29
Decisions. Decisions
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Mid-Holiday: The fifth border in between the other four. This border is made up of five countries all thriving under the ruling of King Yamchi who stayed in the smallest country, Ivory. Ivory was a beautiful place, filled with wealthy dwellers and army men. It was also very advanced in technology. From here, he ruled with a tight fist and had it even tighter when it came to magics of any kind.
There was once a time when magical beings of all kinds roamed the planet but their kindness to outside visitors soon became their downfall.
After the last war, Mid-Holiday's magics and non-magics came up with a truce that took a step forward to magic fairness. King Yamchi eventually decreed that each country shall have an overseer for the magics, which allowed a magic to be able to determine punishment and equal rules that could voice for the magic citizens. They were called Head Magics. This was instated after years of magics being put to wrongful death for all crimes. Though they have come a long way to being civil with each other, the treatment towards magics were still hard.
Orishae Hindentt oversaw for the country of Jasmine.
Orishae marched down the all-white corridor. The entire hallway was lit very brightly that it took a few visits before your eyes would adjust to it.
Finally, he approached a white door and stopped. Embarrassing, when he'd first visited here, he walked smack dead into the door because he didn't know when the hallway had ended. Everything blended into that same bright white. He knocked on the door, then waited on a response.
"Who's there?" A light voice asked from the other side.
"Head Magic Orishae Hindentt, badged 204." Orishae stated in a deep tone.
The knob twisted before the door opened up to reveal a pale blue skinned man, with pale blonde hair which flowed along his poised frame. His pointed ears marked his elf heritage. He was adorned in a navy blue blazer with metal shoulder plates, which clung to his lithe frame and brown tights underneath.
Orishae took a step, but then stopped when he realized the elf hadn't moved and was glaring assessing him.
Orishae glared back.
"Paeris. Let him by." A gravelly voice barked out, and the elf stepped aside.
Orishae walked in and bowed before the king.
"Head Magic Hindentt. I'm glad you could make my little arrangement. Come, have a seat." King Yamchi insisted.
Orishae stepped up and sat in one of the white cushion chairs.
King Yamchi was a burly man, with white wavy hair that fell down with his white beard and blue eyes. His wrinkled tan skin was dotted in freckles. A huge golden crown sat upon the king's head.
They were seated inside of the king's private library, which was entirely white, save for the books on the shelves.
'All this damn white,' Orishae thought.
Paeris went to stand behind the king.
"Orishae. The reason we are here is to discuss the matter of how we are going to get a handle on these magics." King Yamchi informed with a bold voice, giving Orishae a devious smile.
"A handle?" Orishae questioned, looking skeptical. "I'm not following."
"I'm sure you have been keeping up with the reports. There are rogues slowly multiplying and it's putting my border in a state of fear. I will not have that on my watch. I have an important friend who shall be arriving in a few months' time, and I refuse to greet him with all of this chaos." The king growled.
Orishae squinted his eyes, "What kind of friend?"
"Let's just say, he could be a future mutual business partner." The king stated tightly. "Now about the rouges?"
"Well, we'll just continue to catch them and lock them up like we've done before. Nothing more to discuss." Orishae said with a 'so what' attitude.
King Yamchi laid his head on the palm of his meaty hand and let out a sigh. "Which leads me to my next point. You are being very lenient when it comes to punishing your kind, my friend."
"No, I'm not." Orishae contradicted the claim, then got comfortable and started fiddling with the rings on his fingers. "I give them reasonable punishments atoning the crime that was committed."
"You're being a pain in the ass is what you're doing." King Yamchi snarled, slamming his fist down on the desk. "At the end of the day, your disciplinary actions are doing nothing more than putting the criminals back out onto the streets. You punish them for a day and they are released back out to commit the same crime or worse."
Orishae clenched his jaws. "I apologize, King Yamchi, that I don't deem any petty crime worthy of a lifetime."
"How about we try a lasting tactic, hmm? Death." King Yamchi hissed out, throwing Orishae a stern stare.
Orishae's body went stiff as anger struck his face. "If I were to see death fitting, then it'll be I who demand it and so far, I haven't come across any."
King Yamchi spat, "Bullshit. You're just going soft. Need I remind you that disobeying the laws goes against your truce."
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"And threating death on a magic goes against yours." Orishae growled back, eying the king boldly.
The three of them had an intense stare off as tension rose.
"I appointed you Head Magic for a reason, Hindentt. You're strong in both brawn and will, and you and I share the same vision when it comes to Mid-Holiday's future. You're a man of so little words and a lot of action. With that being said I do trust your judgement. Do whatever you have to do to see that this problem is fixed before it gets worse. I will not have my people living in fear."
'Your people, my kind,' Orishae thought in aggravation. His temples throbbed as he clenched his hands into a fist.
"I'll surely hate for things to get ugly." King Yamchi threatened, shrugging his body.
Orishae was beyond pissed. Instead of coming to a reasonable way to handle the situation, he just threw threats and shouted orders. Orishae had no other choice but to obey. However, the king wouldn't be the only one leaving threats.
"No, we wouldn't want that." Orishae stated back tightly.
"Good. How's your boy these days. What's his name? Oh yeah. It's ironic how you named him after something he could never be. It's almost like you're mocking me."
"My wife named him," Orishae responded flatly.
"Well, I want to meet her and ask her what that was about." King Yamchi ignorantly stated, not being able to sense the magical energy now mingling in with the tension.
Paeris, however, caught it, then tossed Orishae a warning glare.
The head magic took a breath to reign in his anger and changed the subject. "Why am I still here?"
"This." Paeris said, slapping down a photo.
