I walked towards the great hall looking for either Alex or Cassandra and in my haste, I walked right into someone. I stumbled back a few steps and looked up angrily.
“Watch where you're going dumbass!” the guy spat and rubbed his chest, I looked at him and noticed that he was quite a bit taller than I was.
"What do you mean I should, you walked into me.” I snapped back.
“Are we going to have a problem here?” he asked and squared his shoulders.
“I don’t know, are we?” I retorted and cracked my knuckles.
“Oh, little man wants to act tough.”
I smiled at him, “Don’t worry bud, I got something to back it up.”
“And here I thought this was going to be a boring night,” he laughed and offered me a hand, “Samuel Bright.”
“Ryze Varus,” I said and took his hand, “wait Bright? Oh you’re the king's son.”
“Yep that’s me,” he said, “it’s rare to find someone who’s willing to talk back at me like that, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re a Varus.”
“Yeah, sorry for walking into you, I was looking for a friend.”
“Hey, we’re good. Just don’t leave me alone with these people for too long or else someone is going to end up with a caved-in skull. I can’t stand their politics.”
I pat him on the shoulder, “you and me both.” I took a closer look at him, he was annoyingly perfect. Tall, muscular, built like he was carved out of stone. Freakishly blue eyes that glowed brightly. He had blond hair and was clean-shaven. Instead of any formal clothing, he was clad in plate armor that didn’t seem to have any seams or holes, under the arms and by the neck, instead of the normal mail or leather that most plate armor would have in those areas. It had smaller intricate fitting plates that seemed to melt together.
“Well, I’m going to be looking for a friend, you wanna join?” I asked him, he smiled and gestured for me to lead the way.
“I assume that you're the one that's joining the battleschool?”
“Yeah, how’d you know that?”
“Your sister told me, I talked to her this morning, she said that the two of you were going to join together.”
He gave me a grin, “so you’re the one she was talking about.”
“What do you mean?” I asked him.
“Nothing,” he said quickly, “to answer your question, yes I’m going to battleschool.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, he stared back at me and sniffed, “so, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your Trait?”
“Nah, it’s nothing.” he said then frowned, “But I don’t think I should use it in a crowded room.”
“What, do you like explode or something?” I laughed.
“Nothing like that,” he said and turned to me. “Look into my eyes for a second.”
I stared at his brilliant blue eyes, then I felt my eyeballs start to sting a bit. I blinked and tears came out.
“Ah, God!” I said and rubbed them, “what was that?”
“Well, that was my Trait turned all the way down.” he said, “I can burn things that I look at.”
“Well that sounds pretty useful, how hot is it?”
“I mean, I can burn through a quarter-inch steel plate in three seconds and I can cause third-degree burns almost instantly.”
“WHAT!” I shouted, “and you decided to show me by using it on my FUCKING eyes?!” people turned around to stare at me, I cleared my throat.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly.
“There he is, making a scene again.” called out a familiar feminine voice. We both turned around and saw Cassandra walking towards us.
“My lady,” I said and bowed, beside me, Sam scoffed and gave a sarcastic bow.
“Cassie, what do you want.”
She gave him a hurt look, “can’t I just see how my older brother is doing, I know how much you hate these.”
“Yeah well, maybe this one won’t be so bad,” he said with a shrug. She looked at me, “I see you have met Ryze.” she turned to me, “and how are you?”
“I am quite well my lady.” I said stiffly, she rolled her eyes and gave me a playful shove, “You can drop the formalities Ryze, just call me Cassie like everyone else.”
First name basis let's go!
“So Cassie what do you think initiation this year is going to be like?” I asked. Her eyes turned lilac and she put a hand on her chin.
“I heard that we’re being sent into the Jade Forest.” she said, “though, I’m not sure how teams are going to be made.”
“Wait, teams?” I asked
“Yeah teams, what you thought that you were going to spend the next three years of your life by yourself?” she laughed, I rubbed the nape of my neck.
“I mean, I’ve spent most of my life by myself, so yeah.”
“Don’t you have four siblings? How on earth could you have managed to spend the entire time by yourself?”
“Imagine being the only person in a family of renowned healers that can’t perform healing magic,” I said flatly, Cassie winced and her eyes turned a deep blue.
“I’m sorry,” she said, there was an awkward pause for a few moments, Sam coughed.
“Anywho does anyone know when the feast starts cause I’m starving,” he said.
