Epilogue- Book 1
Serius had been waiting for this meeting. One didn’t simply call up the emperor and get a meeting immediately. Not even the arch magus could do that. Now he sat in front of a communication crystal and was waiting for the emperor to appear on the other side. Next to him sat Toston, the head of the academy, and the only wizard who Serius was absolutely certain was more powerful than him.
“Old friend, I’d urge you to be forthright with the emperor. You may not have to tell me everything, but you do have to tell him.”
“As always, I work in the best interest of the empire. Long ago, I gave up any connection to the land of my birth or personal motivations.”
Then a deep, almost musical voice came through the communication crystal. “Except for curiosity. You’ve never met a puzzle you didn’t love.”
Both the mages bowed their head out of habit even though the emperor couldn’t see them. The crystal only carried voices.
“Oh, stop that you two, we have work to do.”
Serius wondered if the emperor was just guessing or if he really knew that they had bowed. Sometimes the man had an uncanny way of knowing things he shouldn’t. You would have to be a fool to try to keep secrets from him. Fortunately, for Serius that had never been an issue before today. Now, he just had to hope that his proven value gave him enough latitude with the emperor.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Tolston said.
“So, what do you have to report about the university?”
“The spring semester is winding down nicely. We have several more candidates who have developed aptitudes for magic which may have combat application. It will be a struggle to meet the numbers that you are asking for, Your Majesty, but we are moving as quickly as possible.”
“I knew what I asked of you was difficult, if not impossible. There have been more incursions by monsters. The worst attacks are happening at Haltorst, but Forlay has experienced a few. More confounding is the fact that there have been a number of seemingly random monsters attacks in various locations around the continent.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Serius said, “I can confirm such attacks, Your Majesty. We battled ogres and trolls along with a pair of were-tigers.”
“That should hardly be a challenge for your party. Having five level 20s in one party pretty much eliminates all risks. I can personally vouch for how hard it is to find monsters powerful enough to still give XP at level 20,” Toston said.
“You’d have been welcome to these monsters. They were all stronger than any ogre or troll I’ve ever fought before. But that wasn’t the issue. It was the creature leading them. It identified as an oni, but I thought that was an extinct monster type,” Serius replied.
“And there you have it? The monsters attacks are not quite so simple and extinct is becoming a term we aren’t sure about. There have been chimera reported and frost giants in the mountains. Now we never thought the giants were completely wiped out, but the records show they were driven so far north that our forces couldn’t follow them any longer,” the emperor said through the crystal.
“What about the project? I don’t know all the details,” Toston said, but surely my sources say a secret package was delivered to the imperial palace. A rather large package at that.”
“I’m please that the head of the academy is keeping his finger on the pulse of the empire, but leave what happens in the City of the Dawn to me and you focus on training more battle ready adventurers.”
Toston’s face went red with the rebuke, but all he said was, “Of course, Your Majesty. We should be able to send out more recruiters soon. One of our dragons has been pregnant, but she will soon lay her eggs. As soon as Matilda…”
The archmage was cut off as a screeching sound erupted through the communication crystal and the emperor let out a low moan of pain. Serius raised a protective barrier immediately with the reflexes of a seasoned adventurer, but there was no attack he could see and the crystal was no longer making any noise.
The emperor said, “That still freaking hurts. Just bad timing, but then again, it pretty much always is. I hate to ask this of you Toston, but I need you to personally go and collect a roster of all those currently training who you believe will be appropriate to serve as battle mages or adventurers. Serius can stay and chat with me till you get back.”
The archmage stood up and obeyed as he said, “Yes, Your Majesty.” He clearly wasn’t happy about it, but he left the room while staring at Serius with curiosity.
Once the archmage was gone, Serius asked, “You have a command for me, Your Majesty?”
“Yes, go to the exotic stable and help Modessa clean up a mess made by your pet project. You know the one you were trying to figure out how to keep secret from me. No, don’t ask questions, just go. You need to clean this up before Toston discovers what you’re doing.”
Serius’ mind was racing, but he simply bowed and then disappeared carried away by a teleportation spell. One simply didn't demand to know how the emperor knew things he shouldn't know. He had many questions which would have to go unanswered. Foremost on his mind though was, “What have you done now, Nico?”