On a certain continent surrounded by uncountable islands and huge city sized ships, in a grand castle decorated with gold, a silver metal and marble, sat a man over 2 metres tall. Even while sitting on his throne one could tell how tall he really was. The castle itself was silent accept for the sound of wind occasionally howling through the corridors and the slow, steady breathing of the man on the throne.

The throne room, shrouded in a cloak of darkness, was cold and had a heavy atmosphere. The enormous pillars holding up the ceiling, made of silver metal, are so thick it would take 20 grown men to surround each one. Each one reaching 200 metres, only to sprawl out like tree branches, interweaving and supporting the weight of the ceiling.

The huge door leading to the hall, made of unidentifiable metal, looking near impossible to move due to its weight, slowly cracked open. With an ear-piercing screech, the heavy door opened more and more letting the warm orange glow of torch fire fall into the room. The 50 strong looking soldiers with matching uniforms and insignias huff and sigh after pushing open the door with all their might. In the middle of all the soldiers stands a tall graceful woman with violet hair, covered from head to toe in ornate and decorated plate armour. She looks to be no more than 25 and has a sharp look in her eyes. Slowly surveying the interior of the hall, a look of astonishment flashes in her eyes before being concealed under a cold piercing gaze. All 30 of the enormous pillars supporting the ceiling are made of what she identified to be mithril, the strongest and rarest metal humans can forge.

“Identify” the woman says in a faint voice causing a few nearby soldiers to look at her.

[Identify Result:

Target Type: Metal

Name: Time-Space corrupted Mithril

Description: A variant of mithril, corrupted with excessive exposure to extremely strong Time and Space magic radiation for a period of over 1000 years.]

The results of identification magic were not at all what she expected. Mithril? Corrupted? Mithril is the strongest metal humans are able to forge without the help of dwarven technology like the high temperature blast furnace or dragon fire. As for corruption, for it to happen in only 1000 years was something she had never heard of. Corruption happens over tens of thousands of years and requires immensely strong mana waves produced by areas on the level of natural disasters like volcanoes.

Another flash of understanding fills the woman’s eyes as she realises that the entire castle uses this legendarily rare metal as mere decoration.

As the first soldiers cautiously enter the hall a small red light flashes above the throne unnoticed by anyone but the woman. As she is wondering what the little red light could be a chill runs up her spine and a feeling of being watched falls on her. Cold sweat and nervous shivers take over her senses. Taken aback by the strange way their leader is acting the soldiers quickly back out of the hall and encircle the leader asking her questions. “You ok lass?” “What happened to you?” “Are you not feeling well commander?” After hearing the questions of her subordinates and comrades she manages to calm down and a warm gaze sweeps past all the men making them all smile at her. These were all like a second family to her. She even managed to talk her father into buying her a floating ship big enough for all of them to use as a mobile base.

“I am ok now thanks to all of you. It’s just that… when you entered I felt as if we were being watched. The gaze was so powerful it made me freeze up”.

“If you’re scared you can always hold my hand!” shouts a short brown-haired youth with a cheeky grin.

“Shut up Dave. You know you have no chance with the commander!” shouts another man with a long lance in his hands.

“How about I carry you, this’s sure to make you feel safer”. Added a huge soldier in enchanted full heavy plate armour from behind his helmet.

“Yeah right. Dream on Lenny”. Jokes Dave while trying to hide the disappointment on his face.

“Shut up all of you. If it made her freeze and we didn’t feel a thing it means that whatever it is that is looking at us is so much stronger than us we didn’t even know it was there. Plus, she’s gotten so much stronger than all of us old bones she’s the only one who felt it”. Cautioned a greying older man with a runic longsword and enchanted gloves.

“Your right Rodger, if we didn’t even feel it whatever it is has to be powerful”. Answered another man in full plate armour while activating the dark vision enchantment on his helmet. Finding it strange that even the enchantment wouldn’t let him see into the room.

Out of the 50 soldiers 20 equipped heavy looking full plate armour and tall tower shields, another 20 weald long lances and the remaining 10 had longswords and kite shields. This was the largest practical size for a detached force, any larger and the support units would take too long to get to the sides. This unit was world famous for turning the tides of battles they came to help and for being the only unit to never lose a single soldier since its formation 10 years prior. Under the direct command of the second Princess of the Triton Empire known for her ridiculously large mana pool and support spells, this unit was considered invincible to normal armies and anyone who dared to get in their way was crushed by the might of this single unit with ease.

Yet at this moment they were standing before the doors to a long-forgotten castle, described in history as having appeared overnight with the Princess shaking in fright at a loss for what to do.

“I’m surprised you managed to detect the Guardian’s presence, I admire you for not losing conciseness”. a low, powerful, ancient voice filled the air shaking the very souls of all the soldiers and the Princess.

Everyone in front of the door felt the enchantments on their equipment quiver and heat up trying to resist the mana pressure waves in the air caused by the voice.

[What the hell was that?! The voice alone commands such authority over mana that the enchantments nearly dissipated! What would a spell from someone like that do?!] These were the thoughts of everyone in the group, including the Princess who was an accomplished mage, as they all looked at each other.

“Which lord do we have the pleasure of meeting, if I may ask?” asked the Princess with a shaking voice. No matter her position in the Empire, she was away from home and even at home there may not be anyone strong enough to protect her if she offended someone this powerful.

“I am the master of this castle and its sole resident, as I have been for a very long time. And who might you be so that I may welcome you to my humble abode?” said the voice with a discernible joy and excitement in it.

