Five years had passed since then. On her soft bed, there now a sixteen-year-old Viktoria could be found. She had tied her exceedingly long hair into a ponytail. As she sat cross-legged, she was stroking a small animal that she let sit on her lap. The little spaniel, Wanja, enjoyed being stroked by the girl and nudged her with its nose every time Viktoria stopped. “Oh, Wanja. You really are my only friend,” came from the moping princess. “That's almost a reason for me to be offended, Your Highness!”, announced Ylva, who had entered the room seemingly without Viktoria noticing.
Her dog immediately jumped down from the young lady and greeted the bodyguard with exuberant tail wagging. While the brown-haired lady briefly stroked the pet in greeting, the future heiress to the throne replied to what had just been said, “Of course you're my friend too. That's obvious anyway!” However, this did not make the expression on the woman's face more content in any way. She said, “I know that something is bothering you and I'm pretty sure what that something is.” A few short seconds passed before Viktoria responded, “You know, at the very beginning, when we first met, your Zeemarkian dialect always irritated me a little. Over time, I got used to it and came to see it as part of your personality. But in the beginning, your way of talking always jarred me.”
The girl had immediately changed the subject. Before her bodyguard returned to the original topic of conversation, she couldn't stop herself from responding to the claim first. “I have always tried to express myself with you as well as possible in the standard language. It's just that my pronunciation of some words is a little different, but I can't change that.” - “I think that's a good thing. You wouldn't be Ylva without it!” The lady had to smile at least a little at that. Her Majesty really liked her. Ylva let the moment linger for a while until she finally began with what she had intended before. “You are always too pushy and, as some would say, dominant. Marzia, but especially Eleonore, are intimidated by your demeanour.” Her bodyguard preferred to leave out the fact that it was even worse with the younger of the two Kuhn sisters, who was genuinely afraid of the mage.
“I'm not! Neither of them ever wants anything of their own. That's why I always have to set the tone!”, Viktoria hissed in her typical domineering manner. However, she then pressed her lips together and turned her face away from her conversation partner, who had briefly caught a glimpse of her worried expression. “So why.....”, Viktoria did not finish the sentence she had started. Ylva could already sense what was about to happen. Suddenly, the first tears began to run down the teenager's cheeks. The other person present didn't know exactly how to deal with this. She moved a little closer to the girl. The thought briefly crossed her mind as to what impact these emotions might have with the sorceress. As she knew from His Majesty, strong emotions could manifest themselves physically in a destructive way among those with magical powers. But the young lady was sad, not really angry. What the effect of this would be, Ylva didn't really know.
By now the girl had started sobbing. “Nobody likes me! Why doesn't anyone like me?” The woman standing next to her felt like she was about to cry too. She spoke to Viktoria, “That's not true. Your parents love you, Wanja definitely loves you too, and you're a good friend to me too. Don't put yourself down like that!” With reddened eyes, the girl looked at her briefly, but then turned away again. Then she said, “You're a good friend, but you're not my age. So, it doesn't count.” Ylva replied, “That's really mean, Princess! What does age matter if you want to be friends?” Now the addressed waved around nervously, almost perplexedly even, and responded, “No, that's not what I meant! Believe me, I really appreciate you! I, I...” - “It's okay, Your Highness. I appreciate you too!”
Once tempers had calmed down a little, the bodyguard tried to explain the situation to her even better. “You're used to always setting the tone. That intimidates other people. There's also the matter of your abilities.” - “You mean my magic scares them?” - “More likely the things you might do with it,” came the reply. While they were sitting on the bed talking like this, they didn't notice that the sky, which had been bright and clear a moment before, was now covered by rainclouds.
