What greeted Alex through the smaller doors left him speechless for this appeared to be a throne room, the wall filled with ancient carvings of men hunting, of men kneeling before another who sat upon a throne. The light being cast down upon these carvings from imposing lanterns hanging by long chains from the high ceilings and the bottom of the lanterns filled with patterns that were casting a beautiful Shadow on the marble ground.

In the center of this room sat the throne from the carvings on an elevated platform with nine steps to climb to reach the throne, on the sides of the nine steps stood nine small lion statues as if to guard the one who would sit up on the throne from all in existence. There was so much more detail in this throne room compared to the hall that preceded it.

Alex was in awe of this and a part of him wished that he could stay here forever as this throne room felt the most peaceful place he had ever been in dream. Not wanting to squander what little time he might have had left of this dream, he approached the steps to the throne for a better look and realized that at the bottom of the steps the same bird as the one on the banners in the previous hall was made on the marble floor using red and yellow tiles.

Having made a note of the bird so that he could look it up once he awoke from this dream he climbed the steps to the throne, with each step his heart was beating faster and faster as he couldn’t contain his excitement despite knowing that this is a dream and probably no throne room like this ever existed.

After reaching the top of the steps what caught Alex’s undivided attention was not the gold ornate throne but the small pedestal in the same design as the buildings tall pillars and what lay on top of the pedestal was the black orb that was the handle of the cane he had bought a week prior, but here the orb rested upon the pedestal.

“Why is it here?” thought Alex as he was confused why something fairly insignificant would appear in his dream.

“Because that is where the soul stone used to seat” came an answer to his question which he didn’t ask aloud.

Alex panicked not understanding what is going on as he looked in the direction that the sound came from only to realize that there was a man sitting upon the throne that was empty a few moments ago.

“Relax no one can harm you here” said the stranger perceiving Alex’s panic.

As Alex observed this man he couldn’t help but spot a sword handle on the other side of the throne and unconsciously he took a step back, realizing that the sword had added to the young mans fears with a smile from the stranger the sword disappeared.

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“Better now?” questioned the stranger as he remained seated with a calm smile on his face.

“Where did the sword go?” Alex answered the strangers question with his own.

“No where, it just ceased to exist” responded the stranger.

“I’m still sleep?” probed Alex as he was starting to feel calm again.

“Yes” came the answer to his question. Having heard this Alex calmed down considerably, after realizing that there is really no threat here to him and that he will most likely soon wake up.

Realizing that the stranger seems to know a lot about what is going on Alex chose to ask “Where is this?”.

“Inside the soul stone” Came another response.

“What’s a soul stone?” Alex inquired.

“You already know, just like you know it’s not important so start asking the important ones” another response came from the stranger, short and to the point.

“Who are you?” Alex was gazing into the strangers eye to see if he might spot any dishonesty.

“When I was alive I had many titles but it doesn’t matter now, hundreds if not thousands of years should have passed since I was alive” responded the stranger with a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

“If I am still sleep then, this is a dream?” Alex asked as he wasn’t sure what this stranger wanted him to ask.

“You really don’t know anything about where this is or who I am?” it was the strangers turn to answer a question with a question.

“No” responded Alex as he felt a bit more confident that this stranger truly meant him no harm if he didn’t know anything.

“How did you acquire the soul stone and why is it attached this piece of wood?” there was a hint of authority to his tone as if it was his god given right to question others.

“I acquired this cane last week and I just felt a weird connection to it” Alex decided to tell the truth after all this cane had helped him with his sleeping situation.

“I will stop wasting anymore time as it appears that you truly do not know anything, I will make you an offer and I want you to consider this offer with utmost care and importance as during my lifetime people would have done anything to have this opportunity presented to them and you will only have this opportunity offered to you once” The stranger said as he sat up on the throne with a more serious look in his eyes.

“To start you are one of my families descendants, we were once one of the nine magical families that existed in this world. The members of the nine families are sensitive to the magic that exists in nature, over time each family developed their own way of using this natural power that is all around us. Due to a certain incident my families line of succession was cut off and I believed that was the end of us, but now I see that I was wrong. The opportunity that I am going to offer you is that I would take you as my student and teach you the ways of magic” The stranger announced.

“But before you make your decision you need to consider that there are 3 blood rules that all the mages of our family have adhered to since the very first mage of our family the progenitor, and if you choose to learn the magical arts from me, you too will be bound by these blood rules” Continued the stranger with a very stern look.

“I do not need your answer now, as the sun is rising it is time for you to return to your body. Use this day to think of the opportunity that lies before you, I will expect your answer when you sleep next” said the stranger with a smile as Alex sat up in his bed looking around only to realize he had woken up at dawn.