[Humble?!] the Princess almost had a heart attack hearing the words says by the voice.

“I am Catharine von Triton, second Princess of the Triton Empire, third child of Emperor George von Triton, fifth in line for the throne of the Empire. May I hear the name of one such as yourself, my lord?” the Princess answered with pride, which quickly disappeared as she remembered who she was speaking to.

“The last name I remember using was Aaron. I abandoned by surname a long time ago so I do not have one to give, so Aaron will do, you may call me Aaron!” the voice said with joy.

“May Lord Aaron come out so that we may speak face to face?” asked the Princess a little worried.

“Of course, my pleasure!” shouted the voice in glee.

The shout brought with it the sound of air rushing through a small space and a warm breeze which lifted the frigid temperature of the grand hall.

Two quick claps sounded, the hall trembled slightly and some dust fell from the pillars. The pillars began to tremble and parts near the top started to detach themselves, floating in mid-air around the entire hall. Another set of claps caused the floating pieces of mithril to light up in a silver hue, like a thousand moons. The hall was instantly lit up with a soft cold light, not effecting the eyes of anyone inside. Although the hall was filled with light the throne at the back of the room and the entire back wall remained behind a cloak of darkness.

If one looked closer at the walls of the hall they would notice all shapes and sizes of cables and wires coming out and running along the floor on the edges of the hall to the throne where they would disappear into the stairs where some fine golden wires hung loosely off the last step.

The darkness around the throne squirmed and a huge, hazy silhouette appeared out of it. The shape of a large body stepped forward slowly, step by step revealing more and more.

The first thing that the group noticed were the unusually large boots made of leather, metal and some strange scales.

The pants covering the thick legs above the boots were also a combination of leather and scales. Each of the strips of leather, scales and metal held together with thick rivets and layered as if it had been patched up so many times they had more rivets than material.

On the waist of the figure sat 2 belts. One buckle in the shape of a shining silver hourglass. The light gleaming off the buckle made it look like never ending sand falling in the hourglass. The second belt buckle in the shape of a golden dragon’s skull. Light reflecting off the empty eye socket created the illusion of being watched.

Above the belts was a stomach and chest littered with countless scars and burn marks. Scars shaped like slashes, scratches and holes crossed each other and some even overlapped others.

The right shoulder, or what was left of it under the huge burn mark, is covered with pieces of metal. Some of the metal pieces were coming out from under the skin while the rest are held on by bolts visible on the surface. A combination of thick and thin wires and flexible pipes connected the terrifying, scared shoulder to his right arm. An arm that looks to be made entirely out of metal.

The metal arm constantly playing with the golden hair falling over it looked like it had a mind of its own. His other hand, holding something looking like a wrench, tightened large bolts on his shoulder.

His left shoulder, thou not as badly damaged as the right, didn’t look too human either. It had 2 small, bony, horn like spikes growing out of it while the entire left arm looks to be covered with fine red scales.

The scales glittered slightly in the light making the arm look wet and give it a slight red glow.

As Aaron made his way down the stairs and into the light the Princess grew more and more scared. What kind of demon had they encountered this time? All the Princess could think about was the face of the being in front of her. Would it have sharp, pointy teeth? Fangs? Red eyes and devil horns? She couldn’t see a tail but imagined it to be hidden under the thick pants.

Aaron finally made it to the last step. His face slowly lowering out of the shadows and into the light flooding the hall.

The image in the Princess’s shattered as if a mirror shot with a cannon. The face of the man could be described as pretty, the opposite of the hideous visage she conjured.

His face, soft, almost female in appearance. This would give him a very gender neutral look, if not for the huge body riddled with scars and burn marks.

His left eye was encircled with a terrifying scar and was a vibrant golden red with a vertical reptilian pupil giving a vicious bloodthirsty glint.

His right eye was as black as the darkest night, seemingly absorbing all light.

A normal person could get lost looking deep into the abyss that is his right eye and be reminded of all the most terrifying experiences they lived through.

The thick layer of fine golden wires hanging loosely off the last step of the stairs turned out to be Aaron’s hair. The hair was so long it reached the last of the 15 steps leading to the throne while he was sitting on it. The hair looked flawless in every way and shined like real gold.

As the Princess and the soldiers saw what Aaron looked like, they were confused weather they should scream, admire him, beg for their lives or attack on sight. This made Aaron laugh abruptly, snapping the soldiers and the Princess out of their thoughts. The laugh brought with it a warm breeze calming them all. Aaron used his left arm to invite them to come into the hall.

The warm breeze exited the exhaust vent on the back of Aaron’s shoulder, he was letting some accumulated heat out of the arm after tinkering with it. The soldiers surrounded the Princess and cautiously walked into the huge hall, Aaron stretched, his left arm cracked and popped while his right squeaked and groaned. He finished with checking his right arm by opening and closing all the vents and flaps on the arm. This resulted in an orchestra of claps and whirls.

Aaron, seeing the uneasy look on the faces of his new guests, decided to entertain them. The right arm straightened and split into two. Both arms were exactly half as thick as the original and split at the shoulder. These separated arms seemed to decide it was an excellent idea to have a thumb war and after a few seconds of finding no winner decided to play rock-paper-scissors. This once more stunned the soldiers and Princess bringing even more laughter to Aaron. He hadn’t taken his eyes off them the whole time watching for their reactions and responses. The laughter once again got the attention of everyone and Aaron began to talk once more after inviting them once again to walk the rest of the way to the stairs of the throne.

