Zach adjusted his shirt while looking at himself in the mirror. He nodded to himself satisfied with how he looked. The door behind him opened and then shut letting in Connie, his personal servant.

“Everyone is ready for you.” She said while bowing.

Zach nodded his understanding. “Thank you Connie. Is there anyone here that I should be aware of?”

“Yes there is.” She said in response. “Your cousin Lara and her friend Tyra are here as expected and Jazmin Isadora and her family have come.” Connie said.

Zach smiled. ”Great, I’m happy that they were able to come. Anyone else of importance.”

Connie nodded her head. “Yes a few, Errol the high bishop of Knowledge has come and we expect him to have brought a very impressive spell. Along with him the Irivn family has also come and they brought their youngest son Nic.”

Zach nodded along with what she was saying. “Nothing unexpected any idea what the spell is?” Zach asked.

“We suspect that it might be one of Thunder Tyrant’s spells, possibly even the core spell.” Connie hesitated for a moment before speaking again. “There is someone else that’s coming.”

Zach's face fell in dread for who he thought it might be “Is it her?” He asked.

Connie nodded her head. “Yes, Abigail Kelsea and her family are coming.”

Zach's face further fell into a rictus of supreme annoyance and helplessness. He let out a long sigh. “Ok.” He paused for a moment to figure out if there was anything he could do. When he could think of anything he turned away from the mirror and towards Connie. “Is there anything we can do?” He asked her, a small hint of helplessness and pleading entering his voice.

Connie shook her head. “No.” She said with well masked pity, “You will have to meet with her. After all, she is the daughter of one of the dukes.”

Zach let out a long suffering sigh. “Yeah I know. I just don’t want to have to deal with her nonsense.” Zach said.

A large bear-like man took form standing in the air next to Zach. The man slapped Zach on the back causing him to lurch forward a few steps. The man let out a loud bellowing laugh. “There's nothing wrong with a woman seeking out a man she approves of.” A smile spread across the man’s face. “They are normally the ones most worth it.”

Zach let out another sigh and forced Kir back into his sword. “And I have already told you what I think about your thoughts on the matter.” Zach said.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Kir said through their bond. “You're too good for that kind of stuff. You only want to marry one person. You don-”

He stepped out of the room heading towards the main hall where the party would be taking place.

Zach cut Kir off. His own voice that of someone who has had this conversation a thousand times before. “Kir. You. Are. A. Pig. I am not just going to marry both of them to resolve the problem. I only want to marry Isadora. I just need to put up with Abigail until she realizes it in a way that isn’t too explosive. Also you're not even human.”

Zach took the last few steps coming up to the doors to the main hall. The guards opened the doors and someone announced his entrance. Zach walked in with Connie trailing behind him. The hall was massive, made out of storm marble. The ceiling was missing, giving a perfect view of the swirling vortex of storm clouds and lightning above. Floating in the air was a massive chandelier that looked to have been made out of electric blue crystal shaped like lightning and crystals shaped like drops of rain. To the sides were tables and chains. Around a quarter of the tables were piled high with food or gifts. While the other half were empty for people to sit in. To the left of where he had entered were stairs heading up to where the empress was sitting on her throne. To the right were a set of massive doors held open for people to enter through.

One of the servants walked over and offered him a glass of water which Zach downed and then thanked the servant. It was time for him to start dealing with politics.

Zach walked out into the crowd. One of the first people to meet him was an extremely successful merchant called Nil Yefram.

“My prince, it is good to see you.” Nil said with a bow.

“It is good to see you too Mr. Yefram” Zach said. “How have your businesses been doing? I heard that Yefram Enterprises managed to get a place to set up inside the inner parts of the capital recently. That is no easy thing to do.”

“Thank you for your compliments, my prince.” Nil said. “It is true that we were able to get a hold of a small shop. It is not very large but more than suitable for what we are trying to accomplish in the inner city.”

Zach nodded along with some genuine curiosity. Unlike with most of the conversations he would end up having today. “From my understanding I completely agree with that. Unlike what most upcoming merchants think you don’t need a large shop to thrive. Just a good set of clientele that know you are reliable. Especially in the inner city.”

Nil was beaming at the praise he was receiving. “Thank you my prince, I am genuinely grateful for your praise. It also happens to lead into my next topic.” Nil pulled out a small black wood box with hundreds of small runes carved into it.

Zach raised an eyebrow at both recognizing the runes that were preserving whatever was within and that Nil had been willing to give it to him. In the Terrell empire at large parties it was customary for only those with the grandest of gifts or knew the person the best to directly give the gift. Doing so and failing to give a grand gift was one of the worst things you could politically do. Zach was even more surprised when he realized that there was a small hint of aether flowing through the runes.