A lady with relatively short, black hair was, as so often, busy preparing various materials for her experiments with magic. An open book lay on her worktable, next to which several glass ampoules were lined up. Silke now took part of their contents out of these containers, which were filled with a wide variety of materials, that were useful for the arcane, to mix them with other materials she had here. She then filled them into other ampoules, which were marked with tiny magic circles. Ivory, “dragon scales”, bat wings, incense, cardamom, various other herbs, bone meal, different crystals and gemstones and much more she had available here. A protocol was already set and ready on a small writing desk, which she would fill out when His Highness, the Chosen One, carried out the experiments. The lady was incredibly motivated, and you could clearly see it in the cheerful expression on her face. “What will we find out today about the magical effects of these substances?”, she asked herself full of enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned man was sitting in his study next door. Wenzel's attention was currently focused on something completely different. He was engrossed in a thick book, that looked truly antique. And indeed, it was. It was an ancient record from Camenian archives, which fortunately had not been burned by madmen, as had happened here during the revolution. The ancient script and language were a great challenge, but the now much more educated Wenzel was able to understand quite a lot of it. After all, the work was written in the Camenian script, the same script that was used throughout Kaphkos, due to the expansion of the empire.
But these were records from the time before the first empire, and thus from the time before Melgar. This was significant, very significant indeed. What information the emperor now received, he noted down in passing in keywords on a separate sheet of paper. Why was this so important? Well, the situation in Kaphkos was such that there were almost no original written records from this period. The people in charge said that the cultures that had preceded the empire were “barbaric” and had, therefore, left hardly any records. What Wenzel was reading here was diametrically opposed to this. What he was able to glean from these pages was the history of a lost advanced civilization, that of the Ostrisulians to be precise.
It spoke of huge temple complexes, a “modern” road network, advanced technologies and construction techniques such as aqueducts, public baths and a complex political system. If one asked a historian today, he would tell you, that all these achievements were only made under Melgar and his descendants. So, what was true? What was the actual truth? The mage doubted that this document was a forgery, and thus spreading lies. It was more likely that the conquerors had portrayed those they had conquered as uncivilized, in order to justify their superiority, and hence their rule over them, as well as the destruction of their culture. From the Ostrisulians in Camenia, the Gordomans in Ordania, to the Kashars in Kasharovar, with whom this had lasted right up to the present day. They were all “uncivilized barbarians” who first had to be shown how to live. It had always been the same excuse.
When there was a knock at the door, his assistant let herself in. “Everything is ready, my lord.” - “I see,” he simply replied and followed her over to the library, which had basically also become her “laboratory”. Wenzel glanced briefly at the containers, the contents of which Silke tried to explain to him. “This ampoule contains marsh mallow, unicorn powder....” She noticed that His Majesty wasn't really listening. When her glance fell on him, he suddenly said, “You believe that science should write down and pass on knowledge and expertise rationally and without judgment, don't you?” - “Of course I do!”, returned the lady, who had studied archival science herself. Her boss then asked, “What would you do if it turned out, that everything you had always believed was a lie?”
This question caught the lady completely off guard. Unsure how to react, she remained silent in front of him for a while. Eventually she brought herself to inquire, “What exactly do you mean by that, my lord?” The Chosen One looked at her for a moment with a pensive expression. Then he spoke, “Nothing. Forget it.” After that, they went back to their magic research. During all this, however, Wenzel couldn't get the matter out of his head. “All man-made things are just lies! How are you supposed to make any progress without first tearing down these constructs and rebuilding everything from scratch? But you can't do that either!”, it flashed through his mind. “History is also just a tool for control. What you don't like is erased from it.”
It was pitch-black night. A restless Viktoria sat up after tossing and turning from her completely rumpled bedding. She immediately started to walk around her room again. Shortly after she had started this routine, however, she paused. “No. That doesn't help me sleep either. I just don't want to sleep. But I can't stand it in here either,” she murmured quietly to herself. But she was also aware that she couldn't just go out into the corridor or wander around through the palace at such a late hour. The guards, especially Ylva, wouldn't allow her to do that. “Screw them all!”, the brash girl said now, her voice getting almost too loud. She stepped up to her window and opened it. As the cold night air flooded in, she climbed up onto the ledge. Then she flew out.
