Part 1.
The light from the screens above was the only light that filled the otherwise desolate space, just enough to reflect off the rippling floor. Eventually it would lead you to hear the sounds of the ripples that were actually silent. It was a space designed to drive the inhabitant insane. That sole inhabitant just happened to be a small, frail, emaciated, dirty elf girl. There was no other word to describe her other than pitiful; the very sight of her was enough to shatter the ice of even the coldest of hearts, something that Alex could attest to.
She had managed to regain control of some of her faculties, while here eyes were still wet, the tears had managed to stop. However, she was now lying down on the ground, and seemed to be unable to lift herself back up. Her hands were outstretched towards Alex, clawing at the space between them. Alex to a step toward her, looking at her poor weak figure, laying helpless on the ground. “She was the Demon Lord’s child? Why does it say it here, but not on the other Evona? Where they actually two different people?” The thoughts were rolling around in his head as he sat down next to the girl.
Now that he was close enough, she latched on to his closest leg, and struggled attempting to lift herself up. Realizing what she was wanting, he picked her up and marveled at just how light she was, even with her malnourished body, and put her down in her lap. Unable to keep her body upright, she fell back onto his chest. “Are little girls going to be a reoccurring occurrence in my life?”
“If she was the Demon Lord’s daughter, does that mean she joined the Hero to kill her own father?” That seemed to be only logical conclusion, considering what he was told by Evona earlier. It also explained why it was such a hard story for her to tell. It wasn’t just a story remembering the lose of friends, but even the death of her father at her friend’s hands. “You have been through a lot kid.” He said to himself, while rubbing her head.
“But you overcame it didn’t you. You came out on the other side such a powerful, albeit interesting, woman, didn’t you.” He had stopped rubbing her head, and had placed both hands on her shoulders, helping support herself upright, while then looking around in the darkness. It was the look that people did in a situation where they weren’t sure what to do next, as if some random yet unseen person was going to pop up and give them the advice they needed to move on to the next step. “This is real life… of course there wouldn’t be someone who magically appears like in a fantasy novel.” He sighed.
He looked back down at her, she was now looking up at him, her dewy pale green eyes reflected his image back at him. She had a spacy stare, reminiscent of someone working really hard trying to decide if what their brain was telling them was actually the truth. Alex laughed and said, “You’re thinking too hard, I see smoke.” She responded by smiling back up at him.
As nice as this was, the setting did nothing to help the mood, and then there was this collar around her neck. It looked like it could weigh 5 kilograms easily and appeared to be made of some kind of wrought iron. It was not in the least bit appealing and gave off an ominous aura. In the center of the collar, right under the chin, there was a large rune that ignited a deep blue every time she tried to make a sound above a whimper. While he could touch it and feel its weight, which was actually deceptively light, he knew it was something special. His [Destroy] ability had failed to work, which lead him to question if the rest of his abilities where also failing. He knew that [Inspect] would work, as he had used it earlier, but he had to find out for sure.
He turned themselves around, so they were now facing away from the screen. [Manipulate], a large tub appeared before them, constructed of the rippling floor. “If you are going to behave like water, then I’ll use you to hold water.” It wasn’t a clever line, but who was going to say anything about it? [Create], water appeared in the tub, it was warm, and the temperature difference between it and the space they were in caused steam to rise.
“Alright, in you go.” He gently put her in the tub, her dingy dirty dress and all. He then made a clean, white, wash towel, handed it to her, and then made the motions like he was wiping himself down. “Puida.” He told her, the Elvish word that means ‘to clean’. Now realizing his intention, she began scrubbing herself.
While she was busy doing that, he turned around and focused on the screens that had been their only source of light this entire time. The screens didn’t seem to show much of anything at the moment, all he could see was what looked like a stone floor in them. He was about to look away when he noticed movement in the corner. It looked like shoes, moving towards the girl. They were boots, they were white and adorned with gold embroidery in the shape branches snaking all around till they eventually ended with leaves made of jade. It was probably the most pretentious piece of footwear he had ever seen, and that is saying a lot considering what some of the high-end shoes looked like back on earth. “I believe they call it eccentric?”