“I think your father wants us to join him in the speech ceremony first,” I said and the two nodded. Sam groaned, “Great, now we got to sit and listen to dad ramble on about unity and cooperation.”
Cassie hopped up to try and slap him, but because she was so short she didn’t even manage to touch his face. He laughed and patted her head, she turned to me, “A little help here.”
Sam turned to me and raised an eyebrow, “you want some too little man?”
I grinned at him, “You wouldn’t even see me coming.”
“Try me.”
I took a deep breath in and everyone froze. I walked around him and slapped him over the head. Then everyone unfroze and Sam yelped and turned around to face me. I quickly spun around him and stood next to Cassie.
“Thank you.” she said with a smile, “I take it that we just saw your trait?” I nodded and she gave me a high five. Well, she gave me a low five since she was barely five feet tall but it’s the thought that counts.
Sam saw me and sputtered, “How? I didn’t even see you move. Do you have like super speed or something?”
“Something like that yeah.” I shrugged.
“You could get up to a lot of trouble with a Trait like that,” Cassie said with a sly smile.
“Uh-er-hmm….” I stuttered, “I don’t know what you're on about, care to elaborate?”
“Oh you know, you could do a lot of things and no one could stop you,” she said. I started to reply but thankfully at that moment, a servant walked up to us.
My Lady, My Lords,” he bowed, “if you would follow me, the king has requested your presence at the speech ceremony.”
I gave an internal sigh of relief and Sam patted me on the shoulder. We walked out of the palace and all the way down to the outer city, there the festival was already in full swing. The king was standing on a raised podium surrounded by several hundred guards, I looked around and noticed several magicians kneeling and muttering spells.
We sat down on the chairs beside the podium and waited for his speech. Sam was grumbling about how boring the speech was going to be and Cassie had started chatting up the girls around her. I sat in quiet anticipation, this was the first time I had ever listened to a speech in person as Uncle wasn’t exactly a people person.
The king cleared his throat and everyone quieted down. When he spoke again, his voice came out from every direction.
“Twenty-three years ago, on this exact day, marked the end of the Reclamation Wars and for the first time in half a millennia, humanity stands united in purpose. Together we have worked to bring about a new golden age, A human age, for no longer does man need fight for its right to exist in this world, no longer does humanity live under cruel tyrants and uncaring dictators. No longer is humanity laughed at by the other races.”
“No! Now we lead the world, we are the shining beacon in the night! A lighthouse of calm in the sea of chaos. We offer aid to those in need, we work together with the other races to bring prosperity to this world.”
“But even as we reach out to help, the other races work behind our backs to overthrow us. They see what humanity has become and they fear it. The elves and dwarves, who once scorned humanity now work to undermine our power. They want what we have and unless we can continue to work together, then they will get their wish.”
“But I have faith in the people and faith in God, that we will prevail! For by the sword they come, and by the sword, they shall fall.”
The crowd stayed silent for several heartbeats, then as one, the entire crowd started cheering. I knew that the speech had been broadcast across the empire and all over the world. I wondered what the dwarves and elves were thinking right now.
“Empire Invicta!" came a cry and soon the chant was taken up by the whole city and beyond. The king bowed and walked off the podium, the crowd dispersed and the festival kicked up to a whole new level.
I walked with Cassie and Sam to the king, and together we went back to the palace. The king looked troubled and I asked him, “Is there really that much to fear from the other races?”
He sighed, “It’s complicated, the Empire is unified mostly under threat of violence and by creating an external threat, it makes it easier to rule over the masses.”
I looked disturbed, “so then it was a lie? You weaken our relations with the dwarves and elves to unify your lands?”
He laughed, “No of course not, if the dwarves and elves. Our so-called allies ever catch wind of any dissent or disunity then they will not hesitate to tear this nation apart.”
“I see,” I said and kept on walking. We reached the palace a half-hour later and I sat next to Sam at the high table. I felt really out of place as I walked up to my seat. As I passed, people whispered, “Varus,” and “Red Dragon.” I was getting sick and tired of all the nobles looking at me in fear and silently staring at me.
The king took a bit, chewed for a bit, then swallowed exaggeratedly and set his knife down. He clapped and the feast began.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I leaned over to Sam, “What was that about?”
“In the years following the war, poisoning guests at a feast was a very common way of getting rid of the competition. So as a sign of trust, the host would always take the first bite of any food.”
