It had been several days since a blinding emerald glow illuminated the night sky during a thunderstorm in a region near the fifth ring of Lydenfrost.
The inhabitants of Vereida’s Kingdom thought it was just another meteorite, one of the many that had fallen in the past. But when they went to investigate the place where the glow came from, they found nothing more than what appeared to be thin, but very resistant, silver-colored fibers.
At dawn, the astronomers and sages of the kingdom gathered to investigate the matter further along with the king, after many hours of reading the records of star sightings, they discovered that it was not the first time something similar had happened.
In one of the many files of astronomical events they had at their disposal, there was one particular case that fit the description, except for two details, the glow at that time was reddish and the event happened above the fifth ring, but even that case remained unsolved.
The sages could not give a logical reason at that time, everything was derived from myths and legends of many generations past, even when investigating the silver strands, they did not find any creature to which it belonged.
It was noon and they decided to leave their research until the afternoon, after lunch.
The sages were in the hallway outside the hall just as.....
"My lord!!! My lord, it's urgent!!!" Panting, a royal messenger came running in, drenched in sweat, his face completely red from exhaustion and his cap about to fall off his head. "My lord, I beseech your attention!!!"
The sages in the hallway stared at the messenger, some of them looked at him in disgust, others recoiled and there was one who held his nose in his presence.
"Oh, I beg your pardon, eminent sages of the realm!" said the messenger, as he bowed and knelt before the sages.
The sages passed by the messenger quickly, trying to get as fast and far away from him as possible in the narrowness of the corridor, whispering things to each other that could not be understood, but were clearly hateful remarks to the messenger.
Inside the meeting room, the king was still seated in the most luxurious chair farthest from the entrance.
"You may come in, messenger. Come and tell me what you have to say!" exclaimed the king, taking a sip of red wine from his golden goblet. "You have said it was a matter of urgency, declaim it as such."
The messenger cautiously walked in the direction of the king and noticed how very luxurious that hall was. The floor was covered with a very soft fur rug, presumably of beasts, and in the center of the hall was a huge table carved from an ancient tree. On its sides could be seen statues carved in marble of the previous rulers of the kingdom, the last of them being those of the current king, which was still in the process of being finished.
On the table, there was a scale wooden model of the kingdom and the troops that had been deployed in the territory, every house, smithy, tavern, and guard post, everything was there.
"Well, messenger, what is this message you have brought?" The king insisted, looking directly at the messenger.
The messenger took out of his bag a paper envelope, sealed with red tree sap, and with no particular design. "Your majesty, I have brought you this message of urgency, I beg you to read it." As he said it, he knelt to hand it to him.
"Hmm? What is... this material, some kind of paper?" The king looked puzzled by the letter envelope, never had he seen paper so perfectly folded, or so white as this, the letters he had seen were yellowish, the paper, more brittle, and the seals, with the emblem of the kingdom it came from, but this was nothing like it.
The king then removed the seal and opened the envelope, inside was the letter, and began to read it aloud. As he began to read, the messenger audibly gulped.
"This letter is addressed to that greater sovereign who rules this kingdom.
I will appear before you at the hour when the sun goes down and the stars come up, the hour when I will come to snatch your most prized possession, don't bother to even try to stop me, I will get to you sooner or later.
For the sake of your kingdom, I beg you not to alert the guards or put them on high alert, or whatever they have when the king must be protected at all costs. Neither you nor I would want any more people involved in this matter.
I may sound bad in the tone of voice I am expressing myself, but I am just trying to get to the point I want to make, I was never good at writing in this language.
I will arrive at the north entrance of the kingdom. I will be on time.
Sincerely yours: No one."
The king then slowly turned his head looking directly at the messenger saying to him in a very serious tone. "Who delivered it to you?"
"I-I have no idea... he looked like an ordinary peasant, but-" The messenger hesitated a little in his speech but was rudely interrupted by the king, who struck the table sharply and in an angry tone shouted at him.
"You dare to play a joke on your king!!! Guards!!!!" The two guards immediately appeared behind the messenger, grabbing him by the arms and lifting him off the ground, immobilizing him. "Take him to the dungeon!"
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"No, no, no, no, let me go, I beg you!!! But I am telling you the truth, my lord!!! Observe!!! Tell your guards to pick up my right sleeve!!!"
The king felt doubtful about that last thing and disguising his curiosity with pity, he said. "Guards, I approve it as a last wish, pick up his sleeve."
The messenger then, with the help of the guards, picked up his sleeve, revealing strange, elongated markings with emerald sheen. "See it, my lord!"
"Guards, release him immediately!"
The guards then released the messenger, dropping him to the ground.
"Ouch!"
The king lifted him, grabbed him by his clothes, sitting him on a chair in front of him. "That color... Could it be...?" he asked, covering his mouth, trying to believe it.