The photo grabbed Orishae's attention, and he looked down. The picture was a detailed, drawn mug shot of a brown skinned woman with a curly fro hawk. Her eyes matched his own.
"It has come to my attention that the rogues aren't all thinking as individually as we had thought. There is a leader out there somewhere and I know how we can find them." King Yamchi stated stabbing a finger on the desktop.
"You think it's her?" Orishae asked with a hint of agitation in his voice.
"Why the question?" King Yamchi's body hunched as his face morphed into suspicion.
"It is because that is his younger sister, your majesty. Korema Hindentt, 58 years of age, now going by the name Nytemare. Has been a menace ever since she went rogue 30 years ago." Paeris told them, the information rolling off of his tongue like he was reading a book. To be honest, that was the first time Orishae had heard the elf speak. His voice was very smooth, flowing almost like a flute.
Orishae eased back in his seat, staring at Paeris with an interested face. "Who gave you that information?"
"This true?" King Yamchi asked.
Orishae remained silent.
The king looked back down at the photo and then let out a chuckle coming back to look at Orishae. "Yeah, you are siblings oh right. You Hindentts are starting to really become a thorn in my ass." The king hissed, glaring at Orishae.
"What is she for?" Orishae growled, trying to get this meeting over with quickly before he let loose.
"Simmer down, she's not the one we're going for, not now at least. My connections tell me that she is the leader's message girl. If we can find her, then we can try and find the leader and stomp these monsters for good." King Yamchi's voice rumbled out, and Orishae had to detain a flinch when he'd called them monsters. "Now, my concern with you is when we catch them all for good, whether blood or not, will you be ready to put your foot down?"
Orishae bit into the meat of his cheeks, then gave a curt nod. "Yes."
"Good. You can go." King Yamchi said and dismissed the man with a wave of his hand.
Orishae stood up and straightened his robe before turning to walk to the door, or where he thought it was. Freaking white room. Paeris followed behind as he went.
"Oh, and one last thing," King Yamchi called, gaining the other man's attention. "Tell your son to find the line and get himself in it. If he keep down the route he's going, he will be next."-
Orishae exited the room preparing to stomp furiously up the hallway before a figure stilled him.
A red wolf was leaning against the wall with his hands in his pants pockets and one leg bent along the wall. An aged, black cowboy hat rested on a mop of auburn curls. His long, dark jacket was tearing, and his dark jeans were wrinkled. The bushy red tail dangled over the bent legs knee. Around his neck was a loosely tied bandana.
This man was Captain Dale Flank. When King Yamchi arranged the Head magics, he also appointed four non-magics to represent the four countries as well. King Yamchi was still a busy man, so he placed them in a second-boss position called Captains.
Orishae ignored him and started to walk past the man.
Dale laughed, then spoke in a deep, smokey tone, "So we ain't speaking now?"
"Why should I?" Orishae said as he stopped and peered at the man.
"Damn. That hurts," Dale feigned hurt, clasping at his chest like he'd been shot. "And here I thought we were friends."
"More or less acquaintances. What do you want?" Orishae stated flatly.
"Oh, don't be like that. I'm just trynna figure out what my pal has been up to. Ain't gone lie to ya, I heard er'thang his majesty was busting yo balls for. You'd be better listening to the old coot." Dale offered, folding his arms over his chest. "When you step on uh few uh them rogues' necks to set an example, that'll put the others in their place. That's the only way to show'em we mean business."
"And I'm doing just that on my own terms," Orishae inserted dropping the bass in his voice.
Dale burst out into a chuckle fit, smacking his knee for exaggeration. "Those baby time-outs you dishing ain't doing squat. They ain't learning from their mistakes, just being release to run rampart throughout town."
Orishae's stare tightened as his glare zoomed in on Dale. "So what, huh? What are you getting out of this?"
Dale raised his hands to his chest, "Whoa there boy. I'm not the enemy here. I'm just the guy workin' fuh a boss." Dale said pushing himself from the wall and stepped beside Orishae.
"Well, it'll be best if you and your boss worry for your people and let me mine."Orishae hissed and returned to walking off, but a grip on his shoulder had him halting.
"I don't necessarily hate your kind, but it is because of'em that bodies are popping up. I have uh job to protect these people and I have uh family that I wouldn't hesitate to kill for if any your maggots touch them." Dale growled, but instantly went back to his jolly self.
"Nothing personal, friend." Dale enthused, patting Orishae on the shoulder and walking off.
Orishae took his leave as well, shoving everything about the day and that damn white interior behind him.
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Orishae's office...
Orishae stepped from the transporter and turned the machine off. He stood and just admired his room. He won't lie, being surrounded by wealth had its perks, but was the cost really worth it?
He stepped to his black desk and sat down to look through the files that were before him. The meeting continued playing over in his head, distracting him from his reading until he got sick of it and slammed the file folder closed with a groan.
He placed his head on his knuckles and took a couple measured breaths, before bringing them to rest underneath his chin. Orishae ran his eyes over the contents on his desk before they stopped on a picture frame.
The frame was a faded gold with chips and cracks here and there. The photo behind the glass were of a five year old King playfully being held by a woman.
Her skin, once as radiant as the peach sunset, was pale and beige and her golden hair had dusted away to a thin bleached. She looked so fragile but continued smiling at the little boy in her hand.
"Honey," Orishae started breathy, his lips wobbling into a smile. "What am I going to do with our boy?" It came as a whisper while he zoned off into the picture.
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...
The sun was burning in the sky. It was scorching hot, and sand stormed around the desert. A boy trekked on apparently not being bothered by the sandstorm swirling around. He stopped then gazed ahead when he noticed a castle in the distance. Finally.
"We're here boys." The boy spoke out to no one, but then dark creatures appeared around him. "Let's make havoc."