“Since you’re here with a sizable force I can only imagine the way here was quite tiring and you would like some time to rest before we talk about why you’re here, yes?” Aaron asked in a calm tone as if asking a friend.

The Princess and soldiers got here on the floating ship which they set down in the main courtyard of the castle. This proved to be quite easy as the castle and subsequently the courtyard was huge. The journey was leisurely and easy for them, but the Princess decided that if Aaron was offering them a warm place for the night the soldiers would like it more than the cold cabins on the ship.

“Yes, that would be much appreciated by both me and the soldiers”. The Princess answered with a shaking voice, still looking at both arms and eyes with fear.

“Great, I’ll let the Guardian lead you all to the guest wing!” happily shouted Aaron.

Aarons shout made the Princess flinch. This in turn made the soldiers more hostile and prepared to fight to the last for the Princess.

“You mentioned this Guardian before, but I don’t see anyone but us and you”. Rodger, the Princess’s personal butler asked cautiously.

“Look above the throne”. Said Aaron amused as he clapped his left hand with one of the right hands while the other snapped its fingers once.

The soldiers and the Princess did as they were told and lifted their gaze slowly, bit by bit leaving Aaron below their line of sight. Aaron looked at them awaiting the amusing reaction he knew he would get.

Just above the throne on the back wall of the hall was a huge mechanical spider with a leg span covering nearly half of the wall. The spider had all the wires that come into the hall through the walls attached to its back. The 8 glowing red eyes sent chills down everyone’s backs and the wires and cables connected to its back made it look even more terrifying. In its mouth, it held a few loosely hanging strands of Aaron’s hair and little blue lights travelled up and down from the spider to Aaron and back.

“W…what… What the hell is that?!!!” shouted the Princess taking a few steps back and subconsciously summoning a mana barrier around herself and the soldiers.

The soldiers quickly got into formation in front of the Princess while still being inside the barrier, pointing their shields and spears forward. The 20 soldiers in heavy armour and shields in the front and the lancers behind them keeping the support team and Princess safely behind them.

“Well that’s just rude”. A second unknows voice rang out in the hall. This voice was very feminine with a robotic undertone.

“Show yourself!” shouted the support unit looking around nervously.

“Master, permission to detach and suspend all work around the castle to greet our uninvited, and rather rude, guests?” the female voice sounded again this time from a different direction causing the soldiers to be even more confused and scared.

“Granted”. Aaron said with an amused smile on his face.

The giant spider on the wall began to tremble and numerous hissing sounds began to come from its back. Steam shot out from each of the connections on its back ejecting all the cables and wires letting them fall noisily on the ground around the throne. The spider started moving down the wall, when the front legs reached the ground they made a sharp noise indicating that both the legs and the floor were made of metal. The spider slowly lowered itself onto the floor carefully avoiding the throne and came face to face with the soldiers in front of the Princess.

When all the legs were on the floor the spider lifted a front leg into the air showcasing the sharp point on the end and the millions of tiny barb-like hairs along the length. The soldiers with the shields prepared for the impact having already fought giant insect type enemies before.

However, what hit them was not the raised leg but a mental shock. The shock of seeing the leg in the air waving at them and hearing the voice of the female again, this time coming from right in front of them.

“Hello, I’m Guardian. I am very happy that master will finally have someone else to talk to besides me, he gets lonely and talks to himself sometimes”.

Everyone was stunned into silence by the voice and the words said. Aaron hidden behind the giant spider covered his face with his left hand and shouted at the spider.

“They don’t need to know that you piece of scrap! Get to work!”

With that roar, even the mana barrier set up by the Princess crumbled under the pressure and left the soldiers and Princess wide eyed.

“S…so… where did you say the guest wing was?” the Princess asked nervously unsure of what Aaron would do to them because of what the spider just said.

“Stupid pile of scrap.” Aaron muttered.

“Go show them to the guest wing and give them enough blankets for everyone to be comfortable and warm, there should be a few hundred in one of the storage rooms”. Aaron said in an annoyed tone as the spider turned to the Princess and the soldiers who managed to calm down.

“This way.” the spider now in a much happier mood told the Princess and soldiers to follow her and left the throne room leaving Aaron alone to his thoughts.

[Why would she be here, why would anyone be here for that matter. I thought I made this place safe a long time ago.] Thought Aaron to himself as he was left alone on his throne.

******************************************************************************

In another part of the castle in a huge corridor the Princess and her soldiers followed the spider to the guest wing.

“So, this is why all the corridors are this big?” asked a curious soldier as the followed the spider

“Yes, master had us build it, so we could all get around the castle without problems”. Answered the happy spider.

“Us? We? What are you talking about?” asked the Princess when she realised there was something wrong with the reply.

“There are a few more like me, slightly smaller but still too big for normal human sized doors and hallways”. Answered the spider to the astonishment of everyone.

[Others? More? Where? We didn’t see anything!] The soldiers sent in first as scout were the 10 with swords and shields and they were filled with dread at the thought of an enemy they couldn’t detect even with the soul and heat detecting enchantments put on their shields.

“But how is that possible? My support team has shields enchanted with soul detection and heat detection which should find anything around the shields and show it by lighting up runes on the back”. Said the Princess eyeing the support team.

The support team trembled a little at the sight but resolutely kept walking. Hearing the Princess’s question, the spider stopped and turned to face everyone behind her before slowly lifting herself onto her back legs and using the 2 sets of front legs to slowly separate the carapace on her underbelly. What was inside made the Princess and soldiers confused. No organs, flesh, or blood. Just cold hard metal and wires running here and there all over the inside.