She didn't want to run away or anything. All she had in mind was to clear her head a little by getting some distance. The dark streets of the imperial city passed below her, lit only in some places by streetlights. She simply flew blindly into the dark mouth that lay beyond the city walls. Some time passed and the girl was sure that she had already flown very far away. She couldn't tell for sure, as there was almost nothing, she could make out on the stretches of land below her. However, she knew that she could fly much faster than her father, and therefore, had already covered a fair distance. The chill up here gave her goose bumps. In the end, the journey got too long for her, and she began to slowly approach the surface.
She then saw treetops rising up in front of her, causing her to come to a complete stop and descend the remaining distance to the ground vertically. Having completed the landing, she now found herself in a rustic grove. It was damp, cool, smelled of must and, not too far away, the spooky “hoo-hoo-hoo” of a tawny owl could be heard. In the glow of the fire, which she quickly created in the palm of her hand, she wandered a little way across the mossy forest floor until she found a small clearing. Here she quickly gathered a few sticks and branches with her telekinesis and built a fire. The wood, which wasn’t quite dry, began to steam and crackle. The wizard loved it, and her gaze was lost in the dance of the flame once again for a minute or two.
Then the girl looked around in its light. “If I'm already here, where no one can disturb me, I might as well practise my magic,” she realized. No sooner said than done. As a result, she at some distance approached one of the larger trees here and stretched her hand forward. She gathered some strength, but not too much, and then immediately released it in the form of a telekinetic shockwave. As expected, a loud bang followed. The mighty trunk in front of Viktoria splintered and burst. With an ominous creaking sound, it began to topple slowly at first, but then got quite quick, falling over to its left side. Its high crown came crashing down, taking several other trees with it. As it lay on the ground, the girl floated over to the middle of the tree trunk and tried to lift it with her magic. It was very heavy, but she succeeded. Then she lowered it to the ground again.
This was how the young girl spent her night in the forest. She took great pleasure in not having to restrain herself with her strength and being able to do what she wanted. This offered Viktoria a great opportunity to let out all her frustration. As a result, there was plenty of noise out here for the next two hours. The woodland creatures would not be thanking her for it. Soon, however, she put out the campfire and made her way back. She had memorized the approximate direction she had come from. Now that it seemed to be getting a teensy-weensy bit brighter, she could finally make out where she was. Over the canopy of leaves, she flew, crossing a gigantic forest. This was followed by the vast fields and plains of Central Ordania, which she was very familiar with. And finally, the first spires of the capital appeared on the horizon. Lucky for her, she had not lost her way. Finally, she passed through her window, which was still open, and closed it as quietly as possible.
The morning had already dawned. No one had noticed her little excursion, so she simply lay down in her bed and pretended, that she had been here the whole time. Although, she had really enjoyed this excursion. She would probably do this more often in the future. Dog-tired, she nodded off in her bed for a moment, but was woken up a little later by a servant. “Buzz off! Let me get some more sleep!”, she grumbled rudely at the woman. It wasn’t a good start to the day.
The emperor's wife entered her husband's study and closed the door behind her. “Ever heard of knocking?”, the man asked snappishly. After turning around, he immediately realized that it was his sweetheart he had just been talking to. “I'm sorry! I didn't know it was you!”, he immediately said in a pleading tone. Her angry grimace immediately calmed down and responded, “Let's just forget about it. I really didn't knock, and it could have been who-knows-who.”
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The lady came closer to Wenzel and then said: “I'm worried about Viktoria.” - “Is it because of the fits she throws?”, the father inquired. “I mean, yes, but not only. We've often discussed her outbursts of blind destruction anyway. According to Ylva, nothing has improved at all.” The emperor made a thoughtful expression. Meanwhile, his wife kept explaining, “This matter has to do with her personal relationships. In a way, she has friends now, but these girls only spend time with her, because they have to. From what I've been told, they're afraid of her.” - “I really imagined that Wanja would make a difference here,” Wenzel stated soberly.
“Oh, she does love Wanja. The dog definitely is making a difference,” Amalie replied and continued, “But a pet simply isn’t a person.” - “I don't know how I can help our little one either. I've told her a thousand times to be considerate of others. And you can't even say that it's just a phase. She's always been so capricious. In combination with the actual power she has, it's a nasty mix.” Amalie could only agree with her husband. But then, to his surprise, she struck an optimistic note. “I think it’ll subside with her going through puberty now. When she develops an interest in boys soon, then it's quite possible that the girl will grow out of it and blossom out.” The emperor simply returned, “Let's hope so. So far, even the boys her age have tended to respectfully avoid her.” There was nothing his wife wanted to say in reply to this.