“Oh, that’s morbid.” he grinned at me and continued to shovel copious amounts of meat down his throat.
“Are you even chewing?” I asked with concern, on the other side of me Prince Daniel laughed. “He eats like a starved dog no matter what day it is.”
Sam tried to say something with his mouth full and almost choked. He held a finger up and took a massive swig of something.
“I am a growing boy and I need my food.”
We looked at him skeptically, “You must be at least 6’6 and weigh 250 pounds, you’re not a boy, you’re a freaking giant.”
“Well I’m still growing,” he said proudly and continued to eat. Dan shook his head and returned to his meal. I knew I wasn’t going to get any more words out of either of them for at least another ten minutes so I looked around for Alex.
“Looking for someone?” asked Cassie, I turned around to see her in an elegant white dress.
“Yeah I was looking for a friend but I can’t seem to find him.”
“Oh? What does he look like?”
“His name is Alex Taylor, he’s got brown hair and eyes, about average height, and is wearing a blue two-piece suit.”
She shook her head, “Do you know how little that narrows it down?”
“That’s why I can’t find him!”
Sam let out a massive belch that rattled the table and all conversation stopped for a second as everyone turned over to look at him. I keeled over wheezing and most of the men in the room did as well. He stood up with a flourish, bowed, and sat back down.
Cassie gave him a distasteful look and Daniel walked away shaking his head. I had fallen to the floor and was gasping for air. Sam gave her a satisfied look and patted his stomach.
“Ahh, much better.”
“How is that even possible?” she asked and kicked me, “get up Ryze, quite making a fool of yourself.”
I stood up and gave him a fist bump, “Now that we got the food out of the way, who wants to go to the fairgrounds?”
“I’m down if we can find my friend first,” I said and Cassie nodded. We walked around the great hall looking for Alex and found him hitting on multiple girls at once using his Trait. Three copies of himself were all around the hall chatting up different girls to varying levels of success.
Sam and I looked very impressed and Cassie shook her head in disapproval. One of the Alex’s got kicked in the nuts by a girl and he collapsed with a groan, Sam and I winced and I went over and squatted beside him.
“How’s it going lady killer?” I asked with a grin, he looked up at me, “Ryze is that you?”
“The one and only,” I said and offered him a hand, he took it and I pulled him up. He winced and put both hands over his crown jewels and groaned again, “man she could have at least warned me first.”
“Wait so can you feel pain from all your copies?” I asked he nodded, “Yeah, all the copies of me are connected to the original me and if one of the copies gets hurt I feel it but I don’t take any physical damage.”
“Wait, so am I talking to original you, or are you a copy?”
“I’m the prime, copies can only follow basic instructions and say pre-recorded lines and the like.”
“Wait what? So out of the four you’s here, only you have struck out so far.” I said and laughed. He frowned for a moment and raised his hand, “shut up for a second, this might be going somewhere.”
He flashed and his eyes went a bit vacant.
“Uh, Alex?” I asked.
“The prime is not with us at the moment,” it said in a blank voice, I took a few steps back. Sam walked over to me and looked at the copy.
“So that’s your friend?” he asked, “I don’t mean to offend but he looks a bit simple.”
“It’s complicated,” I replied and the copy’s eyes flashed again.
“Damn it!” he yelled, “I was so close that time, I don’t know where it went wrong.”
“I guess that is zero for two?” I asked, he nodded disappointed. Then frowned and yelped out in pain.
“What the fuck?” he and Sam asked at the same time, I looked at both of them in confusion. Alex continued to flinch and Sam had backed up and had a hand out to his side. I looked around and saw Cassie stab one of the copies in the eye with a rapier and it faded away. She did the same thing to the other two before walking towards Alex with angry crimson eyes and murderous intent.
“Uh oh,” said Sam and he backed away from Alex, I followed suit and together we watched as Cassie stomped towards him.
“What do you think you’re doing mister?” she yelled at him. He froze and a second later backed away leaving a copy in his place. It started to talk to her as he slunk away.
“Hey there sexy, how’s it going?”
Sam and I looked at each other with a mixture of surprise, dread, and mirth. Cassie punched him in the stomach and he doubled over. I was impressed by how much force went into that hit.
“You think we should stop her before she kills him?” I asked.
“Yeah, that would be the right thing to do.”
“Agreed,” I replied as we both stood there watching her. Alex walked over to us.
“Why the fuck aren’t you helping me?” he asked angrily, “She’s actually torturing me.”
