The Glorious Evolution

Jasmine’s Deserted Kingdom.

Levi reached the camp just as Arthur finished dragging an enormous throne to the head of the dining table... he had a wide, foolish grin planted across his face.

His Harmonic Spine traced its high back, broad armrests, and the three stars mounted above it... There were even steps leading to the seat.

Jojo was spreading a tablecloth in front of them.

”Your Majesty!” Arthur announced while bowing with his arms raised. ”Your humble brother has prepared your seat!”

Levi stopped walking, his brows twitching... he could already tell that none of them intended to let him eat in peace.

”What happened to regular chairs?”

”Nothing. Those are for us... peasants.” Shia sighed.

”He wanted a bigger one,” Nurah informed him. ”But then you wouldn’t have been able to reach the table.”

”Tsk, a king shouldn’t have to reach... People bring him things.” Arthur glared at them for daring to make such disrespectful remarks.

”People are about to bring you a fucking slap if you don’t cut it out already,” Jojo said as Arthur planted a boot on her freshly arranged cloth. ”Move, gorilla.”

”You were supposed to bow when he arrived,” Arthur muttered in annoyance. ”You always ruin everything.”

Levi listened to Shia and Nurah laughing somewhere behind the throne and wondered how long they had spent preparing this nonsense.

Apparently, long enough for his dinner to start getting cold.

”Sit,” Shia told him. ”If we wait for Arthur to finish his speech, we’ll be here until breakfast.”

”There’s a speech?”

”There was. I told him my mother would love it.”

”She said that like it was a bad thing,” Arthur complained.

”It was.” Shia didn’t mince her words.

Levi stepped over the tablecloth and took his seat. Whatever else he thought about their little ceremony... the cushions were comfortable.

Too comfortable, actually.

Levi turned toward Jasmine, who had approached with a big fan... his lips twitched; he hadn’t expected even Jasmine to get roped into their shenanigans.

Seeing his reaction, Jasmine started fanning him with an amused smile while Nurah brought him a drink on a tray.

”See?” Arthur said. ”Already wondering how to get it into your studio?”

”I’m wondering whether Jasmine will be kind enough to kick you all out of her territory,” Levi chuckled.

”Ah... he’s becoming a tyrant already.” Nurah giggled. ”Off with his head!”

Everyone laughed as they settled in their chairs around the table, which was already packed with delicious-looking meals.

For a few minutes, Levi enjoyed his meal while Arthur explained which parts of the throne he had designed himself. Jojo supplied corrections whenever his version forgot to mention her involvement... which happened often enough for her to give up and call him a liar.

Then Nurah opened the shared dimensional screen.

”We should show him what inspired all this.”

”Start with the good memes!” Arthur said immediately.

”You said that about every picture with him in it.”

”Because they’re good pictures.”

Jojo took over the controls before his defense of Levi’s entire public image could begin.

The first recording showed Levi being thrown backward across the Board, followed by a cut to him resting on the throne.

Jojo read the caption with great serenity.

”’Everything went according to plan.’”

Arthur objected at once.

”They cut out how he got there!”

”Yes... It’s a short recording, gorilla. Nobody has time to watch him pass the same tile six times.”

”It wasn’t six.”

”Would you like me to count?”

”I’d like you to choke on your bread and stop nagging me.”

Arthur immediately pushed the basket toward her, making Shia almost spit out her drink.

Nurah, meanwhile, had found the replies... Half-Radian and Half-Oblivar accounts were arguing about bloodline purity, lineage, and why the throne proved nothing. Each lengthy explanation had received the same image of Levi sitting on it.

”This one’s written eight paragraphs,” she giggled. ”Your supporter replied with the throne picture and a score of two–zero.”

Akira and the Light Eater occupied the losing side... the caption above them read: Bloodline pride.

Levi continued eating while Nurah went through the other posts. Apparently, the picture had already escaped the game’s discussions and become useful for almost anything.

When they block you halfway through proving you wrong.

Levi on the throne: ”Victory by surrender.”

When your Bet wins after twenty minutes of you spamming ”RIGGED.”

Levi on the throne: ”Never doubted him.”

When the team wins, and your only contribution was ”we’ve got this.”

Levi on the throne: ”Leadership.”

”Ahahaha! Send me that one,” Arthur demanded.

Others had removed the ruined chamber and placed him above armies, in front of burning cities, or at the head of gatherings he had never attended... apparently, his exhausted posture possessed enough aura to survive any background.

However, the original picture remained particularly popular whenever either bloodline’s followers entered a discussion.

-Our lineage has stood beside the Radians for generations. What has yours accomplished?!-

The throne. Two–zero.

-Keep laughing. Let’s see how brave you are when the Oblivars hear about this.-

-Already calling your parents?-

The throne again.

Even attempts to claim him were going poorly.

-You idiots realize Celestial has our blood too, right?-

-Funny... yesterday, you were calling him an abomination.-

Nurah opened the replies to that one, finding several people helpfully supplying the account’s older comments.

”Oh... they kept receipts.”

Levi almost felt sorry for the fool.

Almost.

None of their hostility surprised him. He had read enough of it on the Stargazers’ site after the Joker game... both camps had been quite eager to explain why he belonged to neither.

