The sunlight filtered through the massive crystal door, scattering the vibrant colors of the rainbow across the long hallway.
At the end of the shimmering spectacle, a little boy stood motionless, his violet eyes locked on the door.
His black and white suit was crisp, but his presence was far more striking than his attire—he was composed, statuesque, as if he were a figure carved from stone.
Beside him, a man in a green tuxedo bent down to adjust the boy’s clothes with meticulous care.
His hands moved with precision, smoothing every wrinkle, ensuring every line was perfect
“Remember, straight posture.
Always speak formally and calmly.
Your presence must be felt without question.
Walk as though this palace is yours, because someday, it will be.” The man said to the boy as he carefully fixed the boy’s hair, which was green.
“There… it’s all done.
Now we must wait for the call.” The man finally stood up and looked ahead of the crystal door.
“You did revise everything, right?” He said in a solemn voice.
“Yes, father.” The boy answered instantly, in a calm tone.
“Tomorrow you will choose a deity, the powers they grant will be your strength.
And you already know how it goes, you study them, worship them, practice their abilities.
Your core must endure all of that.
But it must be the greatest of all.
The most powerful of all.”
The boy remained silent and kept his posture.
“Did I hear an – Of course, father -?”
“…Of course, father.” Almost a whisper through the boy’s mouth.
The man’s stern face softened with a smile.
“Very well.”
As the crystal doors creaked open, the sunlight poured in, illuminating the boy’s face.
Showing his violet eyes and green hair, now glowing in hues of orange and gold.
“Emperor, Hadeon Achlys, of the Empire of Ephamour.
Allan Achlys and his one and only son, Denver Achlys, are here.”
-----
The massive crystal door fully opened, to which showed Denver, fully grown, walking across the long purple carpet.
As he finally reached a distance between him and the throne ahead of him, he stopped and bowed his head.
“Denver.
I told you, no need for such formalities.
How many times do I have to tell you.” Hadeon, who was sitting on the throne, playfully reprimanded him.
“If I showed no respect towards the emperor, I would get decapitated.” A smirk tugged at Denver’s lips as he straightened, locking eyes with Hadeon.
“Though it’s better to lose your head here than face your father’s scolding, isn’t it?
You did say that last time.” Hadeon led out a laugh.
“That is true.” Denver chuckled at Hadeon’s remarks.
“How are you doing today?” The laughter still lingering in his tone.
“Tired and busy, as usual.” Denver quietly sighed, but after that his eyes lit up as if he remembered something.
“Is father still managing the provinces from the west?”
“He is.
Don’t worry, he won’t return in about another four years.
He was supposed to come back two years ago, but he sent me a letter stating that he will stay there for quite a while.”
“Ah.” Denver’s gaze faltered for a moment.
“Why?
Is he still sending you letters?”
“No.
He stopped sending exactly two years ago.
I was relieved, but also got worried.
I forgot to ask about it.” Denver exhaled and smiled.
“Seems to me that you’re not worried at all.” Hadeon exchanged a smile.
“And it seems to me that his majesty is getting less busy every time I see him.”
“Oh, it’s quite the contrary.
You just happen to find me during my resting hours.”
“Speaking of, the blooming festival is coming soon.
As spring is almost near, should I start organizing the preparations?”
“No, Denver.
You are quite busy yourself, so the festivities for this year I’ll leave it to Iris and Avalone.”
“Interesting pair- also why two people?
I always prepared the festivities alone, that’s relatively unfair, don’t you think?” Denver smirked.
“Oh, now you’re complaining?
You wanted to prepare all of the festivities alone, god you were always busy and never took a day off.” Hadeon scoffed but looked at him with sincerity afterwards.
“Seriously, son.
You should not overwork yourself.
Everyone knows that you’re a workaholic and trust me that it’s a bad thing.” He sighed and continued.
“Oh, but I am grateful for everything you have done.
You’ve basically wanted to do every assignment that was left, when you finished the other ones.
I’ve seen how hard you work and how serious you are, but never did I see you on your bed, resting.”
Denver silently listened to Hadeon.
He carefully thought of something before speaking.
“His majesty does not have to concern yourself about my wellbeing.
Now, change of subject.” He looked at Hadeon with a happy expression on his face, while Hadeon rubbed his eyes with his hand, bothered by how Denver didn’t want to talk about his health.
“I have some reports to give to his Majesty.
Yesterday his highness, Exios Achlys, finally came back in the Imperial Palace with his accomplice, Crimson Ardit.
Both are staying in the Chariot Palace.”
“I was informed.
Exios better be paying me a visit today, otherwise I’ll just go by myself and disturb him.” Hadeon smiled, thinking of ways to annoy Exios, forgetting about the discussion they had a moment ago.
