Kaius was a member of the council—also the head of his family, House of Danish. It was different from Jack. How much different that I didn’t know yet. But one thing I was certain about was that Lord Leader trusted this man quite a bit. I became even more sure after learning that the place I was supposed to be held ‘captive’ was a gift from Lord Leader to Kaius when he took charge of his family.

I stood up from the bed I’d spent the last night and looked around the room, yawning audibly. It was a large room made for the accommodation of nobles or so I’d been told. Half of the wall was filled with portraits and paintings of various members of House Danish as well as images of nature. What made me glean was the fact that there was a bath attached to the room.

I turned to look at the bed—needlessly large for a single person but provided enough comfort that the thought left my mind as soon as it came.

Last night when I came here, I was given some proper clothes to dress in and after a warm bath and some food, I slept like a child. It also made me realize how much I was accustomed to sleeping in the middle of a forest in a tent. It may sound rather adventurous but in reality, it was nothing but a living hell compared to the comfort of a proper bed.

That said it would be a while before I got used to the sense of aesthetics of this world—which by definition had some similarities to medieval times but I couldn’t be sure as magic was involved in this place.

Breaking my thought came a knock on the door, a familiar female’s voice followed behind. “May I come in Sir Zareth?”

“Come in,” I replied, walking toward the mirror.

A young woman—slightly younger than me, dressed in a maid outfit walked inside. She gave me a curt bow as I fixed my bed hair.

My hair has become long, reaching neck-length.

“You seem to have a good night’s sleep,” Clovia said.

Clovia was a maid in this palace. Sirius knew her after visiting Kaius a few times and they came to know each other. It was why Sirius had asked her to look after me which at first I assumed was meant to keep an eye on me but then when Sirius mentioned nothing of my origin and lied that I was supposed to be a guest of kaius, I’d to change my opinion.

“Yes, I did have a nice sleep last night. Very nice compared to sleeping in a forest filled with various monsters,” I chuckled.

“That does sound like a difficult thing to do,” Clovia sympathized although I didn’t how much she understood. “Say, Sir Zareth would you mind if I asked you a question?”

“Sure go ahead,” I said.

Twirling the edges of her loose hair like a shy cat, she asked, “How is it being a mystic?”

How is it being a mystic? It was a question I never thought someone would ask me…

“Frankly, I’ve never really thought about it before. It has been only recently that I became a mystic. But if I were to give you an analogy then it would be similar to learning that there is a vast world—a known amount of things that are beyond your knowledge and periphery. It opens your mind to possibilities never thought before, ideas that never could manifest before, things that could never be achieved before.”

“You sound rather excited,” Clovia sighed. “I wish I could be a mystic like you and Lord Kaius,”

Excited? Really? Did I sound excited? Perhaps. What I said to Clovia wasn’t something that I made up but words that flowed naturally.

“Why is that?”I asked back.

“I mean what can’t you do when you have so much power?” She said, punching the air randomly. “Besides you can help the people who are important to you.”

Her tone turned a little disheartening but I didn’t ask about it. Instead, an idea came to me.

“Clovia, do you know how someone becomes a mystic?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“By training,” I said.

“Then you can-” I pushed my finger into her lips, surprising and shutting her off.

“So can you show me around the palace? I am rather interested,” I chuckled.

The mansion was divided into three parts: the main buildings, where I was staying and which also housed Kaius’s chamber; a servants' quarter on the eastern side, and an abandoned building at the back of the territory. Clovia mentioned that it was the main building in the past but now is too old to use.

The servant's quarter—which I wasn’t allowed to enter because my station was higher than a servant's because I was a guest, housed around a hundred maids and servants whose job was to maintain and take care of the entire place. It might initially sound like a lot but my guide shot that down by saying that the amount of maintenance everything needed required at least that many people if not more.

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The main building was divided into two separate but connected parts—the East Wing and West Wing. The Eastern Wing housed Kaius’s study and his bedchamber, while the Western Wing contained rooms for guests and, most intriguingly, the library—the one thing that piqued my interest the most.

I felt myself get slightly excited over the prospect of going through the library but was left to be disappointed when I saw the heavy metal lock hanging on the door.

“Zareth?” Clovia said, walking a little ahead of me. “Something wrong?”

“I was hoping I could see the library,” I said, dejectedly.

It turns out that only Kaius uses the library in this place. Most of the people of Xavier were illiterate with only a select few getting the opportunity of education, something very much different to what I was used to. But that was rather normal for the time everything here was in, except the wild card of mysticism which I assumed had a lot of influence in this world’s people mentality at least for those who knew, other things were in line with the reality or perhaps better said—the history that I knew of.

