The elegant chandeliers and wall torches of the food hall burned brightly, giving the vast room a warm glow. Before Marin was a good percentage of his citizens, sitting in front of fine dishes and silverware, all purchased from Nocturne’s gold vault deep in the catacombs.
Standing at the end of the center long table of the dining room, Marin studied his subordinates stationed there and those at the left and right tables. The fruitful efforts of rebuilding his Kingdom had not fully dawned on him until this moment. The stark difference of being away for two weeks and now standing before his citizens once again made him see them all in a new light.
Nothing made Marin happier than being back in Nocturne Castle. Marin watched as they beamed back at him, fully prepared to take in his speech. As Sygol had mentioned, they had become his family.
The food was ready to come out as soon as he finished and sat down, so he aimed to keep it short and to the point. He cleared his dusty throat, and began talking with the constant aid of the voice enhancer in his mask.
“First off, I’d like to thank you all for the tremendous welcome I garnered when first returning home. It was unexpected to see so many of you halt your endeavors to greet me in the Grand Hall. It was a reminder to me of your admirable thoughts about your King; something I will always try to live up to.
I am indeed home, and have no plans to leave again any time in the near future. Most of you understand that I left to recruit stronger allies. This was a mission that ended with mixed results. Efforts don’t always go as planned – in fact, I find that they rather don’t most of the time.
However, in a turn of detrimental events, a silver lining was produced, and that would be our new doctor. I’d like to formally introduce you all to Doctor Edward Eisen, a man who will be the Kingdom’s official medical chief.”
Eisen was sitting close to the end of the table where Marin reigned. He stood up for just a moment, giving everyone a wave, and a bow. He sat back down, hating to be seen by so many.
“Doctor Eisen is not one for large crowds or speeches, so forgive him for not saying much at this time. You can expect to have any questions about him answered during visits to his ward. Speaking of which, that will be stationed in the basement.”
It was certainly an unexpected location to house the medical facilities, and Marin knew the statement would be met with confusion. He took a pause for the fact to set in, but not one long enough for everyone to dwell upon.
“As many of you know, the central government, RAM, will be visiting our castle in the coming days for an inspection. Their judgment will decide whether we will be officially recognized as one of the many kingdoms that dot the land. I am expecting that to be the case, seeing as Helva and Loid have seen to it that we meet all their requirements. But even if we don’t, we will always be a kingdom in my eyes, and you all – my family.
I thank you all again for the warm return. I will be here for you all if anyone needs me. You may knock anytime at my personal quarters on the top floor if I’m not on the lower levels. Now, everyone. Time to eat. Bring it out!”
At the declaration, Marin sat, and the servants of the castle brought out exquisite dishes of lavish cuisine for all to enjoy. Nocturne Castle always provided superb meals, but this was a cut higher than normal, in celebration for the King’s return.
After all this time, Marin had finally come to terms with not eating. For a while, he longed for the food he saw before him, but now, with no pains of hunger, it all seemed tasteless. In fact, it probably was. He imagined that all the taste buds upon his tongue were terminated. While he hadn’t attempted to confirm the idea, it had to be true, seeing as Eisen stated only necessary organs were in a working order.
Marin’s body deemed eating no longer necessary. It had to make that rule, in order to survive over two hundred years on the floor with no nourishment.
Marin looked over to Marge, his librarian. She was still sporting her typical turquoise earrings hanging from her droopy earlobes, and pendant to match. Even her rings were similar color. She must really adore that gemstone. Unsurprisingly, Marge was sitting right beside Eisen, and Marin now realized their ages were quite close to each other.
“So Doctor, I’m interested in hearing more about your theory on the disappearance of the Vortexians after their invention in Kurmazon,” she asked him.
Well, there goes any outside conversation between them. They would keep each other occupied for the duration of the meal. Marin had not anticipated a strong interest the two would have between each other. At this point, anything that would keep Eisen happy while living in the castle would be an upside, since he didn’t much fancy being here in the first place.
Marin then turned to Helva, who didn’t seem to have much of an appetite.
“Everything well with you, Mrs. Yoren?” He asked her.
She confirmed she was, and made no acknowledgment of the small amount of food she ate. She had been talking with her husband even now about castle affairs, showing that even during dinner they couldn’t stop managing the kingdom.
Helva was dedicated to her work, and Harrel was like-minded. They went well together, both working off of each other towards their goal. Combined, they had managed the town of Heroca. He wondered how much of a bigger task Nocturne Kingdom was.
