It was a brilliantly beautiful day as they crossed the southern city gate of the capital, with only a few fleecy clouds drifting leisurely across the sky. Viktoria had already pressed her nose against the window as they approached and had excitedly called out, “Is that it? Is that it?” Now they drove through the dark cave formed by the thick old gate. The gatekeepers saluted as the Chosen One passed through. Then, as they came back under the rays of the sun, the imperial city presented itself in all its splendour. Open-mouthed, the child gazed out of the window, then ran over to the other one to see what could be seen on that side. A smile crossed Wenzel's lips. It reminded him of himself. When he had returned home to his parents here at a young age, he too had always admired the impressive architecture of the city.
And the amazement of their newly adopted daughter was indeed great. She couldn't get her mouth shut, so amazed was she by the huge, monumental buildings with their characteristic golden roofs. They were in the metropolis often referred to as the “Golden City”, after all. They drove between the columns crowned with statues of saints, that lined the so-called Imperial Road, passed the large representative buildings and the Cathedral of Annunciation until they finally arrived at the Melgarion Palace. Its enormous domes left Viktoria speechless. Amalie was very much entertained by and delighted with the girl's behaviour. As they left their carriage, Wenzel then said to her, “We're here. This is your new home! Do you like it?” The child was so flabbergasted that she didn't answer. Her adoptive father left it at that.
Amalie wanted to take the little girl by the hand, but she pulled it back in surprise. Slightly disappointed, the empress then simply walked up the stairs beside the child, leaving Wenzel on Victoria's other flank. As they accessed the entrance hall, she looked around again with wide eyes. She seemed to be particularly taken with the colourful mosaic patterns of the marble tiles on the floor. “My lord, I will now have to take my leave here,” Brahm, who had accompanied them until now, informed him. He struck a formal tone, as they were still in an official setting. In private, he still spoke to him like a friend, but over the years, formality and etiquette had been brought back to a large degree. His boss bid him a quick farewell. Then the new family continued to show their daughter some important things in the palace.
First of all, the way led over to her chambers. There were several large rooms, including a wide double bed with its own canopy, a spacious closet for the empress's wife and living rooms lavishly furnished mostly with pieces which had already been here before they moved in. Viktoria would stay here with them for the first few nights. The reason for this was that her own room, which she would get, was not yet ready for moving in. It would be a comparatively medium-sized room a little further down the corridor with a good view of the busy streets outside. The children's room would be the very room that had once been Wenzel's office and where, according to the vision he had had many years ago, he would be poisoned in by August. That’s why he had moved his office somewhere else. The emperor was very keen on this vision never coming true, as he had clearly demonstrated with his past, reprehensible actions against the former chancellor.
The girl had never seen such large rooms. She ran around everywhere and looked at everything. Viktoria jumped onto divans, whose wooden backrests were decorated with fine scrollwork, she walked into the closet, which was a whole room in itself, and looked at and fondled the clothes in it. Then she whizzed over to the other rooms like a whirlwind and took a close look at everything there too. Meanwhile, her adoptive parents sat down at a table and had a servant bring them tea. While the little girl scurried around everywhere, Wenzel kept a close eye on her. She was a very different child from what he had been. Not quiet and withdrawn, but curious, cheeky and full of energy. She was still a complete stranger here and yet she combed through the rooms as if they already belonged to her.
After Amalie and her husband had finished their teas, they showed their daughter a few other places that were important to her in the palace. They took her down to the dining room, where they would have three meals a day. Around the clock there were also bowls there, filled with things one could eat in between meals. Local fruit such as apples, pears and plums could be found here, as well as bananas and oranges, fruit that had to be imported from the south. Nuts and boiled sweets were also available. The latter attracted Viktoria's attention. The colourful, soft, fruit-flavoured sugar bombs enchanted the girl. “Can I have some?”, she asked. But before Wenzel could answer her, Amalie spoke up, “We say please here.” Once Viktoria had asked the question correctly, she was, of course, allowed to have some sweets. “Wow! They're delicious!”, the little girl exclaimed. She had never eaten anything like it before.
