Adrien woke up tired. That was expected since he hadn’t exactly slept much. And just as he had managed to sleep, the Void woke him up. Lord Oak was calling for him. At six in the morning.

“Do you have any idea what he wants?” he asked the Void who was trailing after him.

“No, my lord.” he said. “Lord Oak should be right through these doors.”

Adrien blinked, looking at the wooden door in confusion. “That was fast.”

“The offices are situated near the duke’s room.” the Void said, opening the door before Adrien could find it in himself to move.

“That is…” his voice trailed off as he looked at the old lord sitting in what appeared to be a long dining table, only it was piled with books. Lord Oak was the only one sitting at its head, with another chair at the opposite end.

“Lord Adrien.” the old lord’s crisp voice announced from the other end. “Please, have a seat and be welcome. I hope you had a good night's sleep.”

Adrien tried his best to muster a smile as he moved to occupy the chair. In truth, he was having difficulty making out the other lord from among the books.

“Excuse the mess, the room is often used for discussions between me and my advisers.”

Adrien’s eyes narrowed. If this room was used to discuss things with his advisers, then where were the other chairs? The only chair had been kept in a position that, traditionally, was reserved for an opponent.

This was the chair a duke would invite another duke to sit on. Adrien’s sluggish mind struggled to make sense of what was going on. There was something going on, but he could not figure out what.

“I am pleased to inform you that I have successfully made arrangements for you to travel with an armed guard. The Kingdom’s latest order of Elven food just arrived with a guard that would be more than happy to take you with them.”

“What?” Adrien said, forcing the fog away from his mind as he felt his blood rush to his brain. “I—there is an Awakened goblin at loose in the wilderness, Lord Oak.”

“More the reason you should seek safety beyond the River of Fire.” Lord Oak continued, his smile wide and friendly, but to Adrien he just seemed to be smirking. The old lord was sending him out into the wilderness knowing that an Awakened goblin is on the loose.

The River of Fire might be a powerful defense that blocked the goblins from entering the heart of the kingdom, but it was still two days away.

Whatever armed guard he would be traveling with, he doubted it would be able to block an Awakened goblin for two days.

Adrien’s mind scrambled, but he couldn’t figure out a way to stay. Lord Oak might appear to be asking, but his words meant something else. In theory, he could resist, but if Lord Oak was forced to kick him out then it would embarrass Aunt Veena greatly.

The ancestors might say otherwise, but the nobles of the kingdom did not consider him heir to the duchy. As far as they were concerned, he was a bastard. And a city lord had the power to kick out a bastard.

“Please understand, I am doing it for your own good.” the old lord said, and now Adrien was sure that he was smirking. “I only wish for your safety.”

If he rejected Lord Oak’s offer now, he would give the man an excuse to use his right as a lord on him. And he did not want that.

“As you wish.” he said, getting up. “I shall inform the King not to expect me here.”

The smile slipped off Lord Oak’s face as Adrien walked out, still watching the old lord from the corner of his eye. Contacting the King wasn’t going to do anything, not really. A lord as old and respected as Oak would be difficult for even the King to challenge during these warring times.

But it would still irritate the old lord and Adrien was feeling a bit angry at the moment. Still, why would the old lord go so far as to kick him out? Why would he want him dead? And did the Questing Book predict this?

The book had been insisting that he take the flame, that he was going to face a threat. Did it know about this? How far did the book’s powers extend?

“What happened?” the Void asked, his eyebrows narrowing as he got a look at Adrien's face.

“Lord Oak has made arrangements for us to travel to the capital with the shipment of Elven food.”

The Void paused mid-step, and Adrien could feel power rolling inside the guard.

“And when does this shipment leave?”

“I expect it leaves in a few hours.” Adrien replied, his words tasting like sour grapes.

The Void looked at him. “What happened?”

“I don’t know! Lord Oak has been hostile since yesterday. The man even went as far as to remove other chairs, so I sat across from him on a long table. Why would he do that?” Adrien exclaimed, his hands moving around widely as he expressed his frustration.

“The lord did what?” the Void stopped midstep, his armor shuddering as he appeared to take a deep breath. “Go to your room and tell the others to begin preparing for your departure. I think I have to have a talk with our dear Lord Oak.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

sc

Wile grunted as he slammed the doors of Lord Oak’s conference room open, staring at the old lord who was waiting for him alone.

“The Void himself broke into my office. What would the nobles think of this I wonder?” lord Oak grinned as Wile shut the doors behind him.

“Should I be worried about my life? Are you going to use your powers on me?” the old lord grinned, knowing full well that he out powered Wile massively. Lord Oak had reached Stage 6 decades ago and stagnated there. But a Stage 5 was still far more powerful than a Stage 4 like him.

“Leave your lies for outside this room. What are you playing at?” Wile asked, his Bloodline Power gathering beneath his fingers of its own accord.

“Just doing what a member of the main family should do for a bastard.” the old lord said, the smile not leaving his face for even a moment.