The meal was enjoyable for all, and time flew smoothly as everyone conversed. When it had finished, Marin was one of the last to get up and leave. After a tedious evening of touring the castle, and catching up on all the affairs the kingdom had dealt with, it was finally time for Marin to retire to his personal quarters.
He traveled several flights of stairs to reach the top floor. This level was the most ornate and well decorated, reserved for the residential areas of Nocturne’s leadership, as well as a few luxury guest rooms to impress any visitors. In the center of the hall was Marin’s very own Cherrywood door leading to his quarters.
It felt good to once again grasp the polished, golden door knob. The door swung open without a single creak as well-oiled latches glided gracefully. He felt quite satisfied that no expense had been spared in making this level of the castle as perfect as possible.
Marin shut the door behind him, and stared at his long desk in the center room. Behind it were the two arched windows that saw out to the entire front yard of the castle. He walked over, and sat in the fancy rolling chair he had specifically made for him. He rotated to the windows behind his desk, and looked out.
Finally home. It is good to be back.
Marin lost himself in thought as he gazed outward to the mountainous terrain. The sun had already set, and the snow caked upon the mountain tops glowed dimly in the moonlight. It had always been a gorgeous scene, but on this particular night it looked better than normal. Perhaps it had been due to not seeing it for a while.
Marin was careful not to get completely consumed in thought, for he expected a certain friend to knock at his door at any moment.
With enough time, it finally happened.
“Enter!” Marin commanded at the sound of the knock. He swiveled his chair back around to face the doorway.
It opened, and Loid appeared.
“Ah, there you are,” Marin stated with relief.
Loid was already out of his usual suit and in some more informal lounge-wear. He closed the door behind him as Marin got up to meet him.
“Come, let us sit at the fire,” Marin gestured as he guided his friend to the door on the left, leading into his personal library that contained a chiseled stone fireplace and organ to play music on.
In front of the fire place where two plush chairs with backs taller than a man’s standing height. Sitting in them made one feel grand, and even more so in front of a fire place that had already been lit and burning from a maid starting the fire earlier.
The two sat down. The last time Marin and Loid had sat together like this was when they had discussed plans for Marin to leave and find new allies. That had been a while ago.
“You’ve had quite the adventure, eh?” Loid asked. “I was worried about you going into a world which you had become unfamiliar with. I felt better having Gus go with you, but it turned out that he was really the one I should’ve been worried about,” he admitted.
Marin shook his head. “More bandits than I remember. More danger than before,” Marin believed.
“Or just bad luck,” Loid responded.
“Regardless, I learned a lot. I’m just glad I didn’t get him killed. The real miracle was putting a stop to that thieving guild. And recovering my golden cross. Hey, at least I succeeded on some level. We have the doctor. Did you know he’s a blood elemental? He invented it himself. A strong one, he is.”
“Speaking of which, there are a few things I need to tell you,” Loid said.
“Well, now’s the time to tell me.”
“I kind of took the liberty of also doing some recruiting of my own,” Loid stated.
“Oh?”
“I had ordered some advertisements about defenders for our castle on the community boards in Whitewood. Eh, we had four approach us. Three I rejected since they were no better than our own guards. But one, I hired. She beat all of our own, including our Captain, Max. Heck, I don’t know how well I’d fair against her myself.”
“Well that’s interesting. You should have told me about that during my arrival. I would have loved to meet her today. What’s her name? Where is she?” Marin pressed.
“Her name is Ester. She’s a samurai. Looks to be thirty-something. I gave her one of the better rooms on the floor below us.”
“A samurai? One from Ocusomer Island?”
“Yup. A native from there, she says. She left the island after becoming a samurai and ventured out onto Grandom. Ended up out here in the north, looking for work, purpose… I don’t know.”
“I see. Did you get her prestige?” Marin asked.
“I… didn’t even know that was a thing,” Loid admitted in his ignorance. “What’s that?”
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Marin knew the samurais from Ocusomer measured mastery of swordsmanship on a prestige level. Prestige one was respectable, prestige two was commendable. Prestige three was fearsome and prestige four was nearly impossible to achieve.
He explained all this to Loid.
“Well, you’ll have to forgive me, the most I knew about samurais were their location. I’m not familiar with their inner-workings and systems. I’m shocked you know about it, with your whole memory loss situation,” Loid pointed out.
“I’ve found that I retain most general knowledge, but personal events and memories are missing,” Marin explained. “For instance, I met someone who knew me as I returned to the Murok Mountains, and I had not a clue who he was” he casually added.