“You know who that is right?” I asked
“Of course I know who that is!”
“So you intentionally hit on my sister?” Sam asked and glowered at him, his blue eyes glowed a bit brighter.
“No, I just didn’t have time to change the settings on the copy.” he said, “though I wouldn’t mind if she said yes.” I slapped him over the head at the same time as Sam.
“Ow! what was that for?”
“You know what that was for!” we yelled at him.
He sniffed, “you know I ain’t wrong, have you met the girl? She’s like the hottest chick in the Empire.”
“She’s my sister!” Sam yelled and smacked him again. I, on the other hand, couldn’t disagree with him.
“Still, she is the princess and you should show her the respect she deserves.” Cassie finally gave up and poked the copy in the throat and it faded away. She stalked over to us.
“Do either of you know who that was?” she demanded. We both turned our heads and looked at Alex.
“Cassie, this is Alexander Taylor. He’s going to initiations with us.” I said, Alex bowed and made another copy of himself and walked off.
“My lady, it is an honor to meet you,” he said in a quivering voice. Cassie pointed the rapier at his chest and he squeaked.
“Now, now Cassie, I think we might have just gotten off on the wrong foot, I am sure he didn’t mean any of what he said to you,” I said hastily.
“Yes, I am very sorry if I offended you ma’am.” he said, she pushed the tip closer to his heart, “Please don’t kill me.” he squealed.
“Give me one good reason why.”
“I pay my taxes.”
She slapped him hard across the face and said, “If I ever catch you hitting on multiple girls at once again, I will skewer your testicles.”
“So I’m ok to hit on just one girl at a time?” he asked hopefully. She slapped him again, “Don’t ask stupid questions.”
I whispered to Sam, “I don’t know if I’m scared or turned on right now.”
He glared at me, “If I ever catch you checking out my sister, I will put this boot so far up your ass, even more shit’s going to start coming out of your mouth.
“So, now that that’s all sorted out, who wants to go to the festival?” I asked and clapped my hands. We walked out of the great hall and to the second tier of the city.
“How often do you do that?” Sam asked Alex, he looked over and laughed.
“What? Hit on multiple girls at once or use a copy to escape danger?”
“Both,” I replied.
“Well, I started using copies to escape trouble when I was twelve, scared the hell out of my mother, she thought I’d gone simple.”
“She wasn’t wrong,” Sam said and I gave him a high five.
Alex flipped us off, “though trying to get more than one girl at a time is a more recent development. Still haven’t managed to pick one up using a copy though.”
“You guys are pigs,” growled Cassie.
“Hey, it’s part of my training alright. It takes a lot of effort to control that many copies.”
“Couldn’t you do something more productive though?” she asked, we all stared at her, “Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe learn a new skill, read a book, or volunteer at an orphanage.”
He shook his head, “Don’t work like that, copies can only do what the prime already knows. Only the prime can retain skills.”
“Why do you call yourself the prime?” I asked.
“Well, one it sounds cool and two, it reminds me that I can still get permanently injured.”
“Man, you got the coolest Trait ever,” Sam said, I nodded and Cassie just shook her head.
“I don’t know man, I wake up with the worst headaches, and getting stabbed through the head is not fun,” he said and glared at Cassie, she ignored him. We walked to the fairgrounds and immediately the archery tournament caught my eye.
“You’re an archer?” Sam asked and I nodded.
“Yeah, you?”
“He wishes he was,” Cassie said and Sam glared at her.
“I do not, and I can shoot a bow thank you very much.” he huffed.
“Any ape can pull a string back, it takes a finer touch that I truly doubt you possess to actually hit anything.”
The Rangemaster noticed me and gave me a nod, “I assume you would like to enter the tournament?”
I nodded and he signed me up, “If you didn’t already know, the prize is thirty gold marks and we’re starting in ten minutes.”
“Do you really think you can win this?” Alex asked skeptically, “Because some of these guys are the real deal.”
“It’s possible.”
“I doubt it, do you believe you could best Will Treaty in an archery tournament,” Cassie said in a slightly condescending tone.
“Pfffft, Old man Will? That old bat couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from inside it.”
They gave me wide-eyed looks and I stopped talking, “he’s right behind me isn’t he.”
They nodded, “and he heard the whole thing too?”
“Oh no, I’m far too old to hear much,” Will said and I sagged slightly.
