hastily towards the door as he teleported out.
"Wait! You don't even know where I live!"
...
Next up was Sunny. It didn't take him long to find her inside her room, diligently writing everything she knew about the Forgotten Shore. Gilgamesh teleported into her room unannounced, causing her to spring up from her chair and summon her Memory out of instinct, her muscles coiling tensedly, legs bended to spring forward. The deadly look on her face relaxed and turned into a sheepish one when she saw who it was standing in her room.
"You shouldn't teleport unannounced like that... I could have been doing, uh—something. I could have been naked for all you know."
She quickly looked away, hiding the expression on her face by staring at the book on her desk.
Hearing her words, Gilgamesh couldn't help but laugh; she always led herself into a trap rather easily, he was starting to suspect she did it on purpose.
Sunny moved towards her chair and sat down, turning to face him, her face carefully blank. Moving towards the wall to lean against it, he grinned at her, "Why, wouldn't you like it if I did?"
When Sunny heard his words, she gave up, surrendering herself to her fate, no longer trying to resist her flaw.
"Yes."
Immediately, he burst out laughing again while wiping the tears that escaped his eyes at the resigned expression on her face, it reminded him of that one meme of the dog in his previous life.
Even after everything, using Sunny's flaw against her was one of his favorite pastimes. It was just too easy, especially if he phrased it in such a way that it would be impossible to avoid treacherously. It had even helped her become better at handling her flaw. He got enjoyment out of it while she got practice; truly it was a mutually beneficial relationship.
Running a hand through his hair amusedly—he remembered he had to cut it—Gilgamesh pushed off the wall, walking towards the bed to sit on it. Once seated with his arms behind his back for support, he looked at Sunny seriously.
"What are your future plans now?"
A hesitant expression flashed across her face as she heard his question.
"I... don't really know what options I have."
Ah right, street rat and all that; obviously, she didn't know about the various factions she could now join. Knocking himself lightly over the head for forgetting that, he began to explain the options she had. Of course, his knowledge of these things was rather lackluster as well. Still, he told her everything that he knew.
"Well, there are three main factions, namely, Valour, Song, and the Government. If you want to enjoy a life of luxury, with no freedom, you should sell your soul to either Valour or Song. On the other hand, if you're feeling rather daring and want to live an overworked life with no freedom, you should sell your soul to the Government."
Gilgamesh paused to sip water from a bottle that had fallen from [Gate of Babylon], chuckling slightly at Sunny's attentive expression.
"You could join some smaller clans as well, if you feel like it; they'd gladly accept you, though I don't see why you would want to. The last remaining option is to remain independent, which while you may not get as many resources as you would if you were to join, let's say, Valour, you would however be your own master and could travel the Dream Realm as you please."
Putting the bottle back inside of [Gate of Babylon], Gilgamesh smirked at her as she wrung her hands in thought.
"The best option, obviously, is to join me."
Broken out of her thoughts, Sunny nodded her head slowly, thinking it over and expressing her approval.
"That is what I would have liked to say, but for now, I think it's better if you were to remain independent."
She blinked at his statement, her dark eyes looking at him questioningly.
"I have already stunted your growth by taking away all the opportunities that would have forced you to evolve and overcome them. That's something I cannot tolerate. For that reason, I am advising you to remain independent, at least for now."
Sunny opened her mouth to say something but paused, thinking over his words. Multiple emotions passed through her face before settling on something serious. A few more seconds passed as she remained silent while Gilgamesh stared at the wall boredly; he already knew her answer, after all.
Finally, Sunny broke her silence with a nod, "I... can see your reasons, I guess. You're right, it's probably best for me to go alone for now."
Satisfied with her answer, Gilgamesh got up from his place on the bed, ready to teleport out. Just before leaving, he gave his last piece of advice. "Also, if in the future, you're faced with a creature that can copy everything about you, don't use your True Name to defeat it, no matter what, unless you already have a master."
Not waiting to see as her face shifted between shock and confusion, with her mouth hanging open, he teleported out.
...
I would have liked to add the interaction with Nephis as well but I was running low on time. With my exams starting on 25th of this month, most of my time is going into studying.
Also, whenever I read the interactions between the characters I feel as if something is lacking which I don't get when I am reading other better works. Maybe it's because I am being overly critical of my own writing, but I am not sure. Let me know if you feel the same way and if you do, why is it so?
Same time next Sunday boys?
...
Word Count: 2221