The imperial couple were really pleased to see the girl so happy. After that, they only showed her a few more rooms and then they called it a day. In the following days, they would introduce her to the most important servants and her bodyguard. For the time being, however, it was enough. It had already been an exhausting day for Viktoria.
His Highness was sitting bent over his large desk in the study. Around him were piles of books and papers that had once been organized stacks before they had toppled over. There was so much material here that it was already blocking access to the bookshelves along the wall behind it. Wenzel really needed a few extra shelves. He had just finished jotting down his observations and findings from his experiments with magic. He wrote them down on notepads and would later transfer the content in revised form to his “De Arte Magica”. This was his main work, and he did not want it to consist of scribbles and constant revisions.
When he had finished, he walked over the jumble of books and documents to the second door in the room. Through it he entered another room, which was a small library. In the emperor’s private library sat a small lady with jet-black hair. She was also absorbed in her writing and only noticed relatively late that the emperor was approaching her. She sat up and turned her gaze towards him but did not get up from her chair. “Can I help you, my lord?” Wenzel stepped a little closer and cast a cursory glance over her writing. “What are you doing at the moment?”, he inquired. I'm transcribing the book that was found in the secret cellar,” she replied. “Excellent.”
Recently, an old secret cellar had been discovered in the palace of Greifenburg, which had apparently been used by the usurpers to hide forbidden knowledge about magic. Although only a single book and a few other small notebooks relating to the art of magic had been found, it was still a sensational discovery. Wenzel had been searching in vain for any knowledge of magic for so long that he was positively jubilant when the good news reached him. Now they were in the process of translating and analysing the book. Like the inscription in the basement of the palace, it was written in the “secret language” of Ostrisul, which was actually just a dead language. The lady here was currently devoting herself to this task.
She stood up and walked across the room. One could now see her dark blue uniform with a sun emblem on the front, which was the emblem of the Crown Guard. It was a completely unique uniform for a person in a unique position. Because the woman was only formally part of the Crown Guard. Actually, Silke was the emperor's “Personal Assistant for the Study of Magic”. An unnecessarily long title, but one that was very well paid, as one can imagine. Silke was a luminary. She had been top of her class at the Academy of Historical Studies, was fluent in several languages and had a passionate interest in archival lore.... for whatever reason. She was also the daughter of a strictly Teleiotic, aka Old Believer family, which was very important for reasons of trust. And from his conversations with her, Wenzel realized that she was just as fascinated by magic and its workings as he was. She was the ideal person for the job.
Silke moved over to a cupboard, which when opened, was revealed to be full of huge rolls of parchment. But before she could pull out even one of them, the man behind her said, “Let's leave the magic circles alone for today. I'd very much rather you continued working on our great find.” She was clearly already tired, but had enough enthusiasm to utter a committed, “As you wish!” Over the past two years, they had spent a lot of time together researching the workings of magic circles. The results were mixed. The very young lady immediately walked past Wenzel and back to her table. The emperor paid no attention to her physical attractiveness.
But before she could get back to work, Wenzel reached for the book. It was a thick, apparently ancient book, at least two hundred years old. Its leather binding was dark and worn. There was no author listed. The two assumed that it had been written by several of the Melgarions, who had continued writing in it from their predecessors. This was evident from the different handwritings. The current ruler of Ordania was in no way able to read the book. Nevertheless, he leafed through it and glanced with interest at some of the magic circles it contained. Finally, he handed it back to his assistant. “This thing is our key to a breakthrough, I'm quite sure of it,” he announced. Silke nodded in agreement.
Dining room, at lunchtime. Four people were sitting at a long table, that was far too big: Emperor Wenzel, his wife Amalie, their daughter Viktoria and Ylva, the new bodyguard. The sun was shining through the windows, but not directly, as it was midday, and its rays were currently coming down vertically from the sky. Nevertheless, it was abundantly bright in the room, since there was a row of countless windows here, almost like a gallery.