“As you can see we are not something living and so we do not possess what you call a soul. As for the heat, we have a very advanced carapace which is layered with heat proof materials and our insides are layered with heat transferring materials taking heat from where it is created and not needed to parts that need heat to work properly”. The spider answered while pointing and poking at her own insides and carapace.

At this point the soldiers and Princess were ready to run back to the throne room and ask all the questions they just thought of.

[Aaron seems to be the one that built these things, so he should know everything about them, right?] Everyone thought like this. The more time they spent with Aaron and this spider the more they learned how amazing and mysterious he seems to be.

“Well that’s that. Your rooms are just up ahead, and I requested the blankets to be delivered to us as we get there. But since we stopped I think they will already be there waiting for all of you”. The spider said happily as she lowered herself and closed her armour.

As they got to a corridor with doors on either side they saw a mountain. In the middle of the corridor was a mountain of blankets and pillows waiting for them just like the spider said.

“Everyone please grab what you want and chose a room. There are enough rooms for one each so no worries and there should be enough blankets for everyone to take a few”. The spider peeked around the mountain and told everyone goodnight before climbing the wall to the ceiling and rushing off back towards the throne room.

“Get what you need and let’s have a good sleep, you all deserved it”. The Princess smiled and said while walking towards the mountain of blankets but froze as soon as she touched one.

“You ok Princess? Everything ok?” asked Rodger a little worried.

“These are so…” muttered the Princess.

“There so what?” asked Ryan, another of the support team.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“THERE SO SOFT, I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!” screamed the Princess as she grabbed a hand full of blankets and a few pillows before running into the closest room and slamming the door closed.

“What just happened?” Rodger asked confused.

“No clue”. Everyone replied at the same time.

“They can’t be that good, right? I mean they’ve been here who knows how long, right?” Ryan spoke as he neared the mountain and again he too froze as he touched the first blanket.

“SHIT!” he shouted and did the same thing as the Princess.

“OH, come on they can’t be that good!” shouted one of the soldiers in full plate as he took of a gauntlet while walking towards the mountain.

He didn’t even make a sound, he made the impossible happened. The full plate armour disappeared from their view leaving only the echo of a door slamming shut. Everyone stared for a second before running to the mountain and grabbing as many blankets as they could and leaving to the first open door they could find.

Even thou the furniture in the rooms was not as extravagant as in the royal palace this was still the most comfortable night anyone of the soldiers and even the Princess had ever experienced.

******************************************************************************

The spider returned to the throne room and slowly neared the throne. Aaron looked at her and started to speak as he had just finished his private ‘talking to himself’ session.

“So how did they like the blankets? Aah I’m sure they were happy with the softness, after all even I can’t resist them and ended up stockpiling hundreds and even made myself a bed entirely out of them. Thou I guess it’s not that surprising when you think about it, they are made of the silk of corrupted demon spiders famed for the softness of their silk. So, different question then. Why do you think there hear?”

The spider was slightly at a loss for what to say to the stream of words.

“Right as always master, they were very happy with the blankets and I’m sure they’ll express that tomorrow at breakfast. As for why they are here, there is a 60% chance they came to ask for help after reading something left by their predecessors and a 29% chance that they found the castle on the way to another destination. The remaining 11% is that they found the castle by accident”. The spider loyally reported.

“Hmm I see, as I thought, even your calculations are showing the same results. We’ll have to ask tomorrow at breakfast then! Prepare everything in the castle for immediate departure, we may be leaving tomorrow”. Aaron said in an excited tone.

“Yes master”.

“I’m going to bed. The preparations for breakfast will be left to all of you”. Aaron said as he left the throne room and closed the huge doors with no effort.

“Yes master!” Several similar female voices sounded from above in the now dimming hall as the lights went out and the mithril plates found their way back to their spots on the pillars.

That night for the first time in 6 thousand years the kitchen was full of small mechanical spiders crawling around creating a symphony of clicks and clangs, preparing all kinds of food for the whole night. They prepared meat, vegetables, fruit, and drinks enough for 100 people to make sure there was enough and by the time they finished the first breakfast in such a long time it was already morning.

The next morning Aaron was in the throne room waiting for his guests while Guardian was waiting in the corridor for the soldiers and the Princess to wake up. When everyone was awake and ready to go the Princess cast a spell on herself and the soldiers. This spell was a very simple one and had no attack or defence properties, instead it could separate whatever the caster didn’t want from what they were casting it on. Simply put, a cleaning spell.

“Mass Clean!” shouted the Princess and the faces of the soldiers lit up in happiness like they had just taken a bath.

“Well, I was sent here to bring you to the baths but since you can do that I guess there’s no need for that”. The slightly disappointed tone in the spider’s voice must have been their imagination.

“Anyway, breakfast is ready, and master would like you to join him in the throne room”. The spider quickly got over the fact she didn’t get to show off the bathhouse she built herself and lead the guests to breakfast.

In the throne room, Aaron was sitting on his throne waiting for everyone to arrive. When everyone was there he could see confusion in their eyes.

[Where is the food?] was probably what they were thinking.

Aaron simply smiled and whistled loudly. A section of the floor in the middle of the hall started rising forming a table while knee high spiders flooded the room bringing in comfortable chairs for everyone to sit on and the food they spent all night making to please the master and his guests.

The faces of the guests paled upon seeing the flood of spiders but soon calmed down as the smell of the food started rising from the table. Although some were still cautious most understood that if he wanted, not of them would be leaving the castle alive.