The owner of the feet had moved up close to her. The sound that was coming through the screens was muffled, making it impossible to understand what was being said. The body language though made it quite clear. First, he was stamping his feet, accompanied by a louder muffle sound, then finally he swung his leg back, and then launched it forward. Crashing into something that was beyond the view of the screens.
Behind him there was a yelp of pain, but only briefly. He looked back in that direction, the young elf was standing in the tub, now naked, and holding her stomach and the rune on the collar ignited. She convulsed again, letting out a cry, which was then cut short by another the rune glowing again. Causing her to fall over in the tub with a heavy thud. Her head going down below the surface of the water. Alex rushed over, retrieving her from the water, and cradling her in his arms.
Again, she shook, starting in her stomach, and with the cry she let out, the rune shone bright, and what appeared to be groves on the inside of the collar constricted around her neck, snuffing out any sort of sound she was making. He turned back around, carrying the child in his arms, rushing over to the screen, only to see the foot launch another assault, and more of the same. This happened over and over again, each time, the rune ignited, each time it suffocated her. All Alex could do was hold her in his arms and gnash his teeth, while tears of rage streamed down his face.
What was only three or four minutes felt like hours to him, completely helpless to aid the girl in any way. Eventually the foot stopped being cocked back, and the screens images moved. The seemed to struggle as they rose in altitude, till it finally revealed the face of the foot’s owner. He was a thin man, with long wiry golden hair, with blonde eyebrows that were thick, his eyes were mostly white with only small beady blue irises. He had a stupid and disgusting smile across his face. The man shifted slightly, revealing a broken mirror behind him. In the mirror was the image of the same girl in his arms, only tan, with black lines on her skin. She was wearing the same ragged dress the girl had been wearing earlier. The abusive man pressed his face close to hers, pointing into the mirror and saying something that was not audible.
Suddenly a whimpering sound could be heard from Alex’s arms. The girl there was beginning to cry in response to what was happening on the screen. The man then reached his hands into her dress and began to touch around, causing her to cry louder, only to then have the sound cut out by the rune igniting on the collar.
His sense of reason was gone. Alex began screaming at the screen, “STOP! Stop it, you motherfucker! STOP!” His voice echoing all threw the cavern. Tears were streaming down his face, and his jaw was hurting from how hard it was clenched. He had reserved a portion of his senses to make sure he wasn’t squeezing the victim in his arms.
As if the person in the screen had heard what he said, the man backed off. He was wearing a pouting face, like he was upset with how unresponsive she was. He then moved away and was no longer visible in the mirror. For a second Alex believed that everything was over, that was until a hand came out from the corner at a high speed, smacking the side of the girl’s face. In the millisecond that Alex had to see the reflection, there was no response, instead the girl in his arms let out a cry, which was again cut short, and the screen showed a sudden drop in elevation, till it hit the floor, and finally went black.
The show was over, the girl in his arms was taking short fast breaths, all she was able to do, less the collar activate again. He had been powerless, to be able to do anything, a feeling he had sworn against ever feeling again. He put the girl on the floor, while he hunched over, breathing heavy, playing with what he saw over and over again in his head. He burned the image of that man’s face into his memory.
“One day… One day I’ll be coming up there. I will find you, and I will make you suffer.” He made the oath out loud, to himself, to the gods, to anyone that may be listening to the little girl laying wet and naked in the fetal position next to him. He swore to make the man, no to anyone that had hurt her, that he was going to make them beg for death, and then grant it to them, slowly and painfully. It wasn’t the Hero way of doing things, but that didn’t matter to him.
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Part 2.
After having been witness to the all too unsettling sight that had played out before him, leaving him feeling useless and pathetic. He decided that the number one thing he needed to do was to remove this collar from her neck. Then he would figure out what the next best step would be. The only issue with that was, how? [Destroy] did not work on, which meant that it was not an object that was constructed of matter. This lead him to the conclusion that it must in fact be something created by magic, so it was maintained by mana, his one glaring weakness.
