Several months later
The first rays of dawn lit up the tops of the church towers. It was a clear morning, and the trumpeter was climbing the long spiral staircase to the highest tower of the Cathedral of Annunciation to play the morning fanfare. When he reached the top, a strong gust of wind blew towards him, causing him to hesitate briefly. Then he put the trumpet to his lips and took a deep breath. Suddenly, however, he was jolted out of his routine and his instrument almost fell out of his hands, so startled was he. A person was standing on one of the countless pinnacles! Blown about by strong winds, her crimson hair was swirling around wildly. When Viktoria caught sight of the priest, she waved to him. He quickly realized that the person was the princess but was still too shocked to return her greeting.
“Hmm! Then don't!”, the girl defiantly uttered, hands on her hips. She turned south and glanced far into the distance. In the city quarter beyond the Duhn, there was a large building complex amidst the golden roofs. It was hard to make out, but on the roof of the large building, which had once been the headquarters of the Inquisition, and which now served as the meeting place of the Imperial Diet, the figure of a man could be recognized. From here he looked like an ant, but it was the emperor. Standing on the roof of this building, Wenzel did the same and peered over at his daughter.
He then levitated the ball he had brought with him in front of him and fired it with strong telekinetic force towards where Viktoria had positioned herself. While the princess was waiting for the object, a strong squall came and caused her to lose her balance. When the trumpeter, who was still watching her, saw this, he shouted, “Watch out!” His concern was in vain as, before she could fall down, she simply made herself hover in the air and then stood up vertically again. All of a sudden, the ball came shooting at her. It missed Viktoria by more than ten meters. She slowed down its momentum and brought it over to her with telekinesis. Then she tried to pass it back to her father as accurately as possible.
At that distance, it was a great challenge. To make sure it didn't fly too short, she packed a lot of power into her shot. “Whoosh!” The ball flew away with such immense force, that a loud bang resounded throughout the capital. It clearly missed Wenzel, who could only watch as the thing, like a cannonball, crashed into the house next to him, bringing down a wall. “Oh, God! Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all!”, Wenzel realized with his “superpower” of retrospection. He immediately flew down to check that no one had been injured. Fortunately, nothing had happened apart from the damage to the property. The ruler immediately assured those present that he would, of course, pay for the damage. Just then, Viktoria came flying in. “I'm sorry. I must have missed a bit.” - “A bit sounds awfully optimistic! Well, you can be glad that nothing else happened,” the wizard admonished her.
That was the end of her magic training for today. The two of them flew back to the palace. During the flight, Wenzel said to his daughter, “You've already made great progress. Your sense of magic is excellent. The only problem is that you have too much power. Reduce it even more.” - “I'll try, father.” The little girl was a natural. But that was something her magic teacher couldn't tell her. Nevertheless, after only a few months, she had already mastered most of what Wenzel could do. Therefore, he had decided to let her in on some secrets.
Like a wild boar, the princess threw open the door to the emperor’s private library and then also stormed in like one. Silke immediately jumped up in shock. “By the saints! You're going to give me a heart attack, young lady!”, the research assistant announced. Wenzel entered the room immediately after her. “This is a library, Viktoria. We are to be quiet here, please!”, he admonished his child. “I'm sorry, she's always so brash,” he apologized to Silke immediately afterwards. The lady in question only confirmed him and said, “That's all right. She's not familiar with this kind of thing yet.” The emperor scratched behind his ear in embarrassment when he heard this.
Then he moved on to what they had come here for. “This is my personal collection of knowledge. Its purpose is to gather everything possible about magic, even if it's only remotely related. The books and other writings you can see here have been brought from all over the realm. We are far from finished searching and analysing everything that can be found.” His daughter looked at the bookshelves, that reached high up onto the ceiling, but she didn't seem to be particularly igneous about all this. Meanwhile, her father continued unabated, “History, geography, medicine, theology. We've collected works from all kinds of disciplines in the hope of finding clues and information about magic.”