When everything was set up and ready Aaron clapped once to get everyone’s attention.

“Breakfast is ready. Why don’t we all sit and enjoy while you tell me why you’re here”. He said as he looked at the Princess.

“If my lord would listen to my request then I would be happy to ask”. The Princess slightly lowered her head and headed to a chair next to where she expected Aaron to sit at the head of the table.

“Very well”. Said Aaron as he headed to his seat at the head of the table just like the Princess expected he would.

All the soldiers started to sit and chat while casting glances at the food, Aaron and the small spider bots running around the room.

As Aaron took the first bit of his food all the soldiers and the Princess started eating. Aaron looked at them strangely and asked the Princess.

“Why did you all wait for me? Why don’t you just eat?”

“It is a custom in out Triton Empire for the one at the head of the table to be the most important and the first to start eating as a sign of respect”. Answered the Princess.

“Aah so that’s why, I kind of like it. Gives you time to address the guests before a meal”. Intoned Aaron.

As they ate, voices of admiration for the food came from everyone including the Princess who attended numerous parties and dances reserved for royalty. “This is great!” “Never had anything this good!” “This tastes amazing try some!” Complements for the food rang out across the table.

“What is this stuff it tastes amazing, I’ve never had anything like it even at the parties of royalties!” exclaimed the Princess stunning the soldiers.

[Even the Princess hasn’t had stuff this good? How did this happen?] all the soldiers felt reserved about eating something so good now that they knew what the Princess thought.

“This is just some food I had the spider bots make for today’s breakfast, it’s no big deal, go ahead and eat as much as you want!” laughed Aaron after seeing the faces of the soldiers.

“So why don’t we talk now?” said Aaron after the Princess finished eating.

“Lets”. Answered the Princess in a slightly lower voice.

“The reason we are here is because we were sent by my father, Emperor George, to investigate the castle of legends and bring back any clues as to how the owner of it repelled the demons and beasts they brought with them as it was written in the history books of our Empire”. Answered the Princess in a solemn tone.

“I see, so they really are back”. Muttered Aaron under his breath.

“You knew they would come back?” asked the Princess a little surprised.

“When the last of the demon lord’s forces were being destroyed and his hell gate crumbled and before I beat him he told me he won’t be the last to try and take this world from us and that there would be more of his kind trying to find another way over here from the demon realm. So, I guess you could say that I did know something like this would happen. I just didn’t expect it to take them this long. There usually tenacious bastards and find ways to places quicker than you can get rid of them”. Aaron answered with a slight laugh.

“So, you came for clues to their defeat and found the direct cause instead, what now?” asked Aaron slightly amused.

“In that case I, Princess Catherine von Triton, in the name of the Triton Empire’s 253rd Emperor, George von Triton, would like to formally invite you as a guest to our home and ask you to provide information and strategies to help us beat the invaders back once again”. The Princess resolutely said.

“Not going to ask me to help you fight?” Aaron asked.

“That would go against the teachings of our ancestors. If we have the power to do it but not the way we ask for way to be shown, if we have the way but not the power we ask for a way to increase our own power. We would be honoured if you helped us fight but we will never ask you to do so unless it is the last resort”. The Princess said with resolute eyes looking at Aaron.

“Very well, I like you, I’ll go with you and see if the situation is something you can handle with a bit of tactical support and if it is I’ll do everything I can to help without getting involved, and if it isn’t I’ll lend a hand”. Aaron said smiling.

“Thank you!” the Princess said with a huge smile on her face.

As the food stopped disappearing Aaron looked at the soldiers around the table. He saw the content smiles on the faces of each one. He smiled and spoke.

“I guess all you guys are full, yes? Then I’ll finish up the rest”.

Everyone looked at him strangely but didn’t say anything as a few spider bots climbed the table to take away the used plates and move the rest of the food that was left on the table closer to Aaron. The soldiers and the Princess watched wide eyed as Aaron finished the rest of the food which was just less than half of the amount they started with. He ate and ate and in about 20 minutes finished 45 peoples’ worth of food by himself.

“Where does all that food go?” the Princess asked taken aback at the sight of Aaron getting up and stretching his arms and back.

“Let’s just say I have a larger than average stomach. Plus, the arm runs on energy provided by my body” He answered as he waved his right arm in the air.

“So, that… thing needs power?” asked Rodger from across the table from the Princess.

“Of course, just like anything else. From your enchantments to Catharine’s magic”. Aaron answered casually.

A flash of understanding passed the eyes of the Princess and Rodger.

“So, is it powered by mana?” asked the Princess?

“It can be”. Aaron answered mysteriously.

“Can be? It can use other sources of energy?” Rodger asked.

“Yes, like this”. Aaron touched the fingers and thumb of his right hand together and separated them slowly forming small constant electric arch between them all.

“Lightning magic? But that uses mana to create, wouldn’t it be easier to use mana instead?” asked the Princess confused.

“This is not lightning magic. It’s electricity”. Corrected Aaron.

“Electricity? I’ve never heard of something like that”. The Princess furrowed her brows thinking.

“I’m not too surprised about that. Right now, I’m probably the only person who knows how to create and store it to be used later. And now you are the only others who know of its existence”. Aaron said as he smiled and stopped the electricity flowing between his fingers.

“So, when are we leaving? It will take us about 40 days to get back if we travel at the same speed that we used to get here”. Asked the Princess.

“We can leave at any time and don’t worry about the travel speed. Well use the castle”. Aaron said with a mischievous smile.