He looked at the girl, she had finally seemed to have settled down and was breathing normally. However, she was still naked, so he then decided that the first thing he would do was make her some clothes and pushed back all of his plans one step.
Now she was dressed in a pretty dress, golden to match her hair and adorned with sunflowers at the bottom. They both seemed to be more comfortable, she was even smiling, marveling at the clothing that she was wearing.
“I have to remove this collar from you.” He said pointing to the empty space around his neck. She looked at him blankly, even cocking her head to the side, like a dog does when its owner says something that it only faintly recognizes as a command. “Err…” he pondered his brain, trying to remember the Elvish words he had learned. He then pointed to the collar around her neck and said, “Au… Auco-l.” Motioning to the device while saying the word that meant ‘remove’.
This caused the girl to shoot up and scream, only for the same device to activate and stop her. “Aucolmaure” he said, holding onto the girl. The collar needed to come off, it was obviously a terrible and painful device, but there was something in his gut that was telling him, that if this device was removed, her suffering could be ended.
He held her close to his chest, sat her down and wrapped his legs around her, locking her in place. Then, he took both hands and touched the collar, just for good measure, [Destroy], again nothing. Then he closed his eyes and began to focus as hard as he could on the device, even with the small child doing her best to thrash about, no doubt expending what little energy she had in her frail body. He then thought back, remembering the all-to-quick lesson that he had received from her counterpart on the outside. He tried to feel for mana in the device, remembering the tingling feeling and the image of electricity, or energy that came about.
He stayed there, in that position for a time, it was impossible to tell exactly how long in this environment, but regardless of how long it was, it felt like ages. And after all the effort, he could feel nothing. Frustration and exhaustion had suddenly crept on him, luckily for him, the girl had tired herself out on trying to break free of his grasp and was limply laying back against him. “Why is this so damn hard!?” he cursed to himself.
He then thought, “If it doesn’t work this way, look at it from a different perspective.”
His tired mind shifted gears. “My abilities don’t work on this because it is mana and not matter, but I can touch it, so it has to be made of something tangible. This has to be tangible mana, so then what is mana made out of?” The pieces began to click. His ability required him to have at minimum a basic understanding of whatever he wished to manipulate. Since he did understand what mana was actually comprised of, he had no way of being able to alter it. Anything in this world, which held magic, was imbued with mana.
To explain, in the matter of Clavis, his heart is a biological unit, comprised of tissues cells that hand banded together to create a larger structure. However, as Alex had been informed about before, Clavis also contained a core, which was the far more important organ inside of him. This was imbued by magic from the Dark God, as it was with all beings that are subservient to him. This meant, that if Alex even tried to use [Destroy] on it currently, it was do nothing, since he required a basic understanding of what it is made of.
Armed with the new hypothesis, Alex set out to find if it held up. His first step was to [Inspect] mana. He grasped the collar one more time, and in his mind imagined it, then using his imagination, zoomed in as close as he could to it. No, he focused harder, trying to imagine the mana that had sped up his arm earlier, attempting to picture what it would look like. In his mind’s eye, he began to imagine the image of two incredibly small balls, quickly rotating around each other. Because he was human, and to better understand the image he was seeing, he added color, one was red, and one was blue. Then he added a positive symbol on one and a negative symbol on the other, as a way of understanding why these two balls would spin but not touch each other.
Armed with this rudimentary idea, he opened his eyes, looked hard at the collar, and focused on a single, unwavering spot, imagining his new idea to be there. Then [Inspect].
In his mind the image of two elongated teardrop shaped orbs, spinning in a helix fashion, where one was stationary in the center, while the other revolved around it. They were light blue, with a tinge of green, there was not a plus or minus on either of them. Accompanying the image was the information, “Mana, energy that permeates the universe. It is unleashed by the Great God %^&$# during the destruction of stars. This matter is the building block of magic that exists within all living things. Once mana is used, it returns to The Great Cycle.”
