Reincarnated In An Apocalypse

Berry

Berry was still sitting on the dirty stair. Zale didn't mind sitting there either. The lobby had only natural lighting. Everything looked beautiful and peaceful, with the slow sound of the raindrops in the background.

Berry looked at each of them slowly, one by one, before sighing a deep sigh. I know that this palace is supposed to stay hidden at all costs, but I can't do that alone. I'll just let them know about the palace as well and get some money. He thought to himself and started,

"My grandfather told me this tale of the king of immortals, and I saw that palace once when I was young. I can help you."

Berry knew the story, but there were so many loose ends to it. Moreover, people from his ancestry treated it like a fairy tale, so with the passage of time, there were so many changes in this story.

Berry was about to start the story when suddenly he saw the person from last night again. It was the one who was being stabbed by a kid. That person was crying in the arms of a beautiful young lady. She looked elegant, gentle, and wise, and she had tears in her eyes as well. She was wearing royal clothes, but her physique looked like a fighter's. It was not muscular it but looked strong.

Berry kept looking at them for a long time. Orion and others looked in that direction as well but saw nothing. Zale tugged Berry's shirt. Berry was back to his consciousness, but those two disappeared.

"The story is that there was a young prince. His parents were so strong that they invaded countless territories and won over them. Soon, they established a huge empire. They now wanted to take over the neighboring empire, but it was hard to win it. So they decided to marry their only son to the only princess of that empire. When this was all being decided, the prince was 17 years old. Almost in a year, everything was done, and he was married now. He had everything one can wish for. Soon his parents died, and he understood what death was. He left the empire in his wife's hands and started searching for immortality. With the help of ministers from his court, he ended up finding it. He did it all because he wanted to stay with his wife forever. But when the wife was informed about the immortality thing, she killed the king in his sleep, and everyone else related to it. She then took over the secret of immortality and then just disappeared into thin air. No one knows where she went. They say that the palace where the king worked was hidden and had only one guard. He was very loyal to the king. That guard was our ancestor. And he promised that he will protect the palace with all his might even his next generations will do the same. That is how we know about it."

The story was over, and Berry looked at everyone, expecting some reactions. He knew how Orion will react, but he was curious about Zale's reaction. I know my story is not baseless, but for them it is. Zale has looked so calm. Will he be able to keep his calm any longer? Berry had no intentions of testing others in the beginning, but now the story he narrated itself turned out to be a test for Zale's patience.

"This story was so lame. What the hell is it? If it was not for the palace, I would have killed you in between the story." Orion shouted at the top of his lungs.

Archer and Liam agreed with their boss as well, even though they have no idea what Berry talked about, for the entire story, they were just dozing off and got startled when Orion started shouting suddenly.

"Yes, it was so baseless. You should be thankful that you are still alive." Archer shouted as loudly as Orion did and secretly looked at Orion to see his reaction. But his try to win Orion's favor was in vain because Orion was busy predicting Zale's thoughts.

What Orion said was right, though. Who would want to enter a barren palace just on the basis of this tale? Was that palace even real? Even Zale looks disappointed. It's been years since they started wandering all around the world just to find some clues to immortality. It was all in vain. They finally got some clues to the palace of the king of immortality, but it all seemed a joke now. This king is very famous in the tomb raiders community, even 3-year-olds know about him, but still, no one was ever able to find his residing palace or tomb.

Zale was a biology professor and researcher. From his research on plants and the human life cycle, he is sure that being immortal is possible. He is an eminent scientist, all he needs to publish some great works is time, which is limited for a mortal. He made it his priority to find this secret. Even if he can't be immortal, at the very least he can find a way to live a longer life, like some plants.

Zale was all alone in this search at the beginning until he found Orion, or maybe we can say Orion found him, hanging upside down in a common architectural trap at the entrance of a tomb. Orion was with a sizeable group of people at that time, and he was the leader of the pack. He first laughed at the site of Zale, but then helped him down.

His subordinates went to raid the tomb alone because Orion had a minor injury in his left leg. It was not as if he felt any pain walking around, but they were just being cautious. Before bringing everyone else to the tomb, he had already examined the architectural structure of the tomb. He was aware of the type of dangers they would feel inside there, and it was best for him to stay away with an injury, as it would just slow them down. He had a plan from entering to leaving, a map, and an idea of the type of traps and dangers they would face inside. All of these were told to his subordinates, so it wasn't necessary for him to enter himself.

Later that night, Orion and Zale had a small talk about kings and queens when Zale found out about the immortality king. Zale found it hard to tell people about his research. He didn't want to be known as a psycho scientist, but he had some rock-firm evidence to support his research. He finally gathered courage and told Orion about it. Although Orion was illiterate, but was quite quick to grasp knowledge. He mostly understood what Zale meant. He found it interesting as well. But his family traditions are all against this kind of jinxed thing. But Orion still chose to help Zale.

That's the reason everyone left him, without any real comrades. So he found two men to work for him at pay. Orion and Zale are enough as a brain all they needed was a little workforce.

They went around many old houses in this business and found some clues. All those pointed towards Berry's grandfather. Unfortunately, they were a little late. Now the only clue left is Berry. His story doesn't really make any sense, and he even looked mentally upset. But they have no more options now.

Orion and Zale looked at each other. Zale took a deep breath.

"Ok, can you now take us there?" He still asked Barry politely.

"Will you pay me?"

"Yeah, we will pay you. We already promised you."

Orion looked at Zale. He knew that Zale's last few hopes about his search were withering off.

"We should leave tomorrow morning. We can't go there at night."

"Ok" Orion knows the rules, so he didn't force him to work recklessly.

Soon the sun was setting. It was chilly now. There was no time left for them to go and find a hotel. Berry had already offered them the best rooms he can give. But what can be the best of an old wrecked building?

At night, almost midnight, Zale came out of the building. He looked at the stars for a while in some deep thoughts. Then he laid down on the ground. It felt so peaceful. Soon Orion came out as well. He came over and silently sat beside Zale.

"You know what, I feel I am wrong. What if in search of more time I end up dying without accomplishing anything at all?" Zale was speaking his heart right now. They say that all you speak at night is the truth. And that was the case here.

Orion already had a rough idea about what Zale had in his mind since they found Berry. Orion is not the type who can comfort people, but he certainly can divert people's train of thought.

"You know what, my mom used to say that when we are looking at the stars, in a way we look at the past. I don't know what it means, but see carefully, maybe you can see the king."

"Was your mother a science student when young?" He asked, smiling.

"Yeah, she was. She could have happily lived her life in the city, but I have no idea what she saw in my father when she married him. By the way, how do you know?"

"It's a famous quote in the science world." "When you look at stars you are seeing the past," Zale spoke silently and again got lost in the stars.

On the other hand, Berry was really seeing the past. He heard some noise from the outside, so he looked outside the window. He never dares to look at stars, because his grandfather told him not to do so. But because of Zale and Orion, he ended up looking at them. Those were so beautiful that Berry almost forgot to shift his focus from the stars until he suddenly realized what he was doing. He quickly closed the curtains and went to bed. He still had those stars shining in his eyes.