The group felt their souls shake at the mana pressure waves coming from the heart of the castle and thought that this must be where the mana to power the whole castle is coming from.

They are right, in the heart of the castle is a mountain sized chamber. It contains the complete bodies of 15 different coloured dragons and strange devices are drawing mana from the ever-present either through their bodies and mana cores. The mana syphoned from the dragons is then being channelled it into the rest of the castle.

The Princess and soldiers all looked confused. Then the entire castle started shaking and trembling. With the intense shaking came 8 very loud sounds of something big hitting the ground from all directions around the castle.

“What was that?!” the Princess and the soldiers started panicking but looking at Aaron standing there calmly they knew it couldn’t be anything too bad.

“That was the sound of me stretching by legs”. Aaron said with a smile as he closed his eyes.

The spider bots quickly came in and took all the empty plates and the chairs everyone was sitting on as Aaron walked back to sit on his throne. His hair following behind him curled and twisted as if each one had a mind of its own and found a tiny hole in the stairs to fit into.

The floor of the hall began lifting towards the ceiling using the pillars as guidelines and the ceiling opened to make way for the rising floor. As the floor became the roof everyone could see the huge holes in the ground around the castle. Out of those holes came rising huge metallic spider legs. The legs left craters in the ground where they stood and as Aaron opened his eyes the entire castle trembled as the 8 huge legs freed the castle from the ground and lifted it into the air. The group was amazed that the whole castle could be moved like this and finally understood why the castle was said to have appeared overnight. It walked here and buried its legs in the ground. The group looked back at Aaron, but he just smiled.

The legs started moving one by one and the castle started moving forward. The Princess and soldiers thought the demons would manage to invade and destroy the Empire before they got there but decided not to say anything looking at the excitement on Aaron’s face. Aaron looked at the Princess and asked.

“Which way?”

“There”. Slowly said the princess while pointing in the direction they came from.

“OK!” shouted Aaron as the legs began moving faster.

The castle started speeding up and in seconds surpassed the speed of a galloping horse. The speed of the legs looked to be very slow but because of the size even the slow movements caused the castle to move very fast.

“If you’re worried about the speed don’t, this thing has once taken me around the continent in a week”. Said Aaron with a grin.

Upon hearing this the group nearly fainted.

[A week?! How fast can this thing be?! It takes a ship 2 months to get from Velde Port city in the centre of the east coast to Felita Port city in the centre of the West coast! There’s no way it can be that fast!] nobody could resist screaming in their mind.

A week to complete a 4-month ship voyage is too absurd for them to believe. No one could help but laugh. Even the Princess chuckled with a hand over her mouth.

“Lord Aaron, your jokes are top class even among nobles and royalty”.

Aaron smiled and replied without blinking his eyes.

“That wasn’t a joke”.

“What…”

The Princess’s words were cut off as the legs started moving even faster and after a few seconds the castle was already moving faster than the fastest ship the Empyrean navy could offer. This caused everyone to choke on the words they were about to say and stand quietly wondering why they didn’t feel the wind. The speed of the castle was now so fast they couldn’t even find anything to compare it to because they have never seen something moving this fast and even the huge legs were moving so fast one would think they could break at any moment.

“We should arrive in around 18 hours!”

Aarons abrupt shout brought everyone back to reality and let them realise just how fast the castle was. A 40-day journey on the floating ship, which could ignore all terrain, done in 18 hours was something no one here has ever imagined possible.

“How do you know how long it will take us my lord? You just asked me for directions”. The Princess asked curiously.

“After you showed me the direction I remembered what this Triton Empire of yours is. The name Triton sounded quite familiar, but I couldn’t quite remember. When you showed me the direction I realised where you were leading me. Isn’t this Triton Empire just little old Triton kingdom that grew up and took over the continent? It must be. I guess old Balthazar really took my advice to heart and went and took over the entire place”. Aaron answered with a little nostalgia in his voice.

“Triton kingdom? Balthazar? That was the first Emperor of Triton Empire, the founder and conqueror of the entire continent!” the Princess shouted.

“So, he managed it in his lifetime? That’s great to hear, he was a good drinking buddy of mine. I was only a few hundred years old back then and still hadn’t found a place to settle down, just wondering from one continent to the next looking for some excitement and adventure”. Aaron reminisced about his past as a sudden shout interrupted him.

“A few hundred? You must be a least 200 thousand years old now, how is that possible?!” the Princess screamed.

“I think you’ll find I’m a little older than that”. Aaron said amused.

“The Empire has had 252 Emperors and the bloodline of the Emperor allows everyone in the family to reach the age of 800 year before the protection of the bloodline disappears leaving about half a year before death. So, if you knew the first Emperor who was said to have lived for over 1000 then you must be over 2 hundred thousand years old”. Said the Princess with a blank face looking at Aaron.

“That may be true. But I’ve spent prolonged periods of time in different worlds and came back here mere seconds after leaving. What this means is that my body is a lot older by this worlds time”.

“Wow now I feel really old”. Said Aaron with a sheepish grin.

“Old is an understatement. Ancient would probably be closer”. Added Rodger.

“Ouch”. Laughed Aaron.

“But I heard crossing worlds and dimensions takes enormous amounts of mana and a high level in Space and Time magic”. asked the Princess looking interestedly at Aaron.

“It does indeed. In fact, crossing dimensions is exactly the reason I built this castle. The entire thing is made from a mixture of mithril, orichalcum and a combination of darkstone and gold for that shiny look”.