Now, armed with an understanding of what it was, he tried again. [Destroy]. There was no climatic scene that played out. At one point the collar was there, then it was gone. He had destroyed it at the atomic, or in this case the mana-base, level. The girl’s first reaction was to scream, terror racked her face, but quickly she realized first that the compress of the collar wasn’t going to come. Then as she held her body close, possibly expecting some kind of great impact or force to hit her, she was again surprised by nothing.
She looked up at him, her eyes tearing up and her lips quivered. Her mouth opened like she was trying to say something, but the words didn’t seem to form. “Slowā” he told her. It was an extremely primitive form of the word slow in Elvish, but she understood. She slowly began to form her mouth in shapes that would produce different sounds, while focusing on her throat, and trying to get her vocal cords to remember how to make the different sounds and pitches.
“Car… carfan.” It was harsh, but it was no doubt the word that meant, “I speak.” That came out of her mouth. She had spoken for the first time in six hundred years. Tears were coming down her face as she said again and again, “I speak”. It was probably the first happy moment she could remember. She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him as tightly as she could muster, sharing her joy with the man who had appeared from the darkness, and against all odds, had managed to save her from an eternity of hell, being racked by endless pain, reliving over and over every beating, every indignity she had ever received.
“Yes. You are free now. You can speak all the words!” he said back to her, matching her enthusiasm. As all the joys and jubilations began happening, the screens disappeared, and an air washed through the cavern. Feeling the change, Alex jumped up and readied himself, though he couldn’t quite imagine what it was he was reading himself for.
“It is okay.” She said from behind him. He had pushed her behind himself, ready to guard her from anything and everything. “It is okay.” She repeated, this was all in Hume instead of her native tongue. “You have already saved me. But here is not where you need to be. You have things to do out there.” She pointed it off in some random direction, though he doubted it mattered the direction, he understood what she meant. “She will never forget what you did for her. You have saved us both.”
After that, like with the screens, she vanished into nothing. The ripples on the floor started to become violent, and where streaming off in the direction past him. When he looked up to find the origin of the disturbance, a large blackness came for him, swallowing him before he could do anything.
When he opened his eyes, he was sitting on the balcony, Evona was in front of him. She was wearing her loose-fitting revealing clothes. His hands were still on her hips, but she had turned around and was staring him in the eyes. The words, “It was you!”, escaped her lips.
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Part 3.
The air was heavy, even for a dense forest. She had wrapped her arms around him, embracing him tightly. Her head was against his chest, looking off in another direction. The words “I remember, it was you”, softly escaped her lips. There was a moist sensation on his left breast, and while his initial reaction would have been to wipe it away, at this moment he didn’t feel all that inclined. He didn’t quite understand what she meant by she remembered, if what he correct in assuming what she was referring to, it should have just happened. Regardless of that fact, he didn’t feel like he deserved the thanks. He had been utterly powerless to help her in any other way, she still had to go through all that.
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“No… that isn’t right. I shouldn’t take away from her. She WENT through all that, and she came out the other end. She was strong, far stronger than most. That meant that she had won.” He had a sense of admiration for the woman in front of him. Not all that go through something like that can say they had won, and even if they did succeed over their past, not many could say that the nightmares didn’t haunt them or that the fear of becoming the thing that they despised didn’t immobilize them. He was someone he knew very well, and being a wearer of many masks, he had developed a natural ability to see through other’s masks. For the short time they had been together, she was always one hundred percent real.
He let go of her waist, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. “What did you remember, exactly?” he asked, his voice just barely above a whisper. While they were alone on this balcony, it didn’t mean that were entirely alone. The entire time he had felt the many eyes of the other elves on him. They had been hiding up in the trees around them, their bloodlust had caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up.
“The day I was given to be given to Hero; the collar was to be removed. It had for two hundred years served as the focus for the curse that was put on me. The act of removing it, would undo the curse that had stripped me from all my senses, causing everything to come back at once.” She wiped the corner of her eye, removing the water that had been building up. “Yet, much to their displeasure, when it was removed, nothing happened. I gained all my sense back, and I was hit with the torment I had feared for so long.” She renewed her embrace and said, “It was because of you.” They sat there for a moment, just the two of them, being watched by from a distance.