“I’m sure he would be delighted to see his Majesty.” Denver smiled, but his tone was sarcastic.
“Moving on.
Agent Owls sent me a letter yesterday.
They have reported strange dark anomalies lurking in the Imperial Palace of Everereal Emprie.
Though these anomalies are seen to be observing, and not attacking.
They have also mentioned that they would send the letters monthly, and not weekly, due to the carefulness of mana and energy usage, but also by the long distance.”
Hadeon carefully thought before speaking.
“Strange dark anomalies?”
Denver sighed.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“We do not know what those things are, but agent Owls are being careful to not get their identities expose.
The anomalies are excessively near the Imperial Palace, so they cannot move any closer to identify it, but it seems like the Imperial knights were not bothered by it... or the least probable case is that they are not aware of it.”
“Mhm, for how tight the security is, they must be either blind, or an accomplice with these creatures or the anomalies are using some type of power to hide themselves.
Magic that powerful should have been detected by now.” A flash of memory came into Hadeon’s mind.
“I heard that Clarkson Ardit made quite a fuss during the mission.”
Denver led another loud sigh and an annoyed expression that was visible.
“Yes, I ‘talked’ to him yesterday.
He told me that he thought his way was more effective, though we clearly told him to stick into the plan.
Quite unexpected of him if you don’t consider the fact that in the mission his sister was also involved.”
Hadeon’s eyes widens.
“Sister?
Ah, Crimson Ardit?”
“Yes.
He didn’t want to admit it, but it looked like he wanted to get his sister out of the way.”
“Cute.”
“I don’t think we have the same opinion on that matter.” Denver a bit disgusted by thinking of Clarkson.
“Haha, all right.
What about the little girl?
How is she doing?” Hadeon gave a little smile.
“I brought her in the palace safely, though his majesty’s brother’s protection spell was already safe enough for her for me to do anything at all.
Quite overprotective, but I understand him.
A little girl with unidentified powers and an unknown core.”
“You couldn’t see her core?”
Denver recalled the moment where he tried to see her core.
He made a little chuckle before speaking.
“Oh, she is very interesting.
His Majesty knows that to see a core within the person, they just have to touch their neck and it would instantly create a vision of the core, if the person is asleep or unconscious.
When I touched her neck, nothing appeared.
No vision.
And when I tried to enter her consciousness, everything was black.”
“Well, why did you try to see her core when she was conscious and awake?”
“I didn’t.
His Majesty, this girl was unconscious.
She was asleep.
Her consciousness, mind, might be at an unpredictable level, something far beyond what we might think.
What if she was still awake while being unconscious?
Able to control her own mind, her own state of mind.
Or what if the core was protecting itself?” Denver paused for a moment to breath.
Hadeon looked at Denver carefully, listening to every word he was saying.
“Though we have never seen anything like this.
No history books, no recorded cases, nothing at all.
This is the first case in history about a child whose core is different, the first living to have such a thing in the world.
We must study her, analyze her, do anything to discover whatever is inside her.”
Denver, with passion in his eyes, finally finished his report to Hadeon.
Waiting for Hadeon to speak up.
Hadeon, who listened to Denver quietly and thoroughly, looked at Denver’s eyes filled with enthusiasm.
Or maybe the desire to uncover it.
Hadeon led out a little hum, followed by a sigh.
“Discover what she has.
Study her if you must.
Know her story if you must.
Do anything you need to do.” Hadeon looks intently at Denver.
“But I prohibit you to do any harm on that little girl.”
The eyebrows of Denver twitched as if he had done something wrong.
“Yes, of course.
I never intended on harming in her.”
“I know you, Denver.
I know you wouldn’t harm a child, but will lay a finger on her if she exposes a great threat in this empire and you wouldn’t want to do that.”
Denver blinked in confusion but understood what he said.
“If she exposes a threat, what should I do?
Eat my lemon velvet?
I’ll have to stop her by any means if she tries something that could possibly lead to the destruction of the whole empire.”
Hadeon smiled at Denver, as if he knew Denver’s response.
“That’s exactly my point, son.
She is already a ticking bomb that is ready to explode any time.
One wrong step, and we’re dead.
Trust me, Denver.
Do not try to harm the child under any circumstances.
I fear that we do not know what other possible dangers would come if something happened to her.
Stopping her without hurting her would be the best option.”
Denver finally understood what Hadeon meant.
“We shall not underestimate her, nor her core.
Core’s are precious and powerful, but they are weapons inside us that makes us almost invincible.
The war between the Empires ended not too long ago, and no Emperor would want to start another hell of a war.
At least, not until they find her.
Who knows, maybe someone might want to use her as a weapon and start a catastrophe.”
No matter what he does, it could lead to the destruction of the whole empire.