“I know that it might be a bit presumptuous of me but I feel that my gift will be more than adequate. Though I assume anyone in my position would feel the same way.” Nil said with a wry grin.

Zach reached out and grabbed the box fully aware that this gift was likely to be more for Nil’s sake than his. Opening up the box he was hit with the smell of static electricity and fragrant flames. Inside the box was a flower with a bolt of lightning in the shape of a stem and flames taking the form of a flower. Zach’s eyes widened in shock and awe at what he was. Normally it would be inappropriate for him to show too much emotion at an event like this but it would be acceptable when faced with such a gift.

“I heard that you are seeking to fuse your lightning and fire affinities together and when I happened upon this flower I figured I would gift it to you.” Nil said with satisfaction.

Zach quickly shut the box and shallowly nodded his head to Nil. “Thank you for this amazing gift Nil. You are right that it is my goal and I have spent the last couple of months procuring the appropriate materials. This should make success almost a guarantee” Zach said, his mask of neutrality slipping back into place. Zach let a small smile slip across his face. “Yet again thank you for this gift. It seems that I will need to visit your shop later.”

“Thank you for the praise my prince.” Nil said with a bow his true goal of advertising his shop completed. “We look forward to you visiting our shop later on.”

With that Zach handed the box off to Connie and the two of them went back to walking around greeting and talking with people. Zach had fought in battles that would decide his life and death yet he found that politics could be just as difficult as any such battle. Each word had to be carefully selected and sentences thoughtfully strung together or he would quickly find himself tied up in knots.

Zach after talking to one of the more important noble lords and politely turning down the offer to marry the man's daughter. Zach made his escape taking a break from the careful political battle and going over to where the food and drinks were so that he and Connie could get some.

Picking up a plate he got himself something to eat and nodded for Connie to follow suit. An absolutely massive smile spread across his face at the voice he heard. Spinning around he saw a beautiful woman with dark black hair. She wore a storm gray dress accentuated by electric blue patterns in the shape of bolts of lightning.

Zach stepped forward to greet her. “Hello Jazmin.” He said with a large smile on his face. “How are you?”

“Hello prince Zach.” Jazmin said while bowing, her voice soft and quiet. “It is good to see you.” Extending her hands she offered him a small box. “I got this for you.” She said her voice a little shy.

Zach took it from her and excitedly cracked it open not allowing anyone else to see it. Zach closed it as his smile widened. “It’s perfect, thank you for this.” Zach said while putting it into his pocket.

“I’m glad you approve of it.” Jazmin said with a slight blush.

“Of course I a-” Zach was cut off by another voice.

“Hello Zach it’s so good to see you.” Zach’s smile went from wide and genuine to restrained and polite. Looking over to where the voice had come from Zach saw a beautiful woman with long golden hair and a golden dress accentuated by lighter blue coloration. Abigail held out a large box for Zach to take “My gift to you prince.”

“Thank you Abigail.” Zach said as he took the box. Opening it up he found a large red veined storm gray faceted crystal. Zach eyebrows rose as his smile became slightly genuine. “Thank you Abigail. I really appreciate this gift.” Zach said

“Of course my prince. I put a lot of thought into making sure this gift would be more than just some random bauble and would hold more value than its monetary amount.” Abigail said.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Zach nodded his head. “It truly does surpass what it would have cost me to buy it. Yet again thank you for this gift.”

Abigail smiled at him. “My prince, I was wondering if there is going to be any music later today.” She said.

Zach nodded his head seeing the trap she was baiting him into but not seeing a way to escape the trap. “Yes there will be.” He said

“Well then I was wondering if you wo-” Abigail was cut off not by a sound but the lack of one.

All of a sudden a hush fell across the room. Turning to see what the cause was, Zach saw a man who had the appearance of an older person but walked like he was 50 years younger than he appeared. Recognizing him as Errol the high bishop of Knowledge Zach excused himself and then made his way to the man.

“Hello high bishop it is good to see you.” Zach said while bowing his head slightly in respect.

Errol bowed his head. “Greetings my prince, it is good to see you too. How has your birthday been?” Errol asked

“It has been good, thank you for asking.” Zach said

Errol nodded his head. “That is good to hear. On the topic of your birthday my goddess has prepared two gifts for you that she believes you will find great value in. One of which she personally prepared for you, the other she lent her aid in finding for you” Errol took out a small book and handed it over to Zach.

The book was embossed with the picture of a crown made of lightning in between a pair of lightning wings. The words Wings of the Thunder Tyrant were below the crown. Grabbing the book out of Errol's hands Zach found that it was extremely heavy and he found himself using both some mana and his aura to help him hold it.