At that moment, Silke suddenly came in through the doorway to the library. When she caught sight of Her Highnesses, she immediately slowed down and staggered back in an almost comical manner. The empress cast a sharp glance at her. The assistant was wearing her usual dark blue uniform with the Imperial Guard's sickle crest on it. Her beautifully combed short hair and slender figure made her an attractive woman, who on top of that was still single. Amalie was well aware of this. “You may volatilise, dear lady! I and my husband have something private to discuss here!”, she hissed at the woman, who immediately obeyed. While her husband found this somewhat excessive and mean towards Silke, he naturally understood the reason for his beloved's behaviour. There was nothing he could do. His wife wouldn't buy the fact that Mrs. Silke was a very conscientious, professional employee anyway, if only to err on the side of caution.
So, he changed the subject. “The banquet for the sixteenth anniversary of my coronation is in a few days' time. Has everything been prepared?” - “As far as the servants have let me know, yes,” it came back from Amalie. “I've also had Viktoria try on her dress for it already. Additionally, I've made it VERY clear to her how important this event is, and that she should behave herself.” - “If she has promised, then she'll keep that promise,” her husband claimed. She, on the other hand, wasn't quite so sure about that....
It was a grand spectacle with lots of pomp and everything that goes with it. Dressed in their finest robes, all the invited guests were called out before they entered the banquet hall. Princes, counts, barons and everyone else was there and they all carried out the same bow as they made their entrance. That alone took what felt like an eternity. And even worse was the fact that Viktoria (and her parents too, of course) had to stay in their seats and endure all this without being allowed to stand up. It was pure torture. Her scratchy dress and the unbearably tight corset, that the servant had forced on her, were unbearable. Yet, she wasn't allowed to say or do anything. Terrible! Nevertheless, the magician wanted to behave properly on this occasion. It was very important to her adoptive mother. Her father had hardly said anything about it. The girl knew that he didn't think much of all the fuss and pomp.
The three of them now sat there as if strung together and let the new arrivals greet them one by one. Wenzel was wearing his usual imperial attire, with cloak and all. Only his footwear was different today, as he was wearing nice boots for once. His little daughter had put on a long, fine, snow-white dress with a matching white headband. Possibly to match Viktoria’s hair colour, Amalie had opted for a bright red dress. Imperial Chancellor Peter Rubellio showed up, then the Prince of Dohnakeled, then the Count of Kuenstriter and many other high nobles and ministers of the empire. Lastly, the Supreme Marshal Theodor and his right-hand man, General Ulrich, together with their families only dropped in relatively late. Naturally, they both were wearing their armour proudly and displayed the sun emblem on their tunics.
The Emperor then gave a short speech to the assembled crowd to mark the occasion. He talked about something to do with battles, achievements, reconstruction and the revolution. Things like that. Viktoria didn't care much when she was in such a distress due to her clothes. “Just put on a brave face! Keep smiling and stay calm, Viktoria. It will soon be over,” she told herself. But she wasn't very good at lying to herself. This evening would last a very long time....
“I would, therefore, like to thank all those present once more for attending. To the empire!”. The Sovereign then proposed a toast and raised his glass. Everyone did the same and repeated his words. “Hail Melgar!”, he added, and the others echoed these words. Then Theodor suddenly rose from his chair and announced, “Long live Emperor Wenzel!” The crowd joined in, “Long live Emperor Wenzel!” And with that, the feast would begin.
There was a huge roast wild boar in sauce with cranberries, which was presented in the middle of the table. There were also smaller dishes and side dishes all around, but it was clear that the wild boar was the “star” of this “show”. All kinds of desserts were arranged on a separate table. Naturally, this was the first thing to attract Victoria's attention. But there were only various cakes and tarts, and no other types of sweet treats, specifically those, which Viktoria was so keen of. One should actually eat the main course first. “Oh, what the heck,” said the heiress to the throne to herself and headed straight for the dessert buffet. When her adoptive mother saw this, she immediately rushed over to her. “What do you think you're doing here?”, she whispered in a warning tone. “Stop that!” Then she forced the girl to leave her plate there and join everyone else at the table to eat the main course.