“Darkstone?” asked Rodger having never heard of the metal Aaron gust mentioned.

“It’s a strange metal I found on my first trip to a different world. The planet I ended up on had this stuff under the planets crust instead of magma so the volcanoes over there spat tons of the stuff onto the surface. The interesting thing I found out about this metal is that it has the innate ability to absorb huge quantities of mana very quickly”. Explained Aaron.

“Absorb mana? How is that possible?” Asked the Princess.

“I couldn’t tell you. I tried everything I could on it, but nothing works. Even identification spells don’t work on it because it absorbs the mana from them”. Aaron was very interested in the properties of the metal too but no matter what he tried the metal would not reveal its secrets.

“The only thing I know about it is that the inhabitants of the planet called it darkstone because it would absorb the mana from everything around it, including any nearby sun stones making the area around them darker. Want to try it out? We could do with a little entertainment along the way”. Aaron excitedly explained everything he knew and even offered a demonstration.

“That would be interesting to see”. The Princess was now equally interested in the foreign metal.

Aaron turned around and shouted to Guardian.

“Get up here and bring out the Aegis”.

“Wait a minute. Aegis? Like the legend rank earth defence spell?” the Princess asked after heading the name of a very high rank and difficult to learn spell.

“Yeah, I couldn’t think of a better name for it. You’ll see why soon”. Aaron answered while watching Guardian arrive in front of him.

Guardian turned on the spot to face the throne and lowered herself closer to the floor. A slight hissing sound escaped as the back of Guardian’s carapace split open. Under the armoured exoskeleton was a detached arm looking like Aaron’s current one. This arm however, unlike the arm he had now this one was several times larger.

The arm had a huge hand and forearm making it look like the hand of a giant demon. The back of the hand and forearm were covered by innumerable spikes and thorns of varying sizes.

“Why so many spikes?” the Princess had previously seen a pair of brawling gauntlets and knew that some on the knuckles and on the back of the hand could help increase the damage done to the opponent and help with blocking and diverting strikes from the opponent. But the number and density of spikes on the large arm was too high to serve any practical purpose.

“Those are there to create as much surface area as possible. The more of the metal is in contact with the air around you the faster it absorbs mana. And I just thought it might scare some people into not firing at me in the first place”. Said Aaron as tiny robotic arms rose out of Guardian’s back and detached his arm from his shoulder before attaching the Aegis.

After Aegis was properly attached Aaron rolled his right shoulder and checked the movements of the arm. Him moving the shoulder joint, elbow joint and wrist joint at the same time created a strange image for the soldiers and Princess to see. After checking the arm, he moved to the hand, opening, and closing the huge hand repeatedly made slight grinding noises as the fingers rubbed against each other. Having finished his checks and finding the results satisfactory he nodded to himself and looked at his guests, who had been watching him the entire time.

“Now that I’m done, why don’t we have some fun?” he said with a smile.

“And this fun would be what exactly?” Rodger asked, slightly worried for the Princess’s wellbeing.

“Just a few demonstrations”. Aaron waved his question away with a quick answer.

“Now then Princess, how good is your aiming with your basic level spells?”

“Better than most people in the Capital!” proudly exclaimed the Princess.

“Good, then shoot me”. Aaron said with a smile.

“Shoot you? But what if…”

“No but. Just shoot. You’ll see what I mean”. Aaron’s smile grew with every second already knowing the outcome.

“As you wish then. But don’t blame me if you get hurt!” the Princess shouted while creating a half-metre wide fireball and launched it at Aaron.

Aaron stood with a huge smile and extended his right arm. The fingers of the huge hand uncurled and the hand opened fully. The fireball started shrinking as it flew towards the palm and fizzed out of existence before even getting within a metre of Aaron.

“How??” the Princess asked disbelievingly.

“Darkstone. This arm is made mostly of darkstone meaning any attacks containing mana will be sucked dry just by getting near it”. The smile on Aaron’s face was ever-present and only served to annoy the proud Princess. Her learning speed and rate of improvement were said to be legendary within the Capital. Losing to a piece of rock was out of the question.

“Another one!” the Princess was too proud to let it go.

A slightly larger and hotter ball of fire conjured by the Princess flew towards Aaron while he simply stood with his arm still out waiting for it.

The same scene played for over 20 times and the Princess was still no closer to hitting Aaron than when she started. In fact, the soldiers watching could see that the fireballs were disappearing earlier and earlier on their way towards Aaron. A clear indication to the fact that the princess was using less and less control on her fireballs to increase the rate at which she can create and fire them. After another 80 fireballs, the Princess was breathing heavily and the hand she used to launch the fireballs was shaking from exhaustion.

“That… Is one amazing rock”.

The Princess huffed tiredly while praising the metal.

“OK, I would say that is enough for today”.

Aaron noticed the signs of mana exhaustion on the Princess and decided to stop her before she falls unconscious from lack of mana.

“I…”

“That sounds like an excellent idea”. Rodger interrupted when the Princess was about to refuse, giving her a meaningful look.

“Yes, it does”. The Princess sighed and gave up.

Aaron thought of something to help her relax and recover. He had just the thing.

“So, you guys listen to music often?” Aaron asked with a smile.

“No, musical instruments are very rare and very few people know how to make them so music itself is even rarer. Singing is very popular among adventurers and travellers but again that usually happens without music. Why are you asking so suddenly?” the Princess asked confused once again.

“Well I’ll be. Music is rare now? How is that possible? Including all the ones I made for Balthazar, there should be thousands of instruments in his personal collection. What happened to all of them?” asked Aaron in turn.