His own fans hadn’t helped much back then, deciding that he was the one to unite them all without bothering to ask him first.

But this was different.

What caught his attention was how many people joining in weren’t his supporters. Some admitted they hadn’t watched either game... they were simply tired of being talked down to.

They weren’t asking the two camps to unite.

They were telling them to shut up.

Every familiar lecture about ancestry, powerful patrons, or the consequences of forgetting one’s place was being answered before its author could finish typing.

The worst part? Many of the loudest mouths had barely any Radian or Oblivar blood to boast about. Their ancestors’ connections did most of the work whenever they demanded respect.

Now, those same claims kept dragging their camps’ reputations through the dirt... each one invited another picture of a man relaxing after defeating someone from their side.

Their backers were still terrifying... but their followers were becoming easier to laugh at.

And with each argument, more people seemed willing to join in.

Levi’s three stars were appearing in profile pictures well beyond the Stargazers’ pages. His name was being quoted in discussions he knew nothing about, and his throne had become the banner people posted whenever either camp grew too loud.

It worked precisely because he possessed both bloodlines without ever claiming to belong to either.

”They’re picking fights in your name now,” Nurah informed him, sounding far too entertained.

”I noticed.” Levi sighed.

The Stargazers’ slogan had been troublesome enough... now, strangers were using his face to antagonize people who already hated him.

They would get their laughs, close the discussion, and move on with their day. Meanwhile, every insult would give someone else a reason to remember Celestial.

Though he was annoyed, not scared... he knew that even without the pictures, mixing their bloodlines had already earned him a place on enough people’s lists.

So... fuck’em.

His friends’ nonsense continued until Jasmine placed a small window beside the public feed.

’When you’re finished... there are some things he should read.’

Jojo closed the argument, revealing a collection of letters addressed to Celestial... Jasmine had gathered them from the pages sharing his performances.

’About your music,’ she added.

While the others had been collecting things to tease him with, she had been seeking kindred souls who loved his songs as much as she did.

Levi put down his spoon.

Nurah opened the first letter and began reading aloud.

-My brother sent me your song. We haven’t spoken properly in years, so I thought he was going to ask for money again. I called to tell him not to bother... we talked until morning. He didn’t ask for anything. I don’t know if you’ll ever read this, but thank you.-

The next came from a man who had stopped playing after his wife’s death.

He had taken his instrument out that morning, attempted a piece they both liked, and given up before finishing it.

-I left the case open this time. I’ll try again tomorrow.-

Arthur rested his elbows on the table, listening without interrupting.

There were many more... letters about lost relatives, years spent looking after someone, or simply a miserable day made a little easier. Some thanked him in a single sentence.

Others seemed to have started writing and found themselves unable to stop... halfway through, they weren’t even addressing him anymore, just letting out things they had kept to themselves for far too long.

Jasmine had saved those, too.

-They keep apologizing for writing so much.- She signed this time. -I thought you should see them before they get buried.-

-How many are there?- Levi signed back.

-I’m still finding them... they seem endless.-

Levi already knew the Stargazers had organized his performances into playlists. He had found them himself after the Joker game, complete with names his fans had given the songs.

But Jasmine’s collection showed how far those recordings had traveled beyond the people who followed his battles.

People were sharing the music with the fighting removed, sending it to relatives, and recommending it to strangers who had never watched a single game of his.

To some of them, Celestial was simply a masked musician... and a rather troublesome one to follow.

”This woman has been asking where to buy your album,” Shia said. ”She found the playlists, but she wants proper recordings.”

”And?”

”She searched for your other performances.” Jojo paused, stifling her laughter. ”’Why is he blowing himself up?’”

”What did they tell her?” Arthur chuckled.

”That he does other work.”

”Very occasional work,” Levi said, smiling wryly.

Yet, even while the others laughed, his attention returned to the letters.

He had felt what his music did to people before... their grief, their joy, the memories his notes brought back during his battle with the Light Eater.

He knew his violin could offer more than another means of hurting an opponent.

But that was while he played.

These letters told him what happened afterward.

Someone had ended a silence between brothers that had lasted for years. Another had returned to an instrument he couldn’t bring himself to touch after losing his wife.

They weren’t only thanking him for how a song had made them feel... they were telling him what they had done because of it.

The man with the instrument had probably meant nothing more than to thank a stranger before getting on with his day... yet Levi found himself returning to the last line.

The case was still open.

’Send me the collection...’ he told Jasmine. ’I’ll read the rest when my head is working properly.’

She forwarded it, then added a short message of her own.

’You should consider recording something for these people... when you aren’t fighting.’

Levi remembered her reaction to the music during his battle with the Light Eater... how she had felt it despite hearing nothing.

She had thanked him in her own way afterward, giving him a painting so he could appreciate a view his Harmonic Spine couldn’t fully show him.

Now, she had found other people’s ways of thanking him, too.

-For them?-

-For me, too.- Jasmine signed with a soft smile.

Levi smiled in return and said nothing else.

For once, Arthur also allowed a subject to end without adding anything.

Then he reached for Jojo’s food.

”You shameless prick...”

”You weren’t eating it!”

”I was reading the signs!”