“So, you don't know exactly how magic works?”, the girl asked. “Yes, to some extent. But unfortunately, the knowledge about it was almost completely destroyed by the usurpers who murdered the Melgarions. Now I have to find or rediscover a lot of things.” Viktoria simply nodded. “It is my task as the Chosen One, as THE mage, to gather this knowledge, write it down and pass it on to posterity. That is also a task that you will inherit from me, Viktoria.” - “Hahhhh, really?”, the little girl sighed. The Sovereign laughed and said, “Yes, really. When you're older, you'll learn to appreciate what I’m doing here.”
He gestured for her to follow him. The two of them made their way over to one of several large desks. There were all kinds of notes, inkwells, quills, books and folders lying around on it. But the most important thing was right in the middle in front of the seat. A book with a green cover, that read “De Arte Magica”. “This is my .... will be my great work, my legacy,” the emperor began his remarks. He picked up the book and placed it in Victoria's hands. “In here, I summarize my knowledge of magic in an orderly and concise manner. The more I learn about it, the fuller the book will become.” The girl flicked through the pages and only stopped briefly at the pictures of magic circles. Then she closed the book again.
She said nothing, a sign that she had relatively little interest in “boring” book knowledge. In response, Wenzel noted, “I know all of this is stodgy for you. I know how you feel. I was just like you once. Learning bored me and I wanted to go out into the world and have adventures. When you're a bit more mature, you'll understand why these 'bland things' are so important.” Now the child asked, “Do I have to learn all this too?” - “We'll go through it slowly, bit by bit. I won't give you a timetable for magic.” She made a dissatisfied face. Her father didn't know how he could help her here. Thinking back to himself, his conclusion was that he should simply give her the time and space to develop an interest and learn to understand for herself. But that could take a long time....
“Oh, that's right! I almost forgot!”, Wenzel exclaimed, confusing the other two people present. “The nice lady here is Silke and she's my assistant. Please introduce yourself to her!” - “Hello, my name is Viktoria Althun,” she complied with his request. His assistant also introduced herself to the little girl with a friendly smile. Then the gentleman explained, “She is a very clever woman and is the one who knows her way around here best. If you have any questions, you can always go to her. She'll always be here. At least if I have my way, she will also be at your service one day.” As a result, Silke bowed politely to him. This was a gesture that the emperor did not like at all and immediately put a stop to. “Please, don't do that, my dear. I want to work together with you here, not be worshipped!”
“As you wish...”, the lady was about to return when the child suddenly interrupted her. “Bow, subject!”, she blurted out, puffing herself up. “Viktoria!”, Wenzel snapped sharply at her. It was the first time he had ever struck such a tone with her. His daughter just looked at him in astonishment but didn't seem to be afraid. “I'm sorry, it was actually just a joke,” she then conceded. She had understood what an emotional issue this was for her adoptive father. But she didn't realize why this was the case.
After tempers had calmed down again, the man asked the girl to wait here for a moment. He quickly scurried over to an adjoining room. Three minutes later, he returned with four objects, which he placed on the table. “These are the four Holy Artifacts. They go back to Melgar himself. Even the usually disinterested Viktoria took notice, since absolutely everyone knew the Chosen One of God, the Messiah. His Majesty then delegated the explanation to Silke so that his child could get an idea of how educated she was.
The woman began to explain: “This here is the imperial crown and with it you can understand the language of animals. Then we have the sceptre, which, as we recently found out, can be used to track things and people. Unfortunately, the amulet here is broken, so it can't do anything anymore.” And so on and so forth. For once, Viktoria was attentive.
“Her young Highness is .... a challenge,” an older gentleman with a half bald head reported to the Chosen One. “She often doesn't pay attention, only does the tasks she's supposed to do on her own sloppily and sometimes even defies my orders! To be honest, I don't really know how to handle her.” Consequently, Wenzel replied to her teacher, “I'm aware of what she's like. It's difficult. I'll have a serious talk with her about it.” - “Apart from that, she's not untalented at all. She understands things quite quickly, once she pays attention and actually works. Her Highness is not a stupid child. She's just behind because she wasn't educated from an early age.” The emperor was pleased to hear that at least. He thanked the man and bade him farewell.
