“I did, didn’t I…” Tyler muttered. He had shocked even himself by his own actions. He took a moment’s pause to simply gaze at his own dismembered limb. After a second, though, he felt his heart pumping harder than usual. It began to automatically push mana towards Tyler’s wrist, and he could see the wound slowly closing.
“I think I’ll be okay,” Tyler said, standing up straight. “See, it’s growing back!” He showed his slowly healing stump to James as he stepped away from the body.
“Well, this is probably a better outcome. Being down a hand is better than freezing to death,” James murmured, indicating towards the captain’s body again. Tyler’s hand was still there, frozen onto the hilt of the blade. They watched silently as ice crystals quickly covered the detached hand, which then began to crumble to pieces after being frozen solid.
“Would that have happened to my whole body?” Tyler shuddered. He suddenly vowed to never let his curiosity get the better of him again.
“Well, luckily you’re OK. That was quick thinking,” James said cheerfully. “Alright, let’s go! To Junction City!” James quickly packed all of his stuff and shoved them into his small, leather bag. “It would have been better if I had a spatial ring,” James told Tyler, “but mine got stolen ages ago. They’re damn hard to find nowadays cause no one knows how to make them anymore.”
“What’s a spatial ring? Tyler asked curiously.”
“Wow, you’re curious about everything, aren’t you?” James teased.
“Well, as you are always keen to point out, I am a newborn. I hardly know anything about thi— the world.” Tyler almost said ‘this world’ before he caught himself. He didn’t want to expose his previous life so easily.
Luckily, James didn’t seem to catch his slip-up. “A spatial ring is a kind of wearable artifact—one that’s super rare and valuable nowadays—that allows one to store things inside it. It’s almost like its own separate dimension that can only hold inanimate objects. Either way, though, they’re super handy because they take away the need to carry all your stuff around.”
Spatial rings, huh? Tyler thought inwardly. This world sure is strange.
“Oh, I almost forgot. One more thing,” Tyler said, rushing over to where his fire used to be. “Can’t forget my prize!” He chuckled while comically holding the metallic king deer antlers over his head.
“By the way, how did you even kill that thing? King deer are notoriously difficult to find and hunt. Some countries even make hunting them a sort of ‘right of passage,’” James asked, somewhat echoing a certain captain from before.
“That guy wanted to know the same thing—that’s what he was talking about before you showed up like an angry bear. It really wasn’t that hard! I was just flying above, searching for prey with my life sense, then bam! Swooped down and sliced its head off. The little bastard didn’t even see me coming,” Tyler said with a look of pride written on his face.
“Hmm, I see. Well, let’s just go already. Your ego is showing.”
“Ok, fine. I’m done here anyways,” Tyler said, pouting slightly from James’s lack of interest.
“Well, we’re going to take the soldier’s horses. First, though, we need to remove all evidence that we were here. Can you burn all of these corpses?” James said.
“Yeah, that shouldn’t be too hard,” Tyler said offhandedly. James quickly piled all of the bodies on top of one another in the center of the clearing, then motioned to Tyler.
“Go ahead. Just don’t burn the forest down while you’re at it,” James joked. Tyler quickly transformed to his draconic form, and opened his mouth. He didn’t think he needed to transform to shoot flames from his mouth, but he thought it looked cooler that way.
In the back of Tyler’s throat, a brilliant amethyst light began to illuminate the inside of his mouth. A moment later, a pillar of violet flames burst forth from his open mouth, covering the pile in front with a fluorescent light that would be beautiful if it wasn’t so destructive.
The corpses immediately caught fire, and even the bones cracked and burst due to the intense heat. Mere seconds later, Tyler shut his mouth and began to transform back. In the place where five corpses used to rest, there was only a black mark on the forest floor. The only object that remained untouched was the Cursed Blade carried by the captain. Somehow, it had managed to pierce the earth all on its own, standing straight up like a grave marker of its wielder. Its sheath was nowhere to be found, but the sword itself had taken Tyler’s fire head on without receiving even a single scratch.
Does it have a consciousness of its own? Tyler shuddered at the thought. How creepy.
“Ok, let’s go,” James said.
***
In a far away palace, at the exact moment of the captain’s death, a crystal glowing with a pure blue-white light suddenly shattered into hundreds of tiny particles. Those pieces eventually dissolved into the air, leaving no trace that the crystal even existed in the first place. Damn, the King of Winter thought as he observed the event, so he really was killed?
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Who was that kid to have killed my third strongest son? He even had the Cursed Blade of Winter with him. A single scratch from that sword is enough to kill a regular human.
The Captain of the Winter Guard was the third most powerful Bastard Prince of Winter. No ordinary Beastkin—especially one not yet fully mature—should have been able to beat him in single combat. And yet, the captain had died, and the Winter King was even further from recovering his lost dragon egg. I had to go through all of that trouble of getting it, too. I wonder if she has died yet… the king thought with a cruel chuckle.
In a single majestic movement, the king slowly rose from his beautiful throne of pure, blue-white transparent diamond. Despite being over a hundred years in age, the Winter King didn’t look a day over twenty. His smooth, cream colored skin, light blue-white hair, and clear blue eyes gave him an almost otherworldly beauty.
