The Epilogue isn't the End [BL]

5. The First Mission Assigned

Unsurprisingly Asterius's room is even more grand, a four-poster bed with hanging navy blue gauze curtains, beautiful hand-woven rugs, and a ceiling covered in a mural of the night sky, except the clouds are gently moving so maybe it's really the sky? (Which would be impossible since it's sunny out, but who is he to know how magic works here?) Dozens of candles in an array of mismatched candelabras are scattered around, the only light as there are no windows, an obviously intentional design choice.

Carefully William clicks the door shut behind him, as soon as it closes he sighs, letting his shoulder drop. It had been painful making sure he was always standing straight and proper even through the ungodly heat. Maybe later he can convince the System to only wear two layers of his robes, surely no one would notice right?

Carefully he makes his way over to the bed, it feels like an invasion of the original's privacy to go poking around his stuff, but he needs a nap.

The bed is soft, softer than anything he's ever felt and it takes all of his willpower to not just flop right over and sleep. 'Think first, sleep later,' he tells himself, carefully sitting down at the edge of the bed.

The little stars that had been following him around since he arrived, finally also give him some space, swirling around him one last time before scattering into the room. With an echoing chime all the candles go out, but the room doesn't plunge into darkness, because the little stars glow brighter, moving up and up, until they rejoin the painting of the night sky on the ceiling.

"Guess I'm going to need to get used to living star paintings too," he mutters staring up at the now unmoving mural. 'Maybe they thought I was going to sleep?' he thinks, but there are more pressing things to consider, like 'what happened to Beth?'

The System had claimed he had died in the crash, but what of his sister? 'Was she dead as well? If I play along would the system bring her back to life as well? Was she here too, forced to play another character? Would the system even tell if it knew?'

"I'll ask the System later," he decides out loud. Beth was important of course, but first, he needed to figure out his survival. If he couldn't perfect his Asterius impersonation, it would be his head on the chopping block.

Asterius was obviously mentioned in the book a lot, mostly from his siblings' point of view. Maria and him only spoke about three times. And though it is revealed he's the mastermind behind most of the couple's strife, his reasoning, motives, and goals weren't ever explained. William had assumed he was evil just because, a convenient tool for the plot, nothing more. At the time he hadn't minded, he was reading for the romance after all, not the villain's complex reasoning for being bad, but now he really wishes the author flushed out Asterius just a bit more.

He only knew three things for certain after reading the novel.

1 – Asterius hates his father. It was mentioned at the very end, a shoehorned-in half explanation of why he was being evil. Asterius's father, Heilous, was the former God Emperor, and even years after his death, Asterius still holds a grudge against the Royal Sun. (What that grudge is, was sadly also not explained.)

2 – All the other Celestial Gods were afraid of him. He was the god of fate after all, and if displeased he could turn yours into a nightmare. So, none of the other gods ever spoke out against him for fear his ire would ruin their future.

3 – Everywhere Asterius went, the demon followed. A step behind, a quiet intimidating presence, the only time in the book when they weren't seen together was at the very end. William had thought it a bit strange that the demon, 'Cadeyrn' he reminds himself, forcing his brain to dismiss the vivid image of his smirk, wasn't there. His only trait was being with Asterius, which made his absence all the more jarring. 'Maybe there was some sort of secret there?' Why Cadeyrn wasn't there can be a problem for the future him. Currently, that meant Cadeyrn would be following him everywhere, which was both a blessing and a curse.