Her other private tutors had told him similar things. In the afternoon, he tried to explain to the girl why this matter was so important. “But it's all so exhausting and I don't want to study! Can't we do more with magic instead?”, she responded. Her father tried to be understanding. He remembered his own father, Bertold, and how pointless his pressure and punishments for poor performance had been. He didn't want to do that to his daughter. Even if others might describe her as a “spoiled brat”, he didn't want her to be afraid of him. Hence, he explained to her, “It took me a while to see the light, too. You don't have to love studying, just try to do what your teachers tell you, okay?” The princess nodded at him very unconvincingly and replied, “Mhm.”
Amalie also had something to say about this matter. It was just something completely different from what her husband would have expected. Later that afternoon, the two of them sat down to discuss Viktoria's behaviour. “She's rebellious and doesn't listen to what she's told,” Amalie noted. “I'm aware of that,” Wenzel countered. “I've heard from some people, including the servants, that she sometimes has one of her ‘moments’, when she just snaps, throwing things on the floor and breaking them! That's completely unacceptable!”, the woman now told her beloved, who made a surprised face.
“Have you already reprimanded her for that?” - “Yes, of course. But I can't even punish her properly. Grounding her doesn't make sense either, as she still doesn't have any friends anyway. Couldn't you just....” - “No, I can't,” Wenzel retorted immediately. “I'm not going to chastise our daughter!” - “That’s not what I wanted to say,” his wife justified herself. But he knew exactly that this was what she wanted to say. So, he declared, “She will learn how to behave based on the reactions of others to her actions.” Amalie just shook her head.
Suddenly they were torn from their discussion by the room’s door swinging open. “Fire! There's a fire in Viktoria's room! Help me, please!” Both parents immediately jumped up and rushed over to the nearby room. As they entered, they could already see the window frame being on fire. The flames flickered upwards towards the ceiling, threatening to set everything ablaze! Wenzel reacted immediately. He destroyed the window pane with a blast wave. He then flew out into the open and down to a fountain a short distance away on the other side of the street.
The little girl, who had been standing rooted to the spot until now, now looked out to see what her father was doing. The magician was using telekinesis to bring up a large amount of water from the fountain, which he gathered in a bubble floating above him. He then flew over with it to extinguish the fire with a large gush of liquid. When Viktoria saw this, she also flew out of the window to the fountain to do the same. Wenzel's first pour was not quite enough anyway. Immediately afterwards, the girl came along with another bubble of water. They used it to put an end to the remaining embers.
It was done. The two of them floated back in and put their feet back on the ground. What followed was a long tirade of well-deserved scolding for Viktoria. Her bodyguard, Ylva, just stood by and remained silent. She preferred to keep to herself the fact, that Viktoria had shouted, “Burn, burn brightly!”, when the woman had discovered the fire upon entering the room. The little girl was a terrifying creature.
It was a warm spring day, and the bees were busy collecting their nectar from bushes, that were completely covered in flowers. A delegation that was far too large for the size of the relatively narrow corridors, which had been swept clean as a whistle, walked along them anyway. The emperor, followed by a line of guards, priests and other school staff, walked forward along the hallway to finally be ushered into a room through one of the doors. All the finely dressed students rose from their seats at the same time as His Majesty entered the classroom. “Hail Melgar!”, they all shouted dutifully, just as they had been taught. The teacher also joined in. It was Father Dimitrios, who was currently giving them writing lessons. Wenzel greeted him and looked around the room. The intricate ceiling still looked exactly as he remembered it. Only then did he introduce himself to the class.
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“I'm Wenzel, as I'm sure you all know.” It was an unnecessary introduction. His portrait hung on the wall behind him. Then he went up to a student in the second row and asked, “And what is your name?” - “Hadmar, your Highness.” - “Good, and what have you been learning here in the last few months?” The boy was very nervous and only gave snatchy answers. “It’s all right. I won't bite your head off,” the wizard tried to reassure him. It hardly helped. Then he went over to some of the other children and talked to them about the things they were being taught here in class. While this was going on, the rest of the people he had in tow just stood around in the doorway, looking stupid.