The table was lined with a myriad of platters and bowls presenting different dishes. Amalie and her husband sat quietly and demurely, eating with knife and fork. Their daughter sat next to them. Unfortunately, the little girl did not behave like them. Unlike the two of them, she immediately reached for “the big chicken” and tore off one of its legs with her bare hands. “Viktoria?”, it came from Amalie in a slightly warning tone. The girl looked at her, puzzled. “We don't use our hands here, we use cutlery,” she then explained. Viktoria awkwardly looked next to her plate, where the cutlery was placed. She quickly grabbed the knife and used it to cut the piece of meat that was already on her plate. But she held it with the fingers of her left hand.
Her new mother scratched her face and exhaled in a strangely exasperated manner. Ylva, who was sitting next to the little girl, couldn't help but laugh. The bodyguard asked, “May I help her, Your Highness?” Amalie seemed to be in a mental void for a moment, but then replied, “No. Leave it for the time being. We'll teach her next time. She'll be getting lessons in etiquette anyway.” Wenzel just thought to himself, “They'll really be necessary!” Consequently, the child began to eat her food in a relatively wild manner. Lacking table manners, she literally wolfed it down and immediately took some more. Her parents couldn't even look.
Meanwhile, Ylva was still sitting there eating nothing. She had been appointed the princess's bodyguard. Ylva was a tall woman, with a strong build but a lovely face. Her chestnut brown hair was tied in a tight bun so as not to get in the way during work. The lady waited her turn. She was of lower rank here at the table and according to custom, those of higher rank got to eat first. Only the food they refused would be given to those next in rank. This meant that Ylva was the last to eat. She knew that the sovereign was a gentle man, who didn't take these old customs too seriously, but she didn't dare make a potential mistake of her own accord.
All kinds of interesting dishes were served on the table. The “chicken”, as their new daughter called it, was actually a peacock. Of course, she had never seen such a creature before. There was also a fish at the table, which was probably a fried trout, parsnip puree, a side dish that Empress Amalie particularly liked, bread and a few other side dishes. The young princess tried a piece of the fish, but then spat it out with a loud, “Yuck! What's that?” She had never eaten fish before in her life and, therefore, refused it for the time being. Hence, Ylva took the piece of fish that Viktoria didn't like.
It was a surreal scene. Three adults of high nobility were eating in a civilized manner at the table, while next to them a child was champing loudly and shoveling large quantities of food into her mouth. She knew no restraint. Wenzel was just happy that she liked it. He was fully aware that it was the first time the girl had been given such well-prepared food. The peasants of Ordania lived mainly on bread, porridge, vegetables and lentils. They rarely ate meat and spices were a luxury good.
It took much less time than he had expected for his assistant to translate the entire volume. That day, Silke was so excited that she literally stumbled through the door of her workplace and fell to the floor. Wenzel, who had already been there earlier, immediately turned around and asked her if she was alright. “Everything's okay. I'm just a klutz!”, she put herself down and hastily gathered up the books she had brought with her. “I'm sorry it took so long, my lord. The main library is a few blocks away from here after all. When I realized how late I was, I hurried to get here as quickly as possible. Well, that's what I get for it now.” - “Don't worry about it. You're here now,” her boss replied with a calm demeanour. They then sat down together and discussed the contents of the translated book.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“I haven't been able to translate everything one hundred percent yet. Some words are simply hard to decipher because of the handwriting. Nevertheless, I was able to find some interesting things in it. It seems to be primarily a book about magic circles. That's very fitting, as we were..…and are also involved in this field.” Now Wenzel asked, “And does it also contain general rules or is it just a collection of magic circles, the rules of which we would then have to deduce ourselves?” - “Fortunately, a few basic rules are mentioned in some footnotes, but in general it's more of a catalogue of different circles.” It could have been better, but it was still a good thing, so the mage couldn't complain about, still.