“Good afternoon Ranger Treaty,” Cassie said politely.
“Good afternoon to you as well Cassandra, it seems at least one of you still has their manners.”
“Sorry.” I muttered and he gave me a smile, “ah what was that? My old ears aren't what they used to be.”
I felt my face flush and he patted me in the back, “ahh, I’m just teasing you Ryze, it’s good to see you.”
“One minute!” the range master called.
“I’ll be going now, good luck.”
“You should know better than to bad mouth the Commandant.” Cassie scolded with her hands on her hips.
Sam grunted, “yeah, that old hoot’s got eyes and ears everywhere.”
“Wait, that old guy’s the ranger head honcho?” Alex asked seriously unimpressed, “He’s the great Woodland Wisp?”
“That’s right.”
“I thought he’d be a lot taller than that.”
I handed him my blazer and strung my bow, “Most rangers get that, in reality being tall puts you at a disadvantage. You have a lot more surface area you need to camouflage.”
“Shooters ready.” I placed an arrow on the strings and loosely grasped the bow.
“Draw.” I took a deep breath in as I pulled the string back.
“Aim.” Closing my eyes I imagined the target and the angle I would need to shoot at.
“Loose.” the arrow sprung from my strings and whistled through the air. It sailed the seventy-seven yards in a quarter of a second and sank into the yellow bulls-eye.
“Wow, you didn’t miss,” Sam noted.
“Didn’t miss this time.” Alex corrected with a grin, “He’s still got four more chances to screw it up.”
“Real supportive.”
“Hey, negative reinforcement is way easier than positive reinforcement.”
“Shooters ready.”
We went through the whole process three more times with exactly the same results. Four arrows now stuck out of the bulls-eye less in a two inches space. Sam and Alex’s trash talk died down and I turned around.
“I got this in the bag.” All three of them looked at me weirdly, “What?”
“None of us have a clue what “I got this in the bag” means.”
“Really? Do you not say that here?”
“No, because we aren’t all hill billy bums like people from the south.” They quieted down and I readied my last arrow. I drew it back and visualized it traveling all the way downrange and sinking perfectly in the bulls-eye. I loosed the arrow and I could feel it was a perfect shot. It embedded itself right in the middle of the other four arrows and right in the center of the bulls-eye.
“HA! I’d like to see someone beat that!” I shouted with glee and put my bow down.
“Hate to break it to you but I think Will did.”
“What?” I whirled around, Will was grinning and he waggled his eyebrows at me. I looked at his target, he had shot all five arrows in exactly the same spot. Each arrow splitting the shaft of the one before it.
“I can’t believe it.” I sat down, “How am I supposed to compete with that?”
Cassie patted me on the head, “He is the Commandant for a reason.”
We messed around at the festival for a few hours longer. By the end, Cassie had somehow managed to win three massive stuffed animals, Alex and Sam were both stumbling a little from alcohol consumption and I was munching on candied blueberries, drinking a beer.
My Pad buzzed and I whipped a hand on Sam’s armor before pulling it out.
“Your presence has been requested in the War Room, go immediately. Oh, also bring the prince and princess.”
“Ok.” I turned to Sam and Cassie, “someone wants us in the War Room right now.”
“I told you, you shouldn’t have gotten drunk, now father’s going to yell at both of us!” she glared at him.
“Ah pffshhh, We’ll be gone off to battle school tomorrow morning." He said and waved a hand.
“Have fun with the hangover on the ship.” I said and he groaned and turned over to Alex, “I told you it was a bad idea to drink that much.”
Alex laughed, “I’m going to be fine, I’ve been drinking in a copy. Real me’s in a bathroom at the palace.”
“Oh, that’s cheating!”
“You guys should probably hurry, I’ll meet you at the ship tomorrow.”
We bid farewell and made our way back to the palace. Guards were standing along the walls looking down with wistful eyes. My pad buzzed again, I let go of Sam and pulled it out.
“Your presence is needed immediately, leave the heirs and come at once.”
I turned to Cassie, “Well, I hate to do this to you but I’m apparently needed urgently so I gotta go.”
“How am I supposed to carry him alone?” she yelled, “My head doesn’t even go up to his chest!”
“Can’t help you there, I’m sorry,” I said and started running. Behind me, Cassie was cursing and yelling at me, not very ladylike behavior.
“Ryze you little shit! I won’t forget this.”
I closed my eyes and started sprinting as fast as I could while the world slowed.