“Never heard of something like a personal instrument collection of the first Emperor. My guess would be that the first Emperor either forgot to tell anyone about it or it was lost in some kind of battle along the years”. Rodger answered with a pondering expression.

“You’re probably right. He never was the kind to hide his entertainment from others. Especially family and close friends. That’s how I found out anyway. He personally played on every instrument he owned just for me. Can you imagine my surprise? In 200 years, he learned how to play the guitar, violin, trumpet, sax, and flute. But what surprised me the most was how quickly he picked up the instruments I brought with me which he had never seen before. In just 2 years we were playing together as well as any traveling band”. Aaron laughs and sighs remembering the time he spent with the old king.

“Do… you perhaps… still remember how to play? I would love to hear someone playing music as old as the first Emperor”. The Princess asked with interest.

“Sure, I can. Let me just grab a few things”. Aaron said with a smile.

Seconds later a spider bot climbed the walls of the throne room to where the group were and started looking at the stairs to the throne. Aaron tapped his foot on the floor causing one of the steps to let out a burst of steam and slowly open. Out of the hidden compartment came a guitar. The spider bot carefully picked it up and scurried up the stairs to Aaron handing him the guitar. Aaron looked at the guitar with nostalgic eyes and spoke softly surprising everyone.

“How you doing old friend? It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Let’s show our guests what you can do”.

Aaron slowly pressed his left-hand fingers to the strings and strummed the strings with his metal hand. The strings vibrated and produced a sound so beautiful and clear it seemed to come from every direction at once.

“You like that? Huh? Doesn’t sound too bad, right?” Aaron had a confident smirk while talking.

The Princess and soldiers couldn’t come up with the words to describe what they just heard.

[Musical instruments can sound this good? Is this what a musical instrument sounds like in the hands of a person who knows what to do with it?]

“That… was amazing. I’ve never heard an instrument create sounds like that”. The Princess finally broke out of her daze and answered with interest.

“Do you have any other instruments here that you can play?” Rodger asked excitedly, after all he had never heard music before.

“Sure, bring me the violin”. Aaron answered as he tapped his foot on the floor again and another step opened revealing violin.

The spider bot that gave Aaron the guitar took it back to its place and closed the step before shuffling in the direction of the violin which was now being inspected by the Princess and all the soldiers. The spider bot picked the violin out of its spot in the hidden space and lifted it to Aaron, who proceeded to play a calm soothing piece that almost put the Princess and soldiers to sleep.

“That was beautiful”. Sid the Princess with sleepy eyes.

Voices of agreement sounded from all the soldiers, some already slumped on the steps ready to fall asleep. Hearing this Aaron nodded to himself in content and gave the violin back to the spider bot to put away.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it”. Aaron said with a happy smile.

“Come on guys, no sleeping, were nearly there”. Shouted the drowsy Princess at the soldiers.

“You can all take a nap. I can slow down or stop to let you guys rest for a while”. Aaron mentioned while looking at the half-opened eyes of the Princess.

“That would be nice but were already near the Capital of the Empire. how could we just stop in the middle of the road and sleep?” asked the Princess worried about the people living around the capital.

“Like this”. Said Aaron as the 8 huge legs supporting the castle slowed down and glowing turquoise rings appeared on them.

“What…” the Princess began to ask before being cut off by Aaron.

“A cloaking device”.

“Cloak? But it’s not cold or snowing or raining either. What does that have to do with any of this?” asked Rodger not quite sure what this device was supposed to do.

“It makes the castle invisible from the outside”. Aaron casually said.

“Right”. The Princess said with a blank face.

“Another long-forgotten magic used just like that, as if it didn’t mean anything”. Continued the Princess.

“Long-forgotten? It’s very simple to do with an easy mix of Light and Water magic. It’s nothing special”. Aaron answered confused.

“Really?” the Princess was surprised at the answer. Invisibility was supposed to be a top tier Space magic, hiding the caster or target in a fold in space. It is supposed to be very difficult to learn and even harder to use, requiring a lot of mana for just a few seconds of hiding. Yet Aaron used it to cover the entire castle like it was nothing and even said he knew a separate way to cast it without space magic. This was great news for the Princess. She could use Fire, Water, Earth, and Light magic but had never been able to learn Space or Time magic due to the difficulty. Out of the 15 elements of magic Earth, Fire, Water and Wind are the easiest to learn and master, next are Lightning, Ice, Light and Darkness. The hardest and most dangerous are Life, Order, Death, Chaos, Void, Space and Time. These, if mastered, could become very powerful or cause the caster many problems due to their unpredictable nature.

“Could you teach me how to do it?” asked the Princess curiously.

“Can you use Light and Water magic?” Aaron asked looking at the Princess.

The Princess didn’t say anything and instead closed her eyes. On her open palms appeared a small floating globe of water and a small light ball.

She opened her eyes and with a smile asked.

“Can I?”

“Then you have yourself a nap’s worth of time to learn a spell that takes about a day to learn to a usable level.” Said Aaron while opening his left hand to reveal tens of tiny water and light balls floating just above his palm.

“Better get to it then, Teacher.”

“First fuse the Light and Water.”

“But wouldn’t that just make glowing water?”

“It does indeed. However, that is simply the first step.”

“So, like this?” Asked Catherine while holding up a small, trembling ball of glowing blue water.

“Yes, like this.” Mocked Aaron while surrounding himself in a nebula of glowing water.

“No fair, you already knew how to do it.” Pouted the princess.

“