“I still haven’t figured exactly how you did it, but… You altered the curse that same day after Odegir had come to my room.” She pulled on his neck, causing him to shrink down a bit. He could feel her nose now at the base of his neck, and her breath warming his chest. “I remember you getting so angry for my sake. No one had ever done that before. It was… so strange. It was nice, it was nice to be protected.” She rolled her head to that her face was hidden in his chest. “You gave me hope, that somewhere in the world, to someone I was more than just an object of someone’s disgust or of someone’s malice.” She looked up at him, stared him in the face, before closing her eyes causing the drops that had been building in the corner of her eyes to fall. “In that moment, you, more than anyone else, became my Hero. You saved me from my own demons. あ-り-が-とう.” She had purposefully chosen to use Japanese and space it out when she said thank you. It was a way for her, in her limited understanding of the language, to express how truly grateful she was. It hadn’t been lost on him.
Hearing this, he returned her embrace. Cradling her head as he brought her closer. “I wish there had been more that I could have done for you.” He was holding back; he was currently an emotional mess. He wasn’t sure about her strong feelings of gratitude, since he felt like he didn’t actually do a whole lot. He was upset at seeing such a beauty cry, he was angry about the images that had resurfaced in her head, but mostly he was grateful. He now had a name to go with the face he had seen. ‘Odegir’, he would never, ever, forget that man’s name.
“You did more for me that day, than anyone else ever has.” she said, pushing herself back to get a good look at his face. She smacked him, hard, only to then gently rub it while saying, “I am who I am, because you chose to save me that day.” She then bent down and kissed the spot she had hit. “Because of that, no one can ever take that from me again.”
They sat there together in silence for a while. In lieu of everything, they had both independently come to realize that they enjoyed each other’s embrace. The feeling of their skin coming into contact with other’s brought them a warm comfort. Had anyone been watching, which there was, they would look like two lovers quietly enjoying each other’s loving embrace.
After what seemed to him, like a reasonable amount of time, he broke out and with both hands on her shoulders he said, “I can use it now. Magic… I think.” On his face he wore a wide toothy smile, reminiscent of the innocent young boy showing off to the girl he liked in the old TV shows back home.
“I know you were able to destroy the collar, which had been made of mana. But how does that mean you can use magic?” She gave him a puzzled look, resting the side of her face in the palm of her hand.
“Well… If it goes how I think it will. I am not actually going to be using magic, or the orthodox magic you think of. Instead…” he trailed off has he opened his palm, and after just a few seconds, there was a small tornado spinning in it. It was slowly growing larger and larger but was never out of control.
“How did you-“
“I used my [Create] ability to create mana in my hand, then I used [Manipulate] to change it how I want.” After saying that, the whirlwind in his hand shifted into a spinning clump of stone, then melted into a pool of water coalescing in his hands, to then begin to boil till all that was left was a burning flame. In his left hand there appeared an orb of light and then in his right where the flame had been, a shadowy mist swirled. “Then, when I am done.” Both hands suddenly became free from obstruction. “[Destroy] will get rid of the mana.” He was brimming ear to ear, no doubt happy that his experiment had proven fruitful on the first attempt.
He also double checked his mana expenditure, out of the total 118 Magic Points he had, after the experiment he had 94 left over. It had been a total of twelve actions he had done during his display. It wasn’t bad, all things considered, but he would feel much better if he found some way of obtaining an ability that would restore his mana, like what both Evona and Lili had. That was a problem for a later Alex though. Right at this moment, his only concern was the look on his teacher’s face.
Evona’s face was confused. She was a mix of emotions that ranged from happy that her newest had become arguably the most powerful magic caster in the entire world, in the span of minutes. She was upset that her newest student had surpassed her and become the most powerful magic caster in the span of a few minutes. She was amazed that her newest student had developed a completely new and unbelievable way to cast magic that shattered all the rules and laws that existed in the world, becoming the most powerful magic caster in the world. She was terrified if this is what he could do in a few minutes, what he could do in a few hours or years, did he have any limits, just how high of a bar would he set, being the most powerful magic caster in the world. This and some other thoughts all began to flood her mind, and her face had a terribly difficult time attempting what kind of face to make.