“What?! How is that possible?” Loid yelled.
“He is a Knight named Sygol. Virtually immortal, with the unique situation he has going on. His soul was tied to a rather large suit of armor indefinitely. Apparently he’s been on this moral realm for the last thousand years or so.”
Loid was speechless. Marin explained it all so nonchalantly.
“And honestly, my ignorance of my friends and my past has been a torment. It was embarrassing to not know a friend who knew me so well. And what’s more, Loid, is that I have become significantly weaker since I woke up! That’s right, the powerful Sullivan Marin you know so well is actually not nearly as powerful as he once was.
I… I feel like I am an echo of myself, Loid. In every way. I want to recover my memory. I want to recover my strength. I would like to sleep, I would like to eat. I want to live. I just feel like I’m bearing a punishment for my ambition. One that will last… who knows how long.”
Loid was overloaded. He recognized Marin was on an emotional rant at the moment, but he was just grazing over very important information that needed to be expounded upon.
Loid grasped his silver goatee in thought, trying to figure out what to say.
“Sygol thinks maybe my memory and abilities will come back over time,” Marin added. “Its a hope, but one I don’t have much faith in. Things will just have to slowly reveal themselves over time, that knight being one of them.”
“You mind me asking you to elaborate more on everything you just told me? It might give me an idea or two,” Loid tried.
Marin opened his hands as a gesture to ask away.
“What do you mean weaker? And how did you find out about this?” Loid asked.
“Sygol explained to me that apparently I was once a fierce ice elemental,” Marin responded.
“Aren’t you?”
“So I thought. I explained myself to him, and he offered a duel. I took him up, since discovering anything pertaining to myself is quite valuable to me. We fought, and Loid, I tell you, I gave everything I had.
I created ice wall after wall. I erupted sharp pillars of icicles trying to defeat him. I tried freezing him. It all failed. His sword slashed through everything I created like it wasn’t even there. He bashed through my ice walls like they were made of cardboard. It seemed like all he had to do was flex to break out of the toughest frozen prison I tried surrounding him in.
He is incredibly strong. Quite the force to be reckoned with, I tell you. And yet, after it was all over, he admitted to me there was a time when I outclassed him in battle.”
Loid scoffed. “You don’t think maybe he’s gotten stronger in the last two centuries? More than he could realize?”
“It might be true. But Sygol knew my strength, and knew my current form was lacking. He said my connection to the power plane was rusty. Which would make sense, seeing as my own memory and thoughts have deteriorated immensely.
My only hope of returning to my former strength would be through training once again, or a recovery of my memories. I don’t know which would take longer, if we’re being honest,” Marin explained.
“Well, where is this knight now? He reunited with you then disappeared?” Loid asked.
“Sygol is in the middle of a campaign against Kudu and his followers known as ‘The Decay’. My guess is that he caught wind that I was around again, and sought me out to recruit me in his war with them. But when he saw the pathetic state I was in, he understood that I would be no help to him.”
“That’s pretty harsh, Sullivan. I think you’re feeling a tad too self-conscious,” Loid noted. “You are really strong, even if it’s a fraction that he’s claiming you once were. You would be a help in almost any situation. I’m sure he had other reasons to not ask you to join him, if he even had that in mind at all.”
Marin nodded, and took a deep breath of air that he gained no benefit from. “You’re probably right, Loid. He knew I was running a kingdom again, and it would be inappropriate to ask me to drop it to fight some secret cult.”
“Exactly!” Loid yelled.
Marin studied the fire, and watched the flames dance upon the logs they consumed. With all of that in mind, there was still so much Marin had to fill Loid in with.
“Now, about the Doctor,” Marin said, changing the subject.
“Eisen.”
“Yes. He’s going to be working on where my immortality potion went wrong. He wants to perfect it, and perhaps even cure me. That was his main reason in joining the kingdom.”
“What?!” Loid yelled yet again, realizing the assault of shocking news was not yet over with. “He knows your secret?!”
“It wasn’t my plan to tell him. Heck, it wasn’t ever my plan to even recruit him. But he has the Detect Life skill that revealed my zombie state to him. And if I wasn’t going to be honest with him, Gus would have died, I might’ve died… there was nothing I could do.”
Loid wondered if the odd looking doctor could even come close to replicating the potion Marin had made. It would take someone of the utmost intelligence to even develop half the properties of it. However, from what Loid had listened to at dinner from the Doctor, he may be just that. It seemed Eisen knew just about everything there was to know.