“Wings of the Thunder Tyrant spell is one of the best single affinity movement spells that you will be able to get ahold of. Along with that from my understanding it has a couple other benefits inherent to the Thunder Tyrant spells.” Errol said. “The second gift is a gift of knowledge.” Errol pulled out a small rolled up piece of paper. “This will be a ray of hope in your moment of despair.” Errol said. “Later today you will learn something and my goddess finds it extremely likely that you will wish to deal with it personally. You will find yourself struggling to be able to make it in time. She has set into motion events that might be able to mitigate the situation though you will need to do your part. This paper will open on its own when you find yourself failing to achieve your goal. Follow what it says and failure will not be total. In fact some will see it as a success. Though you are not the person that the burden will be placed on. Instead that burden will fall to another. Your job instead is to support him. Know that if you do not you will find the avoided threat more appealing.”

Zach hesitantly reached out and grabbed the small rolled up piece of paper. Curious he tried to unroll it but quickly found himself unable to.

Errol let out a quiet chuckle. “Some knowledge should not be known while some should not yet be known. Make sure you keep that in mind in the future.” With that Errol walked away further into the party

Zach slipped the roll into his pocket determined to keep it with him. He was curious what Errol had been talking about but knew that he would find out soon enough, for now he had something else to do. Looking around the room Zach quickly found the person he was looking for.

In one of the corners of the room three ten year old kids were talking to each other. One of them was Nic, a boy with white speckled black hair like stars in the night. He was dressed in nice and expensive clothes that had magic designed to keep him safe.

The other two were girls. Lara had long hair that looked like it was made of rubies with eyes that looked like they were uncut red rubies. She was wearing a long dress that had been made to specifically match her hair and eyes. The other girl, Tyra, had dark green hair that had been done up. She wore a well made green dress.

As he got closer to them he could tell that Nic had been arguing with the two girls. Picking up the pace slightly Zach quickly got to them and diffused the situation.

“Hello Lara, Tyra.” Zach turned to Nic. “Hello Nic, I was wondering if you could leave me alone with my cousin and her friend so that I can talk to her.”

Nic bowed to Zach. “Of course I can prince.” Nic said while glancing over at the two girls clearly unhappy. Nic walked away leaving Zach and the girls alone.

Zach glanced over at Connie and nodded at her. Connie turned around and took out an item. Channeling mana and a couple drops of aether through it darkness rose up around them isolating them from the outside.

Zach turned to the girls with a genuine smile on his face. “It’s good to see you two.” Zach knelt down and pulled Lara into a hug now that they were mostly alone. “I’ve got a present for you.” Zach said to Lara as he set his hand on her hair. Despite its look, Lara's hair was the softest he had ever felt. And as expected found his hand hitting something invisible.

Lara pushed Zach’s hand away and straightened out her hair. “Zach you know you're not supposed to be touching my head.” Lara admonished him. “No one is supposed to know about my tail and ears and you also know why.”

“Yes, yes I know I’m not supposed to touch them but my present will help with that.” He said his voice filled with affection.

“Oh what did you get me?” Lara asked, her voice filled with curiosity.

Zach smiled mischievous “Hmmm, I don’t know if I should give it to you now.” He said while taking out the small wooden box that Jazmin had given him.

Lara glared up at him and crossed her arms over her chest. She turned around, not looking at him. “I was going to offer you a song for your birthday but if you're going to be like this then I won’t.”

Genuine panic flashed across Zach’s face. “Wait, wait, wait.” He said quickly back tracking. “You don’t need to be that extreme. We can talk about this.”

“Oh” Lara said while turning around and raising an eyebrow. “You are going to both literally and metaphorically hold something over me. Yet when I do it you panic.”

“I just wanted to ask you if I could see your ears and tail, that's all. You would have to show me any ways. Please don’t do that to me.” Zach said while on his knees begging her.

“If the gift is good enough then I might reconsider.” Lara said her voice suggesting that she was the one giving the gift.

Zach opened up the box to reveal a necklace with a large gemstone attached. The gemstone was black and white the colors swirling in a yin-yang symbol. “It will do a better job of masking your ears and tail along with making it so that even if someone should have touched them it will seem as if they didn’t.” Zach said while pulling out the gift that Jazim had given him. While it had been a gift to him from Jazmin the thing he treasured most about it was that he could give it to Lara.

“Hmmm, Ok if it works then I might sing a song.” Lara said as she removed a ring from her hand. The air around her head and her back shimmered as a pair of ruby gemstone ears and tails appeared.

Zach reached out and touched the silky soft fur that covered her ears that he wished she didn’t have to hide. “Alright now let's see if this works.” He handed the necklace over to Lara.