“Alex… tell me. Do you have affinity towards any one kind of magic?” This time it was her turn to place her hands on his shoulders. Her voice was strained and her face looked exhausted, probably from overwork attempting to make all the different faces at once.
He double checked his stats one more time, just to be sure. There was nothing new there, nothing like what Lili, Evona or Eline had. Lili, to his understanding having gone through her abilities, was a mix of a black and white magician, which was unique. With her black magic, she could curse, sap or weaken opponents, probably kill them outright once its level was high enough and she had the proper capacity. The fact that she was a Miko meant that she had access to priestly powers of healing and purification. Couple that together with her fox-fire which gave her a variety of abilities that completement both of the previous ones, and her Dominion ability. Arguably it was her scariest ability of them all. Dominion allowed her to have complete control in a designated space of her choosing. That mean, she could bend the fabric of reality in the space if she chose to, and as long as she had the mana to offer up.
Evona was the quintessential Sage, she had Attack Magic that allowed her access to the four basic elements, as well as the ability to combine two or more elements together, creating something unique. She also possessed Blessing Magic, which had spells that would allow her to boost the abilities of her allies. There was her also her Magic Translation, a hybrid ability, passively it increased the speed she could use magic, even allowing her to multi-cast magic silently. Actively, it allowed her to translate magic from being something intangible and attaching it to something like a book or scroll. Then came the Ancient Magics, the information on that was very limited, essentially it allowed her to use ancient forgotten magics, but that was all he knew.
Both of them also had the passive of mana regeneration, allowing them to take in mana from the world into their bodies automatically, increasing their chances in a prolonged battle.
Eline was a princess, and overall, she looked like the standard white magic. She had both Healing and Blessing Magics. Healing Magic was a less advanced version of the abilities granted to her by Miko. Also, since she was a human, who weren’t naturally able to use magic, she had Magic Manipulation, allowing her to cast the spells she had. She was still young and had plenty of time to grow, well technically they all did, Lili was around the same age, and was naturally gifted, and Evona was essentially immortal, so the concept of time didn’t apply to her.
All around, the women that had seemed to crop up in his new life were rather impressive, and he couldn’t help but smile.
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Part 4.
“Lord Hordin!” One of the servants in the castle called out to him, and then immediately dropped to one knee.
“Speak.” Said the deep growling voice of a Holdebark. He stood head and shoulder above every other man in the castle and gave off an aura that had intimidated everyone he had ever met. Only one person in his entire life had never been afraid of him on their first meeting, that was Eline, the daughter of the man he served. She had been a tiny child, so small she could fit in the palm of Holdebark’s hand. Instead of crying at the sight of him, as her older brother had, she giggled and pulled on his beard when he held her too closely. Even the new Hero, though he had hidden it well, was warry of him at first.
Now, a poor young servant boy, kneeling before his prince was in the sight of this great grizzly of a man. He too was trying to hide her nervousness, but his uncontrollable shaking was giving him away.
“Can we tone down the aura.” Said a voice. It was one of authority and might. When it was heard, those around naturally listened, never questioning the commands it gave. After the order was given, it had been like a switch had turned off. The uninviting air that had been pouring out the giant man had all but vanished. “Now what did you need?” said the man. He was a tall man, though you wouldn’t be able to tell if you put him next to Holdebark. He was getting on in years, his once light brown beard was now mostly white, and his hair was speckled. His eyes spoke of the wisdom that was kept behind them, and his arms told stories of old valor long since passed. He was Hordin, the Prince of Faustus, and Lord of the Realm on this side of the mountains.
“My lord, an envoy from The Empire has arrived. He is waiting for you in the throne room.” The mans voice was still wavering, as if he had been still under the effects of Holdebark’s intimidation. In reality, he was just nervous about what could possibly happen. The Principality and The Empire had never got along. Diplomacy has for the most part been nonexistent, only the occasional call of war in earlier days. The founders of the Principality had once been subjects of The Empire, a noble family that was an off-shoot of the then once ruling house. In an effort to escape the rule of a then tyrant who was trying to consolidate power by murdering branch families, the Faustinians escaped with their household, and any that wished to join them. It was a long arduous journey to a then virtually unexplored part of the continent.
