With that finalized, we resumed our dinner, with the lords chatting once again about the nation's affairs. As for the girls, they mostly asked me about Earth: the life, culture, food, and just basically anything they could think of. It seemed they never got tired of wanting to know more about my world. I personally began to suspect they might want to realm travel to Earth and have a tour about the good old globe.
"Tell us about the seasonal changes on Earth, Alfie," Brenna said, looking eager.
"On Earth, we have the northern and southern hemisphere," I said. "And because the planet's axis tilts at a twenty-three-point-five-degree angle, we get the changes in seasons as it orbits around the sun. Where I live, it's summer at the moment, which is hot. Some of the things we do in summer are going to the beach, eating ice cream, and just hanging out." Which was exactly what I had wanted to do before I got myself transported here.
I didn't miss the fact that all three girls' eyes were sparkling at the sound of those mundane things.
Leona asked, "What is it like at the beach? What does it look like?"
I chuckled at Leona's eagerness to know more, especially about beaches and the ocean. "Long stretches of white sands and beautiful blue ocean. You can swim in some parts too. There are many watersports that you can do too, like water skiing, snorkeling, and diving."
As expected, they went ahead and asked me what each of those watersports were, and I gave them the short explanation. By the end of it, all three girls looked eager to give some of them a go. That was if they were available here in Aurora, which I very much doubted.
It was a bit later when I couldn't help myself and asked the girls, "One thing I don't understand is the seasons in Aurora. Is there a rhythm to that?"
Aria was about to answer when Lord Noah pitched in. Gosh, he really couldn't help himself, could he?
He said, "Before the apocalypse, our seasons did have a rhythm. Like Earth, Aurora orbits around Sol, our sun. Like Earth, Aurora was tilted on its axis too, though at a thirty-degree angle."
I nodded, my eyes wide as my gray cells absorbed all that information.
Lord Noah continued. "After the apocalypse, three-fourths of our world was annihilated, and due to the erection of the Aurora Barrier, everything changed."
Lord Victor chimed in with a chuckle. "You could say, Alfie, that the current Aurora doesn't follow the laws of physics. It's all topsy-turvy here."
Yes, I agreed that it was very topsy-turvy here in Aurora.
Lord Noah said, "Due to the barrier ecosystem, the seasonal rhythm is not constant and rather drastic."
Aaron said, "It took us about twenty years to figure out the pattern."
Twenty years? Jesus! That long?
Felix said, "Noah did most of the research, and he came up with a theory."
I cocked my head to one side. "What's the theory?"
It was Geoffrey's turn to speak. "The current Aurora is no longer a perfect globe, as planets are. Our realm is simply a mass encased in a magic barrier, floating in the cosmos. Of course, it's still orbiting around Sol."
I nodded in understanding. Otherwise, there wouldn't be day and night, right?
Geoffrey continued. "The land of Aurora can be roughly divided into nine sections in a perfect grid, with the Forbidden Forest being in the center of it all."
"The Forbidden Forest, which we're currently entering, is in the center of the realm?" I asked.
Geoffrey nodded.
Lord Noah took over. "Because it's at the center, it harvests the strongest qi out of all the kingdoms and, hence, has the strongest magic."
"I see," I said.
Caleb said, "When Aurora was first erected two thousand years ago, it originated there."
Lord Ethan said, "Rosehaven is the exact location. It's one of the top Meridian spots in Aurora."
Aaron said, "And has one of the strongest barriers in the realm too. It's hidden and tightly protected. Only those with a strong enough qi can see the place and pass through the barrier."
Wow! Rosehaven must be a very magical place indeed, then.
Lord Noah said, "Our seasons last one year."
My jaw nearly dropped. That long?
He continued. "Do you know this pattern, Alfie?" He snapped his finger and thumb, and instantly, dark qi exuded from his body and floated in the air and hovered over the middle of the dining table. Then he started drawing with his finger, and as he did so, the dark qi formed a nine-box grid, and within that were numbers one to nine.
I stared, dumbfounded, because the pattern looked familiar. It was exactly like the Feng Shui Flying Star chart, which Grandfather Kenjiro had taught me, with the numbers adding to fifteen no matter which direction you add.
I nodded. "I know this pattern. It's called the Feng Shui Flying Star chart."
Aaron said, "So you do have something like that in your world too?"
I nodded again. "Does it fly that way too? The numbers?" I lifted my fingers and released a bit of my pure qi toward the hovering dark qi. Then I drew the arrows, starting from the middle. I said, "Five from the center goes to the northwest, then the west, the northeast, the south, north, southwest, east, southeast, and then the center again."
Suddenly, the girls cheered while the lords chuckled in amusement.
Lord Noah said, "You know all this stuff, Alfie?"
I blushed. "Grandfather Kenjiro taught me when I was young. It was odd that back then I was very drawn to metaphysics."
Caleb said, "It's probably in your blood."
I nodded. I might have inherited that sort of interest from Grandfather.
Staring at the numbers in the air, I said, "Still, it doesn't explain the pattern. I know Acaedien sits in the west, and it is summer right now. Lyria sits in the north, and it's winter there. It doesn't make sense to me because the numbers don't fit. That's if it's the same as what I'm familiar with, with star number one, a water element, being in winter. If star one sits in the north, then Acaedien in the west should have star six, which is the metal element and season of autumn. But Acaedien is currently in the summer season, which is star nine of the fire element."
Lord Victor said, "You're right, Alfie. Aurora's seasons used to run in that rhythm, but it changed about fifty years ago."
Aria said, "The rhythm is chaotic now. It's due to the weakening of the barrier ecosystem. None of the kingdoms know what sort of season they'll end up with next year."
Brenna nodded. "Every kingdom always prepares stocks in advance, just in case. When they get the good seasons, such as either spring or summer, they go all out with horticulture."
Gosh, wasn't that like a random lottery or something? But with the seasons instead of money.
Lord Victor said, "And that's where making alliances with other kingdoms, especially those farther out than our own land, comes in handy. A treaty for aid, especially with supplies and troops, is always on top of the list."
I nodded my head in understanding. I'd bet Acaedien had already made alliances with most of the kingdoms, with the Forbidden Forest being the top because of that nation's access to an abundance of qi and magic.
Lord Noah then continued to tell me all the possibilities he thought might have caused the weakening of the barrier.
Lord Ethan interrupted. "Or it could be some bastard who wants to have a little fun and cause a shitload of mayhem by meddling with the barrier."
I cocked my head to one side. "Is that possible?"
Felix said, "It's very possible. Although, you'd need enough power, dark ones, to interrupt such a strong magic that is part of the barrier."
The other lords agreed with nods.