She continued, “We have already found out one of the most essential rules ourselves, namely that the circles have to be drawn with some kind of liquid, like ink or even blood. Furthermore, they only seem to work if they are written in the Ostrisul script. All spells and symbols must also be in the curve, the inside of the circle must always remain empty. All magic circles require a spell to be recited in order to be activated.” Her listener looked at her for a moment, then raised his voice, “You forgot one more thing.” Before she could answer, he spoke, “Magic circles need magic to be activated. Either the magical power of a wizard or magic that is sealed in an object is needed.”
Very uncharacteristically, Silke almost began to sulk and responded, “My lord, you took the words right out of my mouth. I was just about to say that!” - “Oh, then I'm sorry!” Wenzel apologized immediately. It was perfectly possible to create objects that contained magic. They did not yet know exactly how this was could be done, but the ruler's former soul pendant was undeniable proof of this. This way, it was also possible for “normal” people to work magic or at least activate magic circles. Then his assistant continued:
“I've also taken the trouble to list the different magic circles and their effects here.” Wenzel gratefully accepted her list. As he read through it, one entry in particular jumped out at him. “A healing ritual,” he said unintentionally and audibly to Silke. The lady was immediately spurred on. “Do you want to try this out?”, she asked in an unmistakably eager tone. Wenzel almost wanted to hesitate, but immediately gave in. There was no reason to be hesitant here. This had most probably been the healing ritual that Elisabeth had spoken about back then. If he had known about it at the time, he might have been able to save her. Perhaps the Melgarian imperial house would have survived and the history of the whole of Kaphkos would have taken a completely different course. Well, there is no use crying over spilt milk. Nevertheless, the emperor, who had been brought here by the revolution, remembered this fateful day with a sober affect. “What if” was a question better left unasked.
While he pondered all this, Silke took out a large roll of parchment and prepared an inkwell. Wenzel insisted on drawing the circle himself. Meanwhile, she held his bow taut, as it refused to lie flat from having been rolled up for so long. There were some complicated symbols that the wizard had to draw as correctly as possible. He wasn't the most gifted when it came to finger dexterity, but that was exactly why he wanted to practise it here. After he had finished his work, his assistant touched up two small drawing mistakes and then the magic circle was finished. To activate it, they still needed bone powder and black sand.
They actually had both at hand, as they had been experimenting here for the last two years. Silke tipped a little of both ingredients into Wenzel's left hand. With his right hand, he held the book whose text he now was to read aloud. “Just a moment!”, she reminded him to wait one further moment. “We need something that can be healed to test whether the ritual is effective.” The emperor didn't beat around the bush and cut his own finger with the small knife he always had with him for self-defence. The woman didn't seem too shocked by this. As the first warm drops fell to the ground, Wenzel began to recite the spell from the book with a loud voice.
“Osto me kokalo, haima me haima. Gia na therapeuthoun xana. Pare auti ti dynami apo mena kai kane to xana olokliro.“
Slowly, the circle at his feet began to glow bluish. “Drip, drip,” the blood continued to come from his finger. Finally, he read the last verse, after which he threw the powder in his left hand down onto the magic circle. For a short time, it began to shine brightly and the person standing in it felt the mana flowing out of him. Then its light suddenly went out. After this, the mage checked his finger. There was no longer a cut to be seen. The wound had healed. “Yes!”, Silke began to shout enthusiastically. Wenzel was also delighted, so much so that he hugged his assistant in his exuberance. “Please, my lord, I don't think....,” she began, but didn't finish her sentence.
The reason for this was the lady who was now standing in the doorway. When Wenzel turned his head over, he was met by Amalie. With an icy cold stare. He immediately stepped back from Silke, but it was already too late. “I erm,....It was just an experiment with magic that worked out for us, darling. There's nothing for you to worry about.” His consort raised an eyebrow and looked sharply at him and the lady next to him. “Sure there isn’t, dearest.” She should actually have known that she meant everything to Wenzel, but when it comes to jealousy, it’s such a thing….