“A glass of white wine, please,” he told his handmaiden in a polite but commanding tone, his voice dripping with regality. “Hmm, perhaps the 1264, Fire of Astrow vintage.” Moments later, the King of Winter sat at the end of a long, empty table. Resting in his right hand was a crystalline wine glass, the wine inside rich in color and flavor. He gently sipped the beverage and sighed contentedly, before setting down the beautiful glass and motioned towards the guard at the massive double doors at the other end of the room.
“You can let him in now,” the king announced in a perfectly regal tone. He didn’t need to wait long before the massive twin doors burst open with a dull thud.
“Ah, Alwyn. To what do I owe the pleasure?” The king said with a knowing smile.
“Why in Lux’s name did you send Jon on that mission?” Alwyn growled, his deep blue eyes cold and dangerous.
“It was meant to be a test. As you can tell, he failed. I underestimated the thief’s strength, and Jon paid the price.” The king’s calm smile didn’t even falter as he spoke about the death of his bastard son.
“That’s my brother you’re talking about. Do you even care about his death?” Alwyn let out, barely controlled rage tainting his voice.
“He was a necessary sacrifice, one who was fortunately not an essential piece in my plans. His death will make certain things harder, but it was not a devastating loss. My true disappointment was in not regaining the dragon’s egg.” King Winter spoke offhandedly, as though he was talking about the weather.
“SHOW MORE SYMPATHY, DAMNATION! IT’S YOUR FAULT HE’S DEAD!” Alwyn roared, slamming his fist on the massive table in front of him. His single, rage filled movement caused the table to explode, splinters of wood flying throughout the room.
Like the flip of a switch, the Winter King’s demeanor entirely shifted. While before he was playing the part of the composed, somewhat relaxed leader, he now emitted an aura of cold, domineering power. His intent filled the room, physically crushing Alwyn to the floor with its intensity.
“I have been very patient with your childish antics so far, but there is only so much disrespect I can tolerate as a king. Jon’s death was an unfortunate miscalculation, and I understand your outrage, but it is done. Nothing will change the outcome. In truth, Jon was simply a semi-expendable pawn, one who did not fulfill his obligation. I will hear no more of this from you.” On the surface, the king seemed almost calm. Deep within his eyes and voice, though, was an intense wrath that could not be entirely suppressed by his mask of composure. Immediately after he finished speaking, a single wave of his hand sent Alwyn flying through the double doors, a freezing wind in his wake.
***
Somewhere in the deep forest in the southern tip of the Winter Kingdom, two powerful, black horses built for war trotted carefully with eyes filled with fear. The reason for their fear wasn’t evident at first glance, but if one looked closer, they could see that both horses carried cloaked riders. Even then, the pure unbridled terror that both horses felt was unexplainable unless one understood the true nature of both riders.
“Why are these horses so nervous?” Tyler had asked four days previously, while mounting the intimidating stallion for the first time. They had decided to let two of the horses loose because leading four horses into the city would look too suspicious. However, these horses were powerful and well trained for war. It would be a waste to not keep some of them to sell when they arrived at Junction City.
“It’s because they can sense our true nature. For some reason, horses have a very keen survival instinct. They can tell that we—especially you—are apex predators that could end them in a heartbeat. The only reason they haven’t bolted already is because they know they won't be able to escape.”
So now, James and Tyler took their horses at a gentle pace so as to not wear them out. Stupid prey animal, Tyler thought with contempt. I could run faster than this, not to mention flying.
As the duo gradually made their way through the deep forest, Tyler slowly snacked on the king deer antlers. Despite their strong composition, Tyler’s strong teeth and jaws enabled him to crunch through them as easily as one would a carrot.
“I meant to ask this earlier,” James started with confusion, “but why in Lux’s good name are you eating that antler?”
“Well, it’s kind of an instinctual thing,” Tyler stated. “These things are full to the brim with mana, and don’t ask me why, but my body is telling me that it wants to eat them.”
“Huh. I guess that makes sense. You know how valuable those are, though, right?” James asked with a crestfallen look.
“I have no idea. However, thanks for bringing it up. You’re some kind of robber, aren’t you?” Tyler accused.
“How dare you call me a robber?” James shot back with a comical expression of hurt plastered to his devilishly handsome face. “I simply practice the noble art of thievery.”
“Noble art, huh? So you admit that you’re a thief.”
“Not just any thief! You’re speaking to the greatest thief in all of Somnium!”
“So you’re a cat burglar,” Tyler chuckled between his loud crunching of the king deer’s antlers.
“Hey, I’m not a burglar!” James complained.
“Maybe a cat thief, but that doesn’t really fit…” Tyler mused, taking another crunching bite on the silver, metallic antler.
It was taking Tyler longer than he would have expected to eat all four antlers. They’d been riding for four days at this point, and were nearing the city. Though he had started eating them back on the first day of travel, once he had finished one of the four horns, his stomach felt as though it would explode if he ate any more. And so, he had eaten one per day until, finally, he was almost done. He was getting sick of eating these things.
They didn’t really have any kind of flavor besides the sweet taste of the dense mana inside of them. As he was crunching and swallowing the last bit of antler, though, he suddenly felt as if his heart—not his stomach—had somehow been filled up.
“What the…” Tyler slurred, suddenly feeling an overwhelming sense of exhaustion. What’s up with my mana heart?
“You okay?” James shouted, but it was as if Tyler was underwater. His vision was swimming, and everything sounded like it was very far away. Before he could stop himself, he had already fallen off of his horse. He was unconscious before he even hit the ground.