That alone annoyed the young lady to no end. But as they sat at the table and ate their meal in as civilized a manner as possible, Amalie watched her closely the entire time. Viktoria hated this so much that she began to tense up angrily. “No, I mustn't get angry. My magic could do all sorts of terrible things if I don't keep myself under control!”, the wizard reminded herself. There were countless courtiers running around everywhere, carrying things the guests requested and removing dishes. Their robes, most of which were white, had different coloured braids on them, which probably indicated their areas of responsibility.
At the same time as the Chosen One was eating, one of the guests sitting next to him was having a conversation with him. “The upswing in Lower Duhnia is continuing. In the years before that, things were already on the rise, although this was also due to population growth and the end of the war. However, the large number of imperial construction projects continues to keep our building industry on its toes,” the Count of Kuenstriter informed His Majesty about local developments in his district. The Emperor swallowed his mouthful for a moment and then replied, “That is most gratifying, Count. I have explicitly ordered my government to pay particular attention to this. We want to build something, so that future generations will be better off.” His conversational partner agreed with him.
This rather informal exchange was overheard by a gentleman sitting nearby. He was wearing traditional light green pantaloons, which made him immediately recognizable as someone from Camenia. Occasionally, he exchanged a few words with the lady sitting on his other side, but above all, his gaze often wandered over to the young Princess Victoria. Whenever someone looked at him, he turned back to His Majesty and listened in on their conversation. Perhaps he was only doing this for show. It was also possible that the throne heiress's conspicuously forced behaviour caught his eye and perhaps even irritated him. Or the intense red of her hair, which stood out among all the other guests, attracted his attention. It was impossible to say for sure. Fulco II di Alduino was his name. He was a nobleman from Translimesia, a country of Camenia on the border with Ordania.
Meanwhile, a little further down the dining table, Ferenc, Theodor and Ulrich were engaged in their conversation. “I've heard that you're supposedly considering returning to Kasharovar. Is that true, Ferenc?”, Theodor wanted to know. His friend responded: “I'm still weighting my options. After all these years here, I've lost a lot of contact with my homeland. At the same time, I'm getting older and older and, when the time comes, I'd rather spend my last days where my roots are. My clan is still there, waiting for me.” - “I see,” replied the marshal and added, “It's different with me. I can't remember exactly where in Kasharovar I actually originate from. My parents came from somewhere around the area of Linna. But it doesn't matter to me anymore. Now I belong here and that's it.”
“And how's your big boy's training going? Not so good, I've been told?”, Ferenc inquired. Theodor just shrugged his shoulders. Then they both looked over at Alexander, who was sitting on the opposite side of the table. When he realized that he had become the topic of conversation, he turned to his friend Wendelin and started chatting with him. He didn't want to be confronted with the fact that he couldn't live up to his father's high expectations when it came to combat training. The boy was only seventeen and yet his old man expected him to be a “master of all things”. At least that's how the boy felt.
Ulrich, who was one of his trainers, stepped in and turned the men's attention to another topic. “So, what's the idea with the Imperial Guard now? It's too big to be just a bodyguard for the emperor, but it can't take the place of the army either.” The Supreme Marshal immediately had an answer ready, which he shared with everyone: “A failed venture. Nothing else.” Ferenc scratched his nose nervously. The Kashar then replied: “His Highness is not trying to do anything reckless or violent. His focus is on stability and economic recovery in the empire. Hence, he prefers slow, gradual change, also in terms of the balance of power.”
Theodor almost had to laugh at this but didn't show it. With him, there wouldn't even be the slightest shift in power. However, a retort came from Ulrich, “Change? Recovery? Whatever you say! All I can see is a ruler rummaging through archives and doing research all day. Wenzel, the book emperor, you should call him.” It was intended as an insult, as His Majesty was not involved in day-to-day political business, or rather, he was prevented from doing so in many places. However, Wenzel would certainly have taken the term “book emperor” as a compliment.