Viktoria joyfully stormed ahead down the corridor, so far that Amalie had to shout for her to please wait up. Ylva saw no danger in the palace at the moment and walked next to the empress, with whom she was having a conversation. Today they had arranged a meeting with Irnfrid's daughters, Marzia and Eleonore. Marzia was about Victoria's age, Eleonore was two years younger than her. At the end of the corridor, where it branched off to the left and right, the red-haired bundle of energy was waiting impatiently. “If you always run ahead this far, I won't be able to look after you, young lady!”, the bodyguard addressed the girl when they had finally caught up with her. “But waiting is always so boring!”, the little one complained and ran ahead again as soon as she saw which way to go.
They then met Irnfrid, the wife of the Supreme Marshal, in a room that had been adapted as a playroom. Her two daughters were already busy. They were sitting on the carpeted floor playing with their dolls. Both children had thick black hair, like their father, but the pretty, feminine features of their mother. “Here, Viktoria! You can go over to the two girls and play with them.” - “Okay!”, she replied briefly and ran straight over to them. “Hello, I'm Viktoria. What are you playing?” The child hadn't even asked for the names of the other two. “We're playing with dolls at the moment,” Marzia answered her somewhat timidly.
Meanwhile, Irnfrid and Amalie sat down to talk while keeping an eye on their little ones. They also offered Ylva to join them in the meantime. “And how is your husband? Lately, I haven't been seeing him that often,” the emperor's wife enquired about Theodor. Her friend simply responded, “He's doing fine, actually. He's just always quite busy. At the moment Theodor’s spending a lot of time with Alexander. He always tries to drill the boy far too much because he really wants him to be like himself. I've already told him far too often that it can't be forced, but you know how he is. He doesn't listen to me anyway.”
Amalie could only agree with her. All the years of war had hardened and dulled the man. They both knew that and yet it wasn't easy to deal with. Then Irnfrid turned to Amalie, “You look so happy, you know?” - “Do I?”, asked the addressee, who immediately drew a parallel with what Flora had said to her. That woman had literally said the same thing about her. “I understand. I was also overjoyed when I had my first child. Even if it's not quite the same for you, it's probably a very similar feeling,” the lady noted. Amalie, a little embarrassed, simply replied, “Yes, I'm sure you're right.” Her cheeks reddened slightly, which amused Irnfrid. She had also visibly grown older. Irnfrid didn't have many wrinkles yet, but the crow's feet around her eyes were beginning to form and she was no longer quite as slim as she had once been.
Out of nowhere, however, the two of them were jolted out of their cozy conversation. The carpet, on which the girls were playing, was suddenly on fire! What had happened? Viktoria refused to play dolls with the other two. “It's boring!”, she had said. Instead, she wanted her playmates to join her in playing with the building blocks. But the other two didn't want to. She had gone to them several times because she didn't want to play alone. She hated playing alone! For her, this brought back memories of the parents in the village who kept their children away from her. When she was rejected yet again, Viktoria finally got angry. The mage gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. Then she jumped around and shouted at the two of them. Her emotions caused the magic to pour out of her, recognizable to the naked eye. Eventually, the little girl's rage incinerated the play carpet!
As a result, the mothers of the three had to take them away from there straight away. The bodyguard quickly played firefighter. The fire was quickly extinguished, though, and the problem was solved. Only the carpet was ruined. Of course, Amalie immediately scolded her daughter. The two others preferred to get out of the way and Eleonore even wanted to hide behind her mom. Viktoria scared her. The playdate was ruined.
The sorcerer looked down at his work. “De Arte Magica” was written on it. Green cover. He opened it and read the third chapter. It was entitled “Holy Artifacts”.
Normally, magic is bound to the soul, i.e. something living. Now it seems that it is possible to bind magic to objects. However, these are not just any objects. Each of the items that appear to have magical properties have a gemstone set into them. It is also significant to note here, that so far, all such artifacts, that have been found, date back to the time of Melgar the Great. It can be assumed that the original Chosen One created them himself. The method is unknown. However, the rule can be deduced that the binding of magic to an object can only be carried out with gemstones. A plausible theory would be that a part of the soul itself is enclosed in the gemstone to hold the magic inside. Further tests are necessary in this regard.