"The color that all your subjects saw the night before, so it is my lord," The messenger told him nodding his head.
The king then put both hands together and pointed to the messenger. "Tell me how you got these marks, in the minutest detail."
The guards were still in the meeting hall, approaching curious about the subject. The king glared at them furiously and pounded the table again. "You, what are you still doing here, get out!"
"Ah! Yes, my lord!" Both guards replied, retreating to their posts outside the hall.
"Now tell me, faithful subject, tell me about this peasant," said the king to the messenger, looking at him very closely, straight into his eyes.
"Ehm- uh... heh, heh" The messenger again faltered with his words "It is somewhat... embarrassing, my lord."
"I can still send you to the dungeon," the king replied threateningly.
"All right! Ya... I'll tell you, “The messenger said, putting his hands in front of him, moving a little away from the king. "It all happened at night... I was leaving the tavern at the eastern part of the kingdom, after finishing with a..." The messenger paused at this part, stalling to say the following words out of embarrassment " 'Night job' was when a man appeared out of nowhere and stood next to me, he asked me if I was a messenger, I answered yes and he gave me that envelope; I asked him what it was for and he answered me that they were not necessary details, that he only needed me to take it to the king as soon as possible, I tried to refuse, but my body did not respond, I simply took the letter so that later the strange man shook my hand and ended up marking me, and he said something like 'In your hands is the destiny of the kingdom' or something like that. I also remember that his eyes were glowing slightly in the dark and from his right palm a liquid of the same color as that glow was dripping."
"......" The king was silent for a few seconds, finishing the remaining wine in his glass in one gulp. "Guards, communicate to the general that we are facing a great unknown threat, I need all the troops we have available at the north entrance, close the other entrances, and activate the mana turrets around the wall to its max" The king stood up from his chair and walked towards the statue of his father. "I am sure, father, that you would do the same and much more."
The messenger slowly rose from his chair and began walking toward the exit "I-I think I can leave now, I-I don't think I'll be of any use."
"Guards!" The king exclaimed, pointing to the messenger "Take him to the barracks, give him armor, sword, and shield!"
"E- Ehhh!!! Why, my lord!" Startled, the messenger responded by trying to run for the exit, but in his attempt to escape, the guards pinned him down again.
"You know too much to let you go like this, I don't contemplate someone causing chaos before an attack on my kingdom." The king smiled at the messenger, "Not that you have family to worry about."
"I knew that your father created a heartless being, you should not have inherited the throne so young, in the end, you are still immature as always" The messenger exclaimed, angrily voicing his words.
"I was going to have a little mercy on you, old friend, but I see you are not worthy of such a privilege. Guards, tell the general that he is going to the first line of defense."
"No... Wait!" Those were his last words before the guards took him away and with him closed the gates.
It was then time for the sunset, hundreds if not thousands of troops had been strategically deployed in four lines of defense, starting with the first line, with low-ranking troops, followed by the knights in the second, the horsemen in the third, and the templars in the fourth and last line, waiting patiently for that man to show up with an army or worse. The messenger was trembling with fear, standing there with other warriors, ready to assassinate whoever the threat was.
"Attention troops!" Shouted the commander of the first line of defense "Our eyes in the sky say something is approaching at high speed, be alert!"
Aye, aye, aye, aye! They all shouted. But out of nowhere, an unfamiliar voice spoke up.
"Aye, aye sounds very old-fashioned, don't you think?" exclaimed the silver-haired man beside the commander, leaning back on his left shoulder. "You all should change it to something more inspiring, I don't know..."
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! The commander exclaimed, standing on guard, trying to stab the silver-haired man, but he vanished in the blink of an eye. "Where did you go you bastard!"
"I warned the king not to take his troops out for a walk, but I see he paid me no heed at all" The silver-haired man dressed in brown peasant garb exclaimed, a few feet away from the hundreds of troops.
"What the hell do you want, is there anyone else with you?" the commander asked, noticing how little importance the silver-haired man attached to the situation, he looked... relaxed and disinterested.
"I'd like to chat with him about some unfinished business, would you let me through, if you don't mind?" The silver-haired man held out his hand, trying to convince them. "Besides, it's just me."
"If you want to get to him, you'll have to go over me!" The commander exclaimed, pointing his sword at the silver-haired man.
"And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!"
"And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!" "And from me!"
The warriors repeated. The silver-haired man lowered his head and sighed and then said.
"I expected you to say that. I guess..." Pulling from the sheath at his waist that silver hilt, liquid metal seeping from it, slowly forming the blade of the sword. "That I have no choice left."
"Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
The war cry of all of them resounded on the battlefield, courage and pure strength in a sonorous state was present, a sound capable of pushing back entire armies, that latent danger that no one wants to face.
But even with all of them, lashing out at him. He did not retreat, he just positioned himself on guard ready to counterattack. One man against a thousand troops, who would have imagined what was about to happen…