It didn't take too long before he was on his way again. “Thank you very much, everyone! I wish you great success!” Wenzel walked out again and then went up to the headmaster’s office with all those people. There, everyone took a seat on the benches and chairs that had already been prepared. The sun was leaning in so strongly that the curtains were immediately drawn, or at least those, that blocked out the light that directly was hitting His Majesty. The room was extremely spacious and, like most of the rooms here, had a ceiling with beautiful stucco work and paintings.
The new headmaster wore the long black robes of a clergyman. The Chosen One let his gaze wander briefly over the assembled people until his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of one of those present. It was a woman, the only woman who had stayed since he had gone to school at this place. His old teacher, Mrs. Adele, was still here. She was now wearing long, black, decidedly more chaste robes, but she still had a post here. The now elderly lady naturally returned his intense gaze, whereupon he addressed her, “I haven't seen you for a long time, Mrs. Adele. How are you?” - “I'm doing well. You seem to be doing alright too, as I can see. That is pleasing.” The emperor had to laugh at her answer. “Haha! Better than you would have guessed at the time, after all the things that have happened.”
Eventually, however, they got down to business. His Highness cleared his throat, then spoke up once more, “From what I have heard from the students, there is a very strong focus on religious education and the study of the Holy Scriptures. I expected nothing less from our education system since the Commune has taken it over again.” - “Thank you very much, my lord,” the headmaster responded. Wenzel raised an eyebrow and explained, “That wasn't a compliment! Instead of real skills, the focus is on dogma and indoctrination. What is to become of this generation? I'll tell you: Good little sheep who do everything they're told but don't understand what they're doing and how the world works!”
The teaching staff were completely flabbergasted. They stood there for a moment, just dumbfounded. Adele tried not to show any emotion, but her former pupil still knew her well enough to see that she was amused by his confrontation of the priests. After collecting his thoughts from the previous blow, the head of school finally answered, “But don't the teachings of Teleiotism legitimize the authority of the Chosen One? Is this not useful to you, my lord?” - “Oh, it is,” replied Wenzel, adding, “if I wanted to educate the people to be good tin soldiers and wipe out all those who stand in my way. But tell me: would that be a good world? Is that the world we want to live in one day?”
The headmaster blushed and thought for a moment. Then he replied, “Yes, indeed, Your Holiness!” Of course, the emperor had expected this answer. It was the same one that the heads of the other schools, he had already visited, had given him. “When I say something anticlerical like that, they assume it's a test of their loyalty. It's always the same. The answer for them will always be the Testament. Their logic doesn't allow for anything else,” it went through the ruler’s head. Everyone was now solely staring at Wenzel, who was sitting enthroned in his large armchair. No one dared to say anything. “None of these cowards are man enough to ask me whether I actually believe in the Holy Scriptures!”, he thought to himself. Finally, he began to speak once more, “I would like you to pay more attention to other disciplines outside the faith. In principle, I have nothing against your practices,” he emphasized out of necessity, “but there are other things than praying, that a student of this academy should be able to do when he leaves.”
“It will be done this way, Your Highness!”, they returned as expected. Afterwards, Wenzel's servants took care of some administrative, bureaucratic necessities with the school administration, things he wouldn't deal with personally. He signed his name in the guest book, said goodbye and quickly made his way back. On the way out, however, he walked through the beautifully landscaped park, which had hardly changed in all those years. The ruler paused for a moment and looked at the red flowers, whose names he still did not know. Then his gaze wandered over to the old wall, on the other side of which were the wide fields and a little way further lay Olemar.
In the end, however, his eye fell on the building where the dormitories were. As if hypnotized, he wandered over and stopped in front of the small courtyard. He looked at the cobblestones and then up to the balcony on the 3rd floor. For a while, he just stood there. In the meantime, those present, who were keeping a little distance from him, began to mumble quietly amongst themselves. One of the guards now approached him and asked, “Is everything alright, my lord?” Wenzel shook his head in reply. He then spoke in a heavy voice, “Once I could not have imagined that I would ever return here. This is the place where the revolution began. A place, a moment, that left me with only two options: death or revolution.” Awestruck, the guard fell silent, as did the others who had been standing behind him and who had also heard his words.