Objects created in this way will from here on out be referred to as “Holy Artifacts”, in line with the Teleiotic definition of holiness and its connection to magic. The Holy Artifacts documented so far are the following:
* The imperial crown of Melgar
* The imperial scepter
* The imperial orb
* The pendant of Melgar
* The ceremonial coronation sword
These are the five crown jewels, that were traditionally used at the coronation of all previous emperors of the Holy Empire. It seems to have been of great importance to Melgar that these very objects were given additional relevance, on top of their already symbolic one. It has not yet been possible to determine the exact reason for this. However, the inscription in the cellar of the imperial palace in Meglarsbruck gives us a further clue.
“Five precious treasures. Five keys to eternity. United in one hand, they pass on fate into the future.”
This leads to the conclusion that His Holiness the Chosen One sought a method of preserving magical power through objects. Magic could be understood here as a “key to eternity”, as it doesn’t seem to run out over time, instead staying conserved in the object.
The man closed the book again. There was still so much he needed to find out about magic, and he would record it all, explain it rationally and put it down on paper. It would become his magnum opus, his legacy. He turned and looked towards the wall to his left. Behind the shelf that stood here was a secret compartment set into the wall. He had hidden the five crown jewels in it. The chosen one had kept them here with him as he had examined them closely and had been carrying out experiments with them. On the other side of the room, Silke was tidying up the terrible mess that her boss had created here. “Everything is all over the place, my lord! I would certainly have helped you if you had informed me of this earlier.”
Wenzel ignored her obviously wrong conclusion, that he was the cause of this mess, and not just the fact, that his piles of books had fallen over. He had everything in order, and he knew where he had put what. He just didn't have enough storage space for it, that was all. All he did, was to point at one of the piles and telling her, “Please, leave me that pile here. You can put the other things somewhere else, but these are my historical documents, which I'm still working on at the moment.” His assistant almost wanted to roll her eyes, but then didn't dare and simply agreed with him.
Now Wenzel went over to the secret compartment and took out the four Holy Artifacts. Yes, you read that right: four! As the emperor and his assistant had discovered, the orb was a fake, whose gemstone had no magical properties. He was convinced that the real one must still be somewhere, in a place where no one could find it. Finding it was now another one of his tasks. Until then, the fake would remain here to give the impression of everything being as it should be.
Wenzel floated the artifacts over to his table to begin experimenting with them once again. Now laid out before him were: Melgar's sword with a light violet-red jewel in it, the sceptre with an azure gemstone, the (false) imperial orb with a yellow one, the crown with a green one and finally the pendant with a shattered, fire-red stone. When he touched them and channelled mana into them, they began to glow. He had already learned what the sword could do from Theodor, though he had also ascertained that himself again. The crown allowed him to understand the language of animals. The day he had found this out was the day a couple of sparrows had been sitting on his window sill, while he was handling the crown. The properties of the other Holy Artifacts were unknown to him. Curiously, the sceptre shone stronger one time and weaker at another time when he infused it with magic. Its light immediately became brighter or dimmer, depending on where he pointed it. He had not yet figured out why.
But that was precisely why he was now “playing” with the imperial sceptre again. He held it vertically upwards, and it only lit up halfway. Then he pointed its tip at the other Holy Artifacts, and it lit up a little more, but not completely. Turned slightly to the right and it became a little brighter still. Strange. Silke only glanced over at him occasionally. She still didn't know what the object did exactly, but it was probably like some kind of divining rod. But what was the divining rod looking for? They would soon find out. “Oh, yes, Silke, just so you know! I'm going to take some of our bone meal and the black sand,” he informed her forthrightly. “Certainly, my lord,” was all the woman said in reply. In the future, Wenzel would carry a tiny vial containing these ingredients with him, so that he could perform a healing ritual in an emergency. In the meantime, he had practiced the magic circle and could now draw it from memory.