Azar sat within his carriage, staring out of the small window that it offered. The scene he was viewing was not that impressive at all. It had begun to rain only a couple minutes after he was escorted back to the carriage. The rain picked up even heavier, battering the cover with a bombardment of water. The small frame he stared out of now looked like the windows of the orphanage he grew up in.
The orphanage was definitely a harder life than the one he had been presented now, but it had been much simpler. Everyone there loved him. Of course, it was thanks to his unique ability, but nonetheless, they became a close knit family. The housemother was a very strict one, but her strictness was entirely necessary. She wasn’t cruel by any means, just strict enough to teach and make the children learn morals.
When he was last taken from the Orphanage almost 3 weeks ago, he had wondered what became of everyone there. He remembers the sense of urgency that he present himself in such a way. This by no means meant that everyone was in danger. After knowing his abductors, he had come to be certain they were still alive.
Perhaps the urgency he felt then only applied to a misfortune that would have befallen himself had he not followed the voice’s command. Then again… every now and then he doubts if the voice is actually a true ability he possesses. However, whenever he begins to doubt it, a sudden huge feeling of impending death looms over him. Could it truly help him out in such a frightening situation like this?
He was normally always handling petty instances and small thefts. Because his voice would guide him in the best course of action, he always had an easy life and easy way of doing things. It would be stupid for him to doubt his ability now.
He wondered how the others were doing. Salei, Heim, Irijid, and all the others. Surely someday after all of this is over, he’d find them all alive and show them the new life he was living. They always looked up to him for his ability to make things better for everyone. Imagine the look on their faces when they find out he’d become the king and they may all live easy lives and have their own manors.
Of course, finding such a time would be even harder now that he’d be too preoccupied with all his new duties. People may say that a king is the most free person in all the kingdom, but when it comes down to being a good king, he’d need to do continuous work. There was a lot that needed cleaning up in this country, and for sure, with his ability to avoid misfortune, he could navigate it just right.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
The biggest puzzle that remained in his mind was that man, Duke Eris. He was not sure how someone could survive. He entertained them going through all of their options, and even began thinking of options to get rid of the man as well. The sense of danger that he felt implied certain death at every suggestion the council said, or that he thought of. He was truly a force to be reckoned with.
Yet still, when he thought of doing nothing, no dangers would come his way. It is for sure a certainty that Duke Eris would come to rid of him as a false king should she pre-emptively attempt the coronation. And with that much power, the man could easily do just that.
On the other-hand, entertaining the thought of Duke as commander in chief and head of the country, did not do anything to appease his feeling of impending doom. Just exactly what was that man doing? Since he got escorted out, he could not help but feel his impending doom looming over him. They must still be planning on proceeding with their attempts to get rid of Eris.
His power did have its limits. When it's a circumstance caused by others, he’d have to sway them to his side. If not, then of course, regardless of his awareness of harm coming, he would certainly fail.
So what are the two options available to me?
I could simply try and kill the council itself… that might work out fairly well…. -nah, that’s wishful thinking.
There is also the option to run and escape back to the orphanage. No. He would never survive that perilous journey.
Ah that’s it… I must find a way to warn Eris of their assassination attempts.
Whatever thoughts he was having, stopped entirely. There was an overwhelming feeling of DANGER. DO NOT MOVE. DO NOT AVERT YOUR GAZE. DO NOT BREATH. DO NOT BLINK.
His breath caught in his throat. He remained as still as a statue. The source of all this danger was something he could not possibly fathom. His eyes trailed and set its sights on one single entity. He says entity because he could not possibly understand this existence.
So tranquil yet so dangerous…. That was the only thought he could think upon laying his eyes on it. It seemed as if the rest of the world did not even pick up on this creature lurking around within the kingdom. His mind had thought too much on what to do to survive, what to do to escape, what to do to avoid narrowing his chances on death, that it had shut down.
The small couple of seconds that it took for him to see the figure, was all he needed, for him to have broken out in cold sweats. The being that he perceived before was gone. He couldn’t even understand why his danger sensory had not picked it up before.
Usually, he would know about danger several minutes to even days before, and would avoid it. But at that exact moment, he was utterly caught. The moment the voice gave him the clear, all the overwhelming tension in his body released. He was hyperventilating and trembling like he had never trembled before.
Eventually his mind decided it was better to slip out of consciousness. There was too much going on for him to remain awake after that frightening experience. The young Azar would be found much later on, completely passed out in his carriage. The rest of the world remained none the wiser about everything that had occurred.