So that was what he was playing it. Lord Oak was a member of the main family, if only by technicality. Three generations had passed since his brother had been Duke, but the qualification remained. Oak could be considered one of the heirs of the duchy if Lord Adrien didn’t prove enough.

And now that the main family had proved to be unable to handle the duchy, he might inherit.

“What I do not understand is why you would want to kill Lord Adrien. Even if you do desire the throne, you have to know that he is not competition. So why kill him now? Why not wait a few years and let the Ducal Council dirty their hands?”

“Have you perhaps considered that I may actually have the boy’s interest at heart? There are more than a few cities that have been destroyed by an Awakened goblin. But it is not the goblin that destroys cities, Lord Wilding, it is the army they command and equip.” Lord Oak replied, his eyes widening and his face morphing into an expression of anger that most would have believed. “A small armed group can outrun such an army. A city cannot. The young lord shall be safer on the road than stuck behind a city.”

Wile held back a scoff, shaking his head at the old man’s antics. The man was more elf than human at this point, twisting words better than anyone else he has met. That was part of why he was so respected. The old man was the one that had kept the Elves in trade with the kingdom even after the goblins invaded.

Still, if he thought he could get away with it, he underestimated the Duchess Regent far too much. For she had already expected something like this. Wile hadn’t agreed with her, but it wasn’t his place to argue with a Duchess Regent. And clearly she knew better.

“The Duchess Regent has received a request from the Elven emigrants. There is a girl that wishes to return to the Kingdom and serve. The Duchess Regent commands you to open the portal and facilitate the exchange. A regiment of guardsmen shall accompany her, and you are to allow them to pass through the city.”

The smile slipped from the old lord’s face with every word he spoke. Wile had been ordered to tell the old lord this when he caused trouble. Lord Adrien had not even been disqualified yet, and the struggle for Duke had already begun.

“If the Duchess Regent wishes to allow traitors to return, then so be it. Who am I to disagree? I shall open the portal in an hour. I hope the traitors—I mean, emigrants are ready to leave.”

Wile hoped that, too. And that Lord Adrien was able to handle a connection to the Elven forest, because Wile knew there was no time to contact the Duchess Regent.

sc

“Wait, you want me to make a call where?” Adrien asked, sure that his puzzlement was showing on his face. The Void had marched back into his room and demanded that he contact the Elves.

In the Elven Forest. The forest that was protected by enchantments that had literally killed goblin armies. Not even the lords of the goblin Empire had been able to pierce through the forest. How exactly was he supposed to do that?

“The Elves allow humans to contact those of our kind that live in their territory. The resistance should not be significant.” the Void sounded unsure for the first time since Adrien had met him.

“I see.”

“This is urgent, my lord. Lord Oak will open the portal within the hour.”

Adrien nodded as the old man brought the communication orb to him. A portal to the Elven Forest. Lord Oak was the only one in the kingdom the Elves allowed to open portals in to their lands, so it made sense that he would be the one to open it, but the question stood. Why now?

This did not seem to be planned.

“Is this because of me?” he asked, turning to the Void.

The Void took a deep breath. “Lord Oak does not believe that the descendants of those that abandoned the kingdom should be allowed to return. The Duchess Regent has seen fit to command him to do otherwise. Now, the contact…”

Adrien gulped, pouring his mana into the orb as the mana lines once again appeared in his vision. Then he followed the line running north, drifting past the Marching Hills duchy until he ran into the Elven Forest.

This time, the transformation was not nearly as instantaneous. The distance was far too large for it to be so. Not to mention the fact that the mana lines deteriorated rapidly once they left the human lands.

The first barrier he ran into was not that of the Elves but the goblins. A burst of red flashed across his vision before disappearing as he felt the mana lines force their way through the barrier. Then they ran into the maze.

The lines of magic twisted here, curving and merging randomly as he struggled to make out which one led in the correct direction. To make things worse, he found that he had not control over it anymore.

Magic, tinted in green and blue, swept his senses into what felt like a whirlwind. Adrien found his mana sense twisting between the lines, turning this way and that until he could not tell what direction he was facing. And then he came face to face with an elf.

The magic had worked before he had regained enough sense to realize it, leaving him staring open-mouthed at the elf.

“What do you require?” a surprisingly young sounding voice asked him.

“Th- a representative of the Duchess Regent of the Conjuring Shadows would like to speak to those that wish to return to the kingdom.”

The elf stared at him for a second before his vision changed once again. Now came the hard part. Adrien had to allow the Void to speak to these people, because he knew very little about what was going on.

And that meant trying to cast a spell while his mana senses were literally miles away. Adrien focused his intent, hoping that he could do it successfully. The theory was simple enough. Call on his mana and then focus on it doing what he intended it to. Even if he did not see it happen, the spell should work.

Adrien felt a heat rush from his heart, an awareness of a pinkish flame appearing in his mind as it seemed to bridge the gap. The spell finished with ease after that, his senses returning to the palace while the Void’s eyes clouded over.

Well, he supposed he would find out the result of that in a few minutes.