Though destruction is an intense word, Denver thought of it that way.
“Right.
Her existence is a threat itself.”
The colorful glass in the hallway illuminated the whole room with its variety of colors.
And in the room filled with different colors, the atmosphere was obscure.
With Hadeon smiling at Denver.
And with Denver having a serious-minded expression.
-----
“Are you trying to threaten me?” Crimson and Exios walked in a long hallway, finishing their lunch just a while ago.
Walking through a dark purple carpet, almost covered in tiny light purple crystals, near the walls were placed statues with different representations, in various forms, and different materials and elements were clearly shown.
The statues seemed to watch over them, silent witnesses to conversations long past.
“I thought you wanted to try the training field?” Exios playfully said, walking in front of Crimson.
“I said I wanted to SEE it.
You just want to duel me, and it’s a no.” Crimson looked briefly at the statues as they walked through them.
All different statues, but the one thing that they had in common was the tine crystal parts that were attached to them as decorations.
They were engraved into the grey stone of each statue.
“I just thought you might want to try out the training grounds.
Not a duel—just… practice.
I wouldn’t want to duel with you either.”
“Hah, is it because I’ve mastered the arts of my power and strength?”
“I still defeat you in one flick.”
Crimson scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“At least I win in one thing, which is cursing.
So fuck you.”
“That’s very nice of you to say.
You ate in a palace, slept in a palace and even stepping on the luxurious carpet with those dirty feet of yours.
You are such a gentle noble.”
“Of course, aren’t I one of a kind?” She muttered as she kept analyzing the palace.
“I see you enjoyed the meals earlier.
Was it that good that you also ate a piece of steak on my plate?
Without even asking for permission, you just took it with your fork.”
“I couldn’t wait for another one, so I took what was already on the table.
It was fucking delicious.” She took a glance at the statues and noticed one that caught her attention.
A boy that had a straight posture, with messy hair and a smile on his face.
The boy seemed to have an armor on his body, though a bit too big for him.
She stopped for a moment as if she recognized him.
“Hey, who is this?” She continued to stare at the boy’s face, recalling where he has seen him.
Exios looked at Crimson before looking at the statue.
“Ah, he is the guy who brought us here yesterday.”
Crimson squinted her eyes, as a way of thinking of who brought her in the palace yesterday.
After a couple of moments she remembered a man with auburn messy hair and grey eyes.
She clearly remembered the way he looked at her, a serious and semi annoyed face.
“Ah, yeah.
That guy, yeah, the guy who seemed like he doesn’t like me at all.
He was this small?”
“Lancaster was pretty short at a young age, but he grew up into a young fine man.
Why the sudden interest?”
“The look he gave me left an impression, and I suddenly remembered it when I saw this statue of his.
Yeah, an ugly bitch he was.” she muttered, half to herself, though a part of her couldn’t shake the feeling that she hadn’t seen the last of him.
Exios gradually looked at Crimson in a way as if he was trying to figure out what she meant.
“Impression?”
Crimson took one final look at the statue.
She turned her head, looking ahead of her, as if she would never look at it again.
And so she began to walk, surpassing Exios.
“Okay…
You know, you are a bit out of your mind.” Exios followed her shortly after.
“Let’s go to the training field, unless you want this palace to turn into a training field.”
“The door ahead us leads directly to it.” Exios smiled.
“By the way, this palace is humongous.
Was this the palace to which you stayed during your time here?”
“Yeah, it was my home.
Big, but empty.”
Crimson, after hearing the word empty, looked continuously around as the palace was overflowed with objects.
“Empty?
Are you blind?” After saying those words, she realized what he actually meant.
“Ah, I thought you meant-“ Crimson stopped and looked at Exios, but his hand was already on top of her head, shuffling her hair in a second and moving forward.
“Right, it’s not that empty thanks to you.
But it would have been also better if the kid was here.” Exios reached, with his hand, the handle of the door that would lead through the training field.
While Crimson stood by behind him, watching him open the door slowly.
Creeeek
The door revealed the dazzling light of the sun that pierced into the eyes for a moment.
After that the view became clear which showed an army of stunts made out of wood.
Some standing still, and some laying down.
The floor was a big circle, made out of concrete.
But at the center of everything there was a man who kept swinging a wooden sword.
Swinging against the air.
His auburn hair kept moving as he moved his whole body.
The sweat dripping through the floor.
Woosh woosh!
Not a single breath was heard from him.
But the sound of the door made his head turn around to where Crimson and Exios were, stopping what he was doing.
Somehow, he was able to hear it from a distance.
His gaze was on Crimson.
Crimson also looked at him.
And there she felt the same expression again.
The same one that left her with an impression of-
‘Menace.’ She thought as he looked at her dead in the eyes.