In the meantime, the emperor's daughter was sitting at dinner, exasperated. Many people had already finished their meal now and made their way to the dessert buffet. Our redhead was also busy eating a slice of cream cake. However, eating this increased the pressure on her corset even more and made her feel nauseous. The two Kuhn sisters, who had been seated right next to her, didn't say a word to her. They both wore pale pink silk dresses, but in different sizes, as they were two years apart in age. Marzia only occasionally glanced at the visibly irritated princess out of the corner of her eye. This also made her uncomfortable and she preferred not to speak to the otherwise quick-tempered girl.
In the end, however, the moment had come. Viktoria had reached the limit of her stomach due to her overeating. She actually felt so sick that she threw up. On the spot. “Viktoria!”, her outraged mother shrieked at her. “I'm so sorry, I....”, the teenager had to suppress her nausea once again. For the time being, Amalie just stood there, obviously overwhelmed by this embarrassing situation. Then Viktoria's patience snapped. “You know what, ... fuck it!”, the princess spouted. Before anyone else could even be shocked by what she had just said, the teenager tore open the corset from underneath her dress with her magic! In frustration, she then flung the horribly constricting thing onto the floor in front of her. “That’s more than flesh and blood can stand!”, she yelled. Meanwhile, the empress was in a state of shock and just stood there silently, her face flushed from the embarrassment.
Now Wenzel stepped onto the scene. “Young lady! What in God's name are you doing here!”, thundered the voice of the emperor, to whom all eyes were now turned. However, his daughter was already past her limit, and she shouted back, “I can't stand all these rules and all this la-di-da behaviour! You of all people should understand that!” - “No, I don't! Your behaviour is completely unacceptable!” The mage clenched her fists in anger. The fire in her eyes was burning wildly! Then she announced, “I'll show you what I think of your fine dining!” Using her telekinesis, she flipped over the entire table, sending all the food, cutlery and crockery on it flying, with most of it landing on the floor. Wenzel stopped the table in mid-air, but couldn't prevent the giant mess that all the other flying things that had been on its surface were now causing. All the guests stood there speechless. Only Alexander Kuhn suddenly began to laugh uproariously at this absurd situation. But he quickly swallowed his laughter when his father grabbed him firmly on the shoulder with the one hand he still had.
The still fuming Viktoria stomped out of the hall alone. Only then did His Majesty, who was also momentarily paralyzed by what had happened, fly after her. Most of those present were initially perplexed. Amalie would have wished for the ground to open and swallow her up. The heiress to the throne had made complete fools of her parents.
Completely unrelated to this, His Majesty had a dream this night. It was one of those dreams that he always remembered very vividly when he woke up again. He was wandering through his study, a familiar place for him. Unexpectedly, a blue light shone at him through the gap in his desk drawer. He cautiously approached the well-kept wood of the desk and gripped the knob of the drawer with his fingers. Briefly, he hesitated as he realized that he was once again in one of his visions. Only then did he pull it out. Now he was confronted with a less bright glow than he had imagined. It was his old pendant. Instead of the old, broken stone, which was red in colour, an azure stone was now set into it.
But that was not all. Next to it were three more pendants, all of which looked exactly the same. However, only one of the four emitted a light. The others were without such light. “What a curious display!”, the emperor remarked upon seeing this. This marked the end of the prophecy. He walked on through the darkness of the dream world, only to soon enter the next scene.
The man found himself on a very badly worn tiled floor. All around him, the scenery was blurred, almost as if someone didn't want to reveal to him exactly where this place was......or would be. He only spotted a single object a few steps away from him. With no other option, he walked over to it and picked it up. It was a simple piece of metal that someone had bent into a round shape. Sharp points protruded from the top, which with a little imagination roughly imitated the features of a crown. “What on earth is that? What does it mean? Another parable?”, wondered the recipient of this strange message from God. Once again, he would not be able to do anything with this information until it was too late.