He was even impressing the very knowledgeable librarian Marge Halkress. She was a historian of a higher tier than most scholars, and history wasn’t even the doctor’s strong suit. Perhaps Eisen really would be the key to solving Marin’s case.
“I just hope his intentions are good. I wouldn’t expect anyone to develop an immortality potion for the charity of another. He might double-cross you in the end, and use the potion for himself,” Loid warned.
“Don’t for a second think I haven’t thought of that myself. It is a bridge we will cross if or when we ever get there. The fact that I could get my condition reversed is worth almost any risk of the Doctor going haywire on us,” Marin plainly stated.
“And besides, I don’t think his benevolency is entirely an act. He did save Gus’s life even while knowing something was wrong with me. He could have ignored the boy and tried to dissect me for all we know. He definitely has ambition, that much is for sure, but even if he tries to use the potion on himself, I expect him to still honor our agreement and help me,” he added.
“Okay. You know what you’re doing, Sullivan. I hope it all goes well.”
Me too. I hope I’m not being too selfish in risking the safety of my kingdom just so a mad doctor might be able to fix me.
The flames of the logs were dying down. They had already been talking for a couple hours. Marin contemplated throwing another log on, but believed they would be done talking soon.
“I never did ask if everything was smooth while I was gone,” Marin said.
“It was fine. No issues here, not really. Honestly, I’m satisfied everything went – well, there was one thing that happened,” Loid suddenly remembered.
Marin turned to look at him.
“There was an explosion,” Loid reported.
“A what?!”
“At least, that’s what it sounded like. In reality, there was no evidence of it happening. I eventually wrote it off, but it’s really confusing,” Loid said.
“When and where?” Marin asked, again annoyed that Loid held back another piece of information that he would’ve appreciated knowing sooner.
“At the end of the southeast living quarters during the late evening. Right by Phil and Rocko’s room. Everyone heard it, but there was nothing out of place.”
Marin immediately stood up. “I need to investigate.”
“We already did. No once could find anything,” Loid tried.
“You said it happened right by Phil and Rocko’s room?” Marin confirmed.
Loid nodded.
Marin then instructed for both of them to make the journey to their bedroom, despite it being on the bottom floor and needing a solid ten minutes of walking to get there.
Loid did not expect Marin to react in such urgency, especially after Loid tried convincing Marin that there was nothing the matter, and it was most likely someone partying too hard, or a hooligan setting off a firecracker and running away.
Marin though, demanded to look things over himself for his own satisfaction.
Loid could respect that, he would probably be the same way.
They both paced the castle, reaching the lowest level, and walking down the residential hall of the first floor that mostly housed the castle’s common work force, which included both the boys.
It was unexpected for the King to be down at this level during the current hour, and most were surprised to see him. Marin gave his greetings to those he passed, before finally reaching Phil and Rocko’s room at the very end of the hall.
“This is their room, correct?” Marin asked when they reached the door.
“Yes.” Loid approached, and gave a firm knock on the door. There was no response.
After another moment, Loid opened the door, and found the room empty. Phil and Rocko were not present.
“Where could they be?” Marin asked.
Loid checked his pocket watch. “At this hour? Probably in the rec rooms playing pool or cards. Hard to say.”
Marin walked to the center and started inspecting the room. The King took much more effort looking over their living space than Loid would have ever done.
“Everyone reported that the noise originated from here?” Marin asked Loid to confirm.
“Yes, yet, no sign anything happened,” he responded.
Marin glanced at each corner. He eventually reached the opposite wall to the door, where Rocko had seen Phil standing scared with a massive hole in the castle from his explosion.
Marin ran his glove-covered hand over the wall, feeling the bricks that made up their room.
His hand suddenly stopped. Something was very wrong.
“Everything okay?” Loid asked.
“These bricks have been relaid. In a completely pristine manner,” Marin said, while continuing to note the smoothness in the wall.
“Really?!” Loid said as he approached too and began studying the wall. “How can you tell?”
“I know my castle very well. This has been freshly built. That, and its obvious this wall was not hand-placed. An earth elemental ordered these bricks to place themselves.” Marin ran his hand over the small gaps where mortar should have been. “In a hasty manner too, I might add.”
Loid looked over to Marin. Either his King was completely losing it, or he was extremely perceptive and something very secretive was happening right under his nose.
“H-how is that possible? Are you sure?” Loid asked.
“As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow. And I don’t know why it has been done. But someone in my Kingdom has not been honest about who they really are. And I plan on finding out who.”