After many months of slow backbreaking travel, they finally settled on a location near a large lake. It wasn’t nearly as large as the lake next to their old capital, which housed the great water serpent, but it was still a healthy lake, that would provide both water and sustenance for the refugees. After some time, they built a small town, which slowly grew and grew. Now it boasted one of the largest populations in the world, and was easily in the top three for most populated Hume cities. Its power was apparent, whether it was in manufacturing, trade, or military. The only power on the continent greater than it was the nation affiliated with the surprise envoy now waiting in the throne room.
“I understand. Inform him that I shall be there shortly.” The confidence in his face had someone drained, though only those closest would even notice. Anytime diplomacy happened, it was essentially a game of chess, there was going to be a winner and loser, the goal to keep both sides happy was to win, but only just enough to not upset the loser. However, the stories that had come out of the capital from his spy network had led him to believe that this emperor wasn’t too fond of diplomacy. Truthfully, he didn’t seem to be found of anything other than debauchery.
As Hordin made his way towards the throne room he was stopped by a small girl. She had blond hair, hanging down well below her shoulders, it was neat and proper. Her large blue irises reflected the image of her father back at her. She was accompanied by a maid, standing at attention just to her side.
“Father. You are making your way to the throne room to quickly. The envoy will know you are perturbed. You are a great ruler, take your stride.” For one so young, she was well learned. She spent most of her days in the castle library, consuming literature with a voracious appetite. She had the natural ability of a photographic memory, meaning all she ever needed to do was to see something once, and she would never forget it. At some point in the past, Hordin had joked with her, saying that there were actually two libraries in the castle. Surprised and delighted at this, when she asked where she could find the other, he simply pointed to her head. She did never quite forgive him for the trick, mostly for getting her hopes up only to then dash them out like a tidal wave on a burning bush.
“Yes. You are… Wait, how do you know about him already?" He made a quick look back at his entourage, causing them all to flinch and lower their heads.
“I have my ways father. It is no fault of your men. The walls have ears.” She said with a curtsey. Still low she continued, “May I join you? It will be good to get a first hand lesson on dealing with The Empire.”
It made sense. There weren’t many opportunities for her to learn like this. Last time The Empire had sent an envoy was before he had been married, and his beard was still small, and full of color. “You are right. Please join us but stay off to the side.” He cautioned her. He had a feeling in his gut that just wasn’t sitting well.
The throne room was much darker than the rest of the castle. There were no windows in it, the only lighting came from sconces on the wall that were lit with magic. It was a large solid stone room, which was more like a box. On one end was a high dais that had only a large, but unornate throne on it. On the north and south sides of the room were areas that were cordoned off for members of his court as well as guests or other officials to stand during council. Then on the west side of the hall was the entrance for envoys or members of the populace who wished to petition their lord. This way, during council or any matters of state, the ruler would always face away from The Empire, a relic of harsh history.
As the men filed into the room, Eline, accompanied by her maid Giazel, took a position among the officials on the north side. She filtered through the crowd, so she could get a glimpse of the visitor, but also back enough to remain hidden.
There, in the center of the room, on a chair that was provided for him sat a grotesque man in heavy armor, and a long purple cape. He had, from her point of view, only have a face. The left side of his face carried a large deep scar that ran from his hairline all the way down to the side of his mouth, slicing right though his eye. Instead of keeping it hidden behind a patch, he instead chose to keep it visible, often unsettling all those who were unlucky enough to gaze upon it. Probably due to nerve damage from the wound, the left side of his face didn’t move at all, making his speech slightly slurred.
While everyone else in the room had stood when Hordin entered, and only sat when motioned to by their master, the envoy didn’t budge from his seat at all. Instead, he was playing with the bristles that made up the crista part of his helmet. When everyone had taken a seat, and all was quiet. Hordin moved to begin discussion, but was interrupted before he could say a word.