The wizard was aware that there were all kinds of rumours about those events here at the boarding school. They didn't interest him in the slightest. “Ferenc!”, he called out to his bodyguard. “Yes, Your Majesty?”, he returned. “We are making our way back to the capital. My inspections are over now.” As they made their way to the carriages for the return journey, he took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to his old brother-in-arms. “Please have this letter delivered to my parents-in-law. Since we're already here, it won't be too much trouble.” - “Don't you want to visit them in person?” - “I wouldn't have a problem with that, but as my wife didn't come with me, I don't see much point paying them a visit on my own.” - “Whatever you say, my lord.”
“Cling! Clang!”, the blades clashed with one another. In the middle of one of the palace's smaller courtyards, two swordsmen were locked in a heated duel. Two men who had been brought forth by the revolution were facing each other on the green lawn: Brahm, the commander of the Crown Guard, and Wenzel, the Holy Ordanian Emperor. Wenzel took a step back to get some air for his next attack. Brahm tried to take advantage of this to make an attack from above from the Ochs position himself. Like his mirror image, the Chosen One swung upwards from below. The two sword blows met exactly in the middle. Then they both made sideways leaps, turning clockwise around each other as if in a dance.
“I really don't know what to do anymore. Theodor won't cooperate with me and the church representatives with their tunnel vision aren't helping me either, even if they are, according to their own convictions, on my side,” Wenzel made his frustration heard. The commander of his guard continued to circle him and replied, “This is a really tricky business!” He parried a horizontal blow from his adversary. “Yeah, I don't know a solution to that. Do you have any ideas?”, the emperor now asked his opponent. He made a lightning-fast thrust forwards, which his challenger skilfully dodged to the left. Then he answered: “Hmmm. Difficult.”
While he was distracted for a moment, Wenzel swung wide from above, but his adversary immediately held out the broadside of his sword. The blow hit it, but the emperor then somersaulted over Brahms' head and delivered a strike in the back. “Really?”, exclaimed the exasperated Brahm. “I thought we said that magic is considered cheating here. You're literally stabbing me in the back here, Wenzel!” His challenger snickered in an almost childlike manner and said, “I'm sorry. I couldn't quite stop myself. We don't get to compete against each other as often as we used to.” His old friend had to grin a little. They then both put their swords down on the grass and sat down.
Consequently, Brahm said: “I have an idea.” - “What would that be?” - “Why don't you just expand the Crown Guard, develop it into something more significant.” Wenzel looked at him in surprise and then thought for a moment. Eventually, he replied, “That's a really good idea, actually. But I don't think I could take powers away from the army and give them to my guard instead.” - “No. I don't think that would be such a good idea either. But you can ask Peter what the legally defined areas of responsibility of the military are. Anything that isn't explicitly illegal could also be included in the Crown Guard's remit.” Like a rocking horse, Wenzel's body along with his head rocked back and forth in agreement. Then he said, “Thanks, buddy! I knew I could rely on you.”
A few weeks later
The weather was gloomy and only in the morning had a few scattered rays of sunshine managed to break through the thick cloud cover. On the square directly in front of the Melgarion Palace, an entire regiment of over a thousand soldiers was lined up in formation. A brisk wind was blowing, causing the flags, which included both the imperial flag and the emperor’s standard, to flap about violently. They were all splendidly dressed in the check uniform of the former Crown Guard. Only the coat of arms on their tunics was now different, namely one, that depicted a sickle, which seemed to be harvesting ears of corn, above which a triquetra was emblazoned. It was an unusual symbol that had never been seen before and whose meaning was a mystery.