Clovia introduced me to the other maids and servants that she worked with but I realized all of them were on edge noticing my presence—something I was unconscious of until Clovia pointed out. I haven’t dressed fancy or anything of that sort, but it was still miles apart from what a normal servant’s uniform which was in between black and grey. A particular choice that I liked was made by the lord of the household, kaius.

Many things reflected that man’s taste, one of them being the garden. It was fine decorum, flowers, and small trees used to guide a visitor into its deeper maze where the colorful, vibrant, and eye-pleasing parts were.

It might not seem like a big thing but my senses—a part of my brain that I never noticed or used before, gave me a rough idea of Kaius’s personality. The more I learned about him, the more my imagination took shape in my mind, a three-dimensional figure.

The mansion had quite a lot of portraits and even Clovia didn’t know all of the names of those people. But one thing she was certain of was that all of them were members of the House of Danish. It didn’t take me long to realize that there was not a single portrait of Kaius, who was supposed to be the current head of the household.

“Lord Kaius himself denied that notion. He insisted that his portrait be only hung once he had passed away,” Clovia explained.

I returned to my chamber after that and had my dinner brought to me. It was way more than I’d ever be able to finish in one fine sitting but I tried my best. As I was wiping my face clean, Clovia entered into the room.

She told me that Kaius had finally returned and asked for my presence.

Great. I’d been wanting to meet him for a while now.

Clovia led me through the hallway into the eastern wing of the palace, her pace slow and steady. I had my thoughts slightly jumbled as I gazed at the night sky. There wasn’t anything in there that would drag a person’s mind there as it lacked both the beauty of the moon as well as the substance of the stars—both hidden behind the massive wall of clouds.

A cold chill wind was blowing, a sign of the approaching night. There was no snowfall like I’d expected. It brought up a question.

“I wonder if it’s going to snow heavily tonight,” I said with an air of somberness.

“Perhaps,” Clovia said from ahead. “But my then everyone will be in deep slumber.”

Midnight? Most probably, I theorized in my head.

Soon enough we reached our destination. Clovia closed the door to Kaius’s study after I entered inside, locking the warmth with us.

I took a quick look around the room. It was pretty similar to Lord Leader’s study that I’d been to last time, the only difference being two sofas lined up in the middle of the room with a table in between.

Our shuffling footstep wasn’t unnoticed as the owner of this palace, Kaius standing before a large glass window turned, greeting me. His loosely fitted robe—ash in color, swayed slightly as he moved forward and stood before me. He took a solid second to monitor me with a sharp gaze which soon dissolved and turned into a warm smile.

“Zareth it’s nice to finally meet you,” Kaius reached his hand out and I shook it.

“Likewise,” I paused, shrugging my shoulder. “But I must I’m rather surprised by how young you look.”

Kaius began laughing, “I will take that as a compliment. But you know that in the mystic world, it wouldn’t be so strange for an old coot to wear the face of a young man.”

“As long as that’s not you,” I joked, getting a hearty laugh from him.

Kaius turned away, walking toward the table. He picked up the kettle poured something into two identical-looking cups and sat down on a sofa. He waved me closer and motioned me to sit on the opposite. Following him, I sat down.

“Oh, Clovia dear can you provide us some privacy?” he asked gently, only to get a meek nod from her.

As the door closed, Kaius took a sip, his legs crossed.

“Go on. Have a taste,” He urged.

I did. It was sweat, a little more than I was okay with so I placed the cup down.

“So tell me Zareth although it has only been a day how has your stay been in this place so far? Is it to your liking? Or would you like something to be changed?” Kaius asked.

“It’s been pretty good. I’ve never assumed that being a captive would mean having so much comfort,” I answered honestly.

“That’s great to hear,” Kaius started. “Last night when Lord Leader called me and told me about you—including everything you mentioned, I found it rather difficult to digest everything. It took me the entire night to sort things out and,” He paused, dragging the silence a little longer than I was comfortable with. Then he smiled widely, “I couldn’t find anything that screams that you are lying. Especially your mention of a war on the outside world, something that Lord Leader himself vouched for.”

“Vouched for? Does that mean he knew about it?” I asked, confused.

How would they know?

“Of course, he didn’t know about the war,” Kaius answered, and I heaved a breath of relief. “The ancient text has a mention of the Kingdom of Filia.”

Knowing about the war meant something that I wasn’t prepared to face. It would mean that there was a significant time gap between when Basak had witnessed the war and when he entered Xavier. Which meant that Xavier had access to the outside world until that point. But once Kaius denied that possibility my nerves calmed down.

“I see. I have been told that Xavier has been isolated for hundreds of years but can you tell me specifically how long?” I asked.

“I apologize. It’s not something that I know of. But before we talk any further I am rather interested in your powers,” Kaius said.

“Go ahead. I will answer any—”

“How about a spar with me?” Kaius asked, thoughtfully stroking his chin.