Lara grasped the necklace and examined it. “It’s beautiful. What magic is it going to use?” She asked curiously.

Zach smiled at her obvious satisfaction “It uses a combination of light and dark magic to do most of the hiding while bolstering it with a bit of fate magic.”

Lara glanced over at him as she put it around her neck. “Wouldn’t that make this really difficult to make since you would both need someone who could use light, dark and fate magic and someone who knows how to design the runes for it?” she asked.

Zach nodded his head. “You are right it does.”

The ears on Lara’s head and the tails behind her back disappeared. Zach reached out to her head and after a moment of searching he couldn’t feel them. Zach checked where her tails should be and was satisfied when he couldn’t feel them.

“It seems it works.” Zach said, filled with excitement. “So does this mean you will sing a song for me. Preferably when I’m dancing with Jazmin.”

Lara perked up at the mention of Jazmin, then a sly smile crossed her lips. “I won’t sing you a song.” Lara stated, Zach’s head dropped in disappointment. “I will sing you two songs.”

Zach’s head shot up filled with excitement. His excitement was tempered by her smile “You want something in return.” His words were a statement rather than a question.

Lara nodded her head as her smile grew larger. “You have to tell Jazmin how you feel.”

“No, no way am I telling her that. Who knows how she feels. Along with that there are other things to consider.” Zach said while shaking his head vigorously.

Lara rolled her eyes at him. “It’s obvious even to me that you both like each other so just get it over with already.”

Zach hesitated for a moment before speaking in a quiet voice. “Are you sure, what if she says no?”

Lara shook her head at him. “She won’t.”

Tyra who had been amusedly watching them walked over. “Lara’s right, Jazmin clearly likes you. Now we have been in here long enough. We need to leave.” With that Tyra walked over to Connie. “Can you please remove the barrier?” Connie nodded and the darkness dissipated to reveal more than a few people looking at them.

Lara stepped up next to Zach and gave him a very pointed look. Zach stood back up and nodded at Lara. Lara smiled up at him and started walking towards the other side of the room where the musician could be seen setting up.

Zach started looking around the room until his eyes landed on Jazmin. Zach walked over to her, careful not to let anyone initiate a conversation with him. As Zach got close he saw Abigail out of the corner of his eye moving towards him. Zach slightly picked up his pace.

Jazmin smiled at Zach when she noticed him. “Hello Zach.” Jazmin said while smiling at him. “Did Lara like the gift?”

Zach nodded. “Yes she did, she offered to sing two songs.” Zach said, “I was wondering if you would be interested in dancing with me during them.” Zach asked with well masked nerves.

Jazmin's cheeks turned pink but she nodded her accent. The two of them moved toward the center of the room where dancing was supposed to take place. Glancing over to where Lara had gone, Zach met eyes with her. Lara smiled and nodded to him, Zach nodded back. Lara raised a small flute to her lips and began to play.

The room began to shimmer as night turned to day, walls turned to open fields and the floor became a tall grassy plain. There was a shrieking cry from above as a large bird swapped down. A man jumped down from the bird, the illusion broken and massive amounts of wind was kicked up as he landed.

The man knelt down, fist to ground,on his knee and head bent facing the Empress. “Empress, please excuse my interruption of your son’s part. There is urgent news and no time can be spared.”

For the first time since the party had started the empress spoke. “Raise your head and tell me the news.” Her voice was hard and commanding. She did not yell yet everyone in the massive room could hear her.

“The Lorthen Empire has sent out an advanced army of half a million soldiers and a million of their body puppets. They are currently marching on us as we speak.” The man said his head was now raised looking at the Empress.

“How long until they are in our land.” The empress asked.

“A month and a half, two months till they hit the first town. The first town they will hit is Emberwood.” the guards said.

The empress turned her gaze from the man to look at Zach. “Zach you are now 20, it is time that you start leading. It will be up to you to lead our assault on them. You will leave by dawn.”

Zach bowed to the empress. “Of course empress I will see to it that they are stopped before they can kill any of our citizens.” The empress nodded at him in dismissal.

Zach turned towards Jazmin and smiled at her. “Sorry it seems that I won’t be able to dance with you. I promise to make it up to you later.”

Jazmin smiled back at him “Just stay safe.” She told him before Zach hurried out.

“Connie get my stuff ready I’m going to go get Vasil ready.” Zach said.

Connie nodded her understanding and hurried off towards his room.

“Kid, you should tell Jazmin how you feel now before you go to war.” Kir said.

“Not now, I don’t have the time, I’ll tell her after I get back.” Zach said in response.

Hours later Zach and the army of a million soldiers were teleported out by the space mages living the the capital city.