His Majesty, Wenzel Althun, stepped in front of the troops. “Saluuuute!”, it boomed from Commander Duenitz's throat, whereupon all the men followed his command. A very short passage from the Holy Testament was then read out. To the sound of loud, rhythmic drumming they consequently raised their hands to take the oath. All the men recited the oath formula that they had previously memorized:
“We do solemnly swear to God Almighty, His Teleiotic Majesty, Our Most Serene Lord, Wenzel Althun, the One Chosen by the grace of God, Emperor of Ordania, King of Zeemark and Corakia, Lord Protector of Camenia and the Kashar Land, to be faithful and obedient, to obey all our superiors and higher-ups, to protect and honour them, to obey their commands and orders in all duties, to fight against every enemy and wherever His Majesty's will may require it, by day and by night, in battles, storms, campaigns and undertakings of every kind, in a word, to fight bravely and manfully in every place, at all times and on all occasions, never to abandon our troops, flags and standards, never to enter into the slightest understanding with the enemy, and to live and die with honour. So help us God.”
Having sworn allegiance to their emperor, they would now serve him as members of the new Imperial Guard, which would henceforth replace the Crown Guard. As they recited the oath of allegiance, everyone could see a small star light up in the eyes of the Chosen One. The guardsmen took this as a sign from God. After all, they were the most pious the recruiters could find. This ceremony was a moment that seemed grand, but it would not change the balance of power in the empire. However, with this His Highness had sent a strong signal of his determination. The Supreme Marshal deliberately paid no attention to the event and had demonstratively carried out an inspection of the city garrison, which was located in a different part of the city, on the same day. In the end, it was nothing more than symbolic politics on both sides. For now.
Everything was dark. In this darkness, however, outlines and shapes slowly began to form until the place where she was finally revealed itself to its full extent. There was nothing but rubble and ruins everywhere. Viktoria turned to the left. Here she could see a huge, round, stained-glass window. Its colourful depictions of flowers and angels were half broken off and the countless shards lay on the ground below. Viktoria turned to the right. Here she could see down the nave. Many of the pillars had fallen over and the ceiling it had supported had crashed down and lay in huge pieces scattered across the once beautifully tiled floor of the cathedral. The front of the church had also partially collapsed. What on earth had happened here?
The girl flew up into the air to get a better view. When she was high enough, she had an outlook over the city. It was a city in flames and marked by destruction. Shocked, she now realized that she knew this view. This was Meglarsbruck and the church here was the Cathedral of Annunciation! What could she do? She didn't know. But somehow, she had the feeling that she should wait here. Someone would come. She let herself float back down to the ground. Once she had touched down on solid ground, the dream ended.
Viktoria opened her eyes. Unable to see anything she sat up. She was lying in her bed, which was in her room. Everything was completely normal. Should she perhaps talk to her father about these dreams? ..... “Meh! Whatever,” was her conclusion. Who knew if that would actually happen? The child got out of bed and paced back and forth around the room. It was impossible to find her bearings in this darkness, so she created a small flame in the palm of her hand. Somehow, she didn't want to go back to sleep. So, she wandered around her room. She stared into the flame again and again. Fire fascinated the girl. Even her parents, her real parents, had always told her that a fire was burning in her eyes, not figuratively, but literally.
Her new father was the only one in whose eyes also something was glistening. That gave her the feeling that he was the only person who could at least somehow understand her. But that wasn't quite true. He could comprehend her circumstances but had no idea how she felt. Nevertheless, in her opinion, he was a good man. He always tried to be nice to her. Unfortunately, like everyone else here, he was eager for her to learn a lot. Other children her age were often afraid of her, though. For her, this was because they were simply too weak and too cowardly to stand up to her! Her adoptive mother had already tried to tell her several times that she should be “nice” to the other girls. In Viktoria's eyes, that was just hogwash! They were the ones who often made her mad in the first place.
While all these things were going through her mind, she was scuttling up and down on her soft carpet. The light from her “magic lamp” illuminated the fine furniture in the children's room. It was still like a dream for her here. She could never have imagined such wealth, not in her wildest dreams. But now she lived here. She got everything she wanted. The food here was good and she was allowed to eat as much as she could manage. Despite all the really strenuous studying she had to do all the time, it was nice here. She wouldn't want to leave. And she didn't miss her real parents too much either. Dad had only ever punished her when she did something he didn't like.