“My masta has bid me come ‘n tell you dat he offors you the opartunity for an alliance.” It was a rough slurred speech, lacking any sense of humility or kindness. He sounded like he didn’t care what the answer was, not that he preferred they didn’t take it. The ride side of face had curved into a smile, it was an ugly dangerous smile, that only backwater thugs who profited from murder or kidnappings could make.
Hordin, a seasoned and wise ruler, didn’t take the bait and said nothing about the man’s manners. “Tell me. What is it he offers exactly, and what is the price?” His tone was powerful, and the aura he was giving showed exactly why he had been a ruler for so long.
“Zimple. He wans your daughter. A marriage alliance.” The man’s half smile grew as unbelievably grotesque as his left eye was.
“That is a steep price to pay.” Hordin didn’t take his eyes off the man. “What is the cost of rejection?”
“Tha death of all your people.” Even the left side of his mouth was twitching now, no doubt enjoying the images populating his mind now. “Not ah bad price fur ya whole kingdom?”
He looked over to his left, his right eye making direct contact with Eline, only for a second, but it didn’t take longer than that for her to feel truly terrified. This man was a bad man, he had done unspeakable things to many people. He enjoyed it, and wanted to do it more, a lot more.
“Why now, after all this time?” said Hordin, still stoic as ever. By this point even Holdebark was at his wits end, and shaft has his weapon was threatening to break in his hand.
“Not my place ta ask.” The envoy responded. “Probably somethin’ like, bring da old families togetha.”
Hordin sat in silence for a long minute. His eyes moving back in forth in their sockets. He was weighing everything. The Empire was stronger, they had more land, more people, more resources. The only thing that really protected Faustus was the Alliance between it, the holy see of Aquira, where the pope resided and the worlds biggest trading city, Methloda, who could seemingly cut trade for the empire from the rest of the world. The Empire did have Abalos to the north as a trade port, but it was nowhere near as big as Methloda, plus it would require a massive redirection of ships to the other side of the continent. Their coffers would have long run dry before they could ever get that to happen.
It hadn’t been so much that he was trying to decide on whether he was going to accept or not, that was already a no. He was a doting father that loved his daughter more than anything, plus she was already unofficially “officially” engaged to Alex. Regardless of what the man actually knew. So, he wasn’t about to hand her over to some foreign man, who had only bad rumors surrounding him. His daughter’s happiness was far too important for that.
What he was mulling over was, why? Why now? Why risk war against the alliance? What had changed that he wasn’t aware of? His spy network was easily the most elite on the continent, if something major had happened in any of the capitals, he would already know. This part was unsettling, but he decided that he would figure that out later. Priority one was to get this disgusting abomination of a man out of his land.
“No.” Hordin said flatly. He gave no other response. It was just a resounding “No”. He then stood up and made for the side door that lead to the interior of the castle. With a lazy wave of his hand, four knights surrounded the envoy and escorted him out of the room.
“Holdebark, begin preparations for war.” He said, now on the other side of the stone wall. “Willian.” And older gentlemen appeared from around a corner and gave a dignified bow. “Get in touch with your units, I need updates from all of them. Also, prep delegates to send to Aquira and Methloda, inform them of the newest developments.”
“At once my liege.” Said the butler. “Shall I also get in touch with Alex?”
“No. His task is too important; we can’t call him back for this.”
“Yes, sir.” he said, lowering his bow in response.
“One last thing. Holdebark, send Marice to Dortmin. I need a man I can trust in that city. Platz worries me.”
“Of course.” Growled the grizzled giant.
“Something is not right. If feeling is true, we are in for a turbulent time ahead of us.” After which he continued to walk down the hall till, he came to a staircase and proceeded to follow it downstairs.
The two other gentle had stood there in the intersection watching their ruler walk away.
“He really has an unhealthy way of dealing with stress.” Stated the butler.
“What can I say. It is good to he the ruler.” Laughed Holdebark, walking down a different hall to work on the tasks he had just been assigned.
“Not always master warrior. Sometimes it proves to be the worst possible position.” The butler then vanished in nothingness, leaving the intersection completely barren.