***
A few hours ago
"Your Majesty, with all due respect, we should surrender Her Majesty to the ghouls." Felken started the ball rolling. "That is what we had agreed on! Please reconsider your decision, your Majesty!"
"How DARE you!" Javen slammed his fist on the table and stood up. "I know you don't get along with Layla. But to be so bold to suggest that?!"
"Your Majesty, but it is Her Majesty who had caused this in the first place. For the safety of our city, would it not be best to do so?" Gerard chimed in.
"Listen. Do you all really think the Ghoul Champion would destroy Jaden Palace to retaliate? What do you think they made the resurrection device for?!"
"Your Majesty, if you're suggesting that they had been preparing for an attack regardless of what Her Majesty did, why only now? Why haven't they done anything the last few decades?" Gerard continued.
Javen mouth hung slightly open, his fists clenched by his side. He did not have an answer for that. Gerard had a valid point, but Javen was sure that he was right; there was something that made it seem so. The Ghoul Champion -- it had to be him. There wasn't such a Magii decades ago when they first came into contact with the ghouls.
"Your Majesty, if the ghouls had killed her Majesty, would you not have done the same as what the Champion did?" The black-dress lady asked.
Javen hung his head down in silence, his both fists on the table, supporting his posture. After a long minute, he finally let out a sigh. "I admit, I do not have all the answers, but--"
As he looked back up, the lords around the circular table were slumped in their seats, unconscious. A menancing black figure stood at the room's opening. Wide top hat, black trench coat.
"Ghoul Champion." Javen's eyes sharpened
"So you were here, King Javen." His voice raspy voice greeted. "You really aren't a man of your words."
"You wouldn't have done the same."
"Haha." The Ghoul Champion took a few steps forward. "Enough. Where are they?"
"Dream on."
"Is that a no? Haha. Well, I wonder..." His eyes went to the lords laying on the floor. "if they will say the same?"
Javen immediately shielded the lords with anti-magic barriers in anticipation of an attack, and casted a spell underneath the Ghoul Champion. A loud hiss sounded out right before a purple vortex of flames shot up from beneath the latter. However, the Champion was quick enough to avoid it, leaping straight at Javen with his arms out. Javen responded with a sidestep, and the two were now within reach. They exchanged a flurry blows with each other, with both sides skillfully dodging and parrying the other's hits. It went on for a few dozen seconds, but a strong backhand eventually landed on Javen's cheek, causing him to crash into the table, knocking over a chair or two. A three-dimensional magic formation then materialised above the Ghoul Champion's palm. Closing his fist, he crushed the formation, creating waves of intense headaches inside Javen. Black vine-like veins started crawling down from both his temples, to his neck, and gradually to the rest of his body, emanating a black mist.
Javen fell to his knees and writhed in pain, tensing up on the floor, unable to do or even think about anything other than the merciless agony he was currently going through. The Ghoul Champion then casted another spell, and they both vanished into thin air.
Moments later, the lords awakened. Scorch marks were seen on the ceiling, and empty chairs were strewn all over the room. Hands clenching their heads to throbbing headaches, they found a magic object left behind the Ghoul Champion in the centre of the table. Activating it, a large screen screen materialised in the skies above the city, loudly playing the Ghoul Champion's message:
Well well well, citizens of Haventry . . .
***
Present moment
"Layla, this again?" I stood in her courtyard, waiting for her to reach the other side. She didn't believe that I had regained more than half of my memories and wanted to test my ability.
"Come on G, you think we're going there to party? This is life and death, we have to fight them with all we got." Layla reached her spot and stood firm.
I faced my palm toward Layla and casted
"How's this for life and death?" A smirk graced my lips as I caught her mid-flight.
"Ohhh~." She grinned back as our eyes interlocked. "But."
Her eyes glowed red, and my chains broke in an instant. With a swift, unexpected motion, she thrusted her palm forward, unleashing a strong wave of energy that sent me a stumbling few metres back. But before I could regain my composure, a golden cage had already materialised and enveloped my being.
"You can't beat me, G." Her voice tinged with amusement. "Magic from a hundred years ago aren't that effective anymore. Your magic power is pretty good though."
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
With hands behind her back, she started circling around the cage, observing my futile attempts at destroying it. I casted
"Surrender yet?" She asked, a playful glint dancing in her eye.
"Okay, okay. You win." I raised both hands in the air, gesturing defeat.
The cage slowly disappeared.
"How is that spell so strong? I asked, baffled at how I couldn't even scratch it.
"Haha, you wouldn't have known this a hundred years ago. Here." She created a dummy in front of us. "Try destroying this one."
Again, I hurled and used a range of magic spells and abilities, but the dummy suffered no damage. I side-eyed Layla. I couldn't possibly be that weak, surely there was some trick behind this.
"I stacked strength-enhancing spells on it!"
"You can cast strength-enhancing spells on objects??" My eyes widened slightly. It wasn't possible a hundred years ago.
"Well, you just need to modify the formation a little. I'll teach you. So, you need to first . . ."
Layla continued explaining the intricacies of the modifications, along with teaching me Magic Eyes and other useful Utility Magic spells. In the blink of an eye, the sun began its descent beyond the horizon, casting long shadows across the courtyard. The air grew cooler and crispier as evening fell.
"That should be enough for us to hold our own tomorrow," Layla concluded our session.
"Magic really has progressed this much... wow!" So many techniques had been created and improved upon, really putting magic of the past to shame. The creation of Magic Eyes was also incredibly useful.
"Yep! And you picked some of them up in just a few hours. Not bad, G."
"It's because I've had a great teacher." I smiled.
"Aww." She playfully slapped my shoulder.
After dinner in her chambers, we headed to her bed to rest. As I laid beside her, I couldn't help but sink into its plush layers, feeling myself enveloped in a cocoon of comfort; perks of being a Queen I guess.. Our eyes were both affixed to the chandelier hanging above.
"Things are moving so quickly." Layla sighed.
"Yeah. Also, are you sure me being here is okay? What if the lords find out?"
"Who cares, G? Tomorrow may really be our last..."
She turned to face me and placed her head into my chest. "I'm scared, G. I'm scared of dying."
"Don't say that." I turned to her side and embraced her. What was I thinking? How could I be more worried about the thoughts of others rather than how the love of my life felt? "The lords will send guards to protect us. I overheard them saying it."
"They won't protect us. They will be just there to confirm that I won't return."
"They really want you out that bad?" I was starting to see why she didn't want anyone following her back in the discussion room.
"Ever since the day I became the Queen." Another sigh from her. "G, you remember my family right?"
Of course I did. Layla had two sisters, one younger and one older, Leah and Lola respectively. Their father, Thomas was the King of The Grand Palace back then, but based on how he talked and looked at me, I felt that he never really liked me, perhaps due to my peasant background. But the Queen, her mother, absolutely adored me. She would always shower me with gifts and gave me special treatment despite my status. Speaking of them, I wondered where they were. Magiis had an average lifespan of 300 years, so they couldn't possibly have passed on that early.
"Because my father never had a son, Javen was selected to succeed the throne. My father believed that Javen's family coupled with ours would have a combined power greater than Felken's family, which was a huge threat to the kingdom then. Yeah and that's basically it. I hated it so much. I hated every moment of being the Queen."
"Lay, if you don't mind, where are your parents and sisters? I haven't seen them around."
"My parents were killed, G. By Felken's father. My sisters moved out of the country."
What?!
"Let's not talk about it anymore, it all happened a long time ago. We should rest." Her voice turned cold.
She then pulled away from my arm and laid with her back facing me. I was never really interested in politics, but to hear her parents getting killed, it must have been devastating for her. Maybe I'll ask more about it when the time was right. Huh, that would also explain why Felken sounded so hostile toward Layla earlier on. I guessed his father got punished for his crime, and he was blaming Layla for it somehow. The typical 'bad guy'. The pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fit together. But it seemed that the other lords, too, were against Layla. Did they also have their own personal grudges, or were they just siding with Felken due to his influence? I had to find that out for myself someday. Well, assuming I survive tomorrow.
Tomorrow... would I die again?
I'm scared too, Lay. I wanted to tell her that so badly since afternoon. I had just come back to life days ago, and now I was going to die again. Memories of my first death flooded my head. I remembered Zap sending bolts of lightning through my body. I remembered the cackling of the electricity as my body convulsed violently. It felt so hot, my insides were boiling. My tongue tasted the metallic tang of blood. I experienced agonising waves of headaches I never experienced before. I screamed for death then. I begged so desperately for the afterworld to take me, because anything was better than this hell that felt like an eternity. But afterwards, it was all black. No more pain, no more sounds. It was peaceful. My wish had finally been granted.
The next day, both Layla and I set off from the city and headed into the forests, where the ghouls were said to be residing. Following an unmarked path on the map, we headed deeper inside. Looking over my shoulder, the city was no longer in view, instead just the plain blue sky. I also happened to catch sight of a person or two following behind us loosely. They weren't dressed in armour or anything suitable for combat -- Layla was right about the lords sending people. But oddly, the air became colder the further we went. At some point, the leaves of the trees turned white, mirroring the snow-covered ground. Snowflakes fell from above, landing softly our on heads and shoulders.
"Here, G." She casted a warming spell on both of us. The coolness of the air lessened, and my body regained its warmth.
"Thanks."
Pressing on against the gusts of wind and freezing temperatures, partially negated by her spell, we came to a fork in the road for the first time.
"What do you think, Lay?"
Layla shut her eyes and focused intently. After a few seconds, she quickly reopened them.
"Left, I sense something there."
Nodding my head, I stepped forward to take the lead. But Layla grabbed my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks.
"Hold on G," she said as she carefully set up several anti-magic and physical defenses around us. Well, better safe than sorry I guess. It was the Ghoul Champion we were going to face -- a monster who took on an entire palace himself. Upon finishing, she glanced around one more time before taking a slow, deep breath. "Let's go."
We continued down the left path, ready for any danger that might arise. My heart pounded quicker the more we walked. My jaws clenched and my breaths quickened on their own. Images of my first death flashed in my mind once more, reminding me of the searing pain I had once gone through. As thoughts of it cycled in my mind, I suddenly felt a hand touch me, its fingers interlocking with mine. I looked over, and Layla was giving me a reassuring smile; a smile that reminded me I wasn't alone. Through the trembles in her hand, it was clear that we shared the same feeling. I held her hand back firmly.
Sometime later, we came across a frozen lake. There was a strong magic power emanating from it.
“A lake giving off magic power? How?” I reached down and touched the ice.
“Wait... G... it’s not coming from the lake, it’s refle--”
THUD.
I immediately looked over my shoulder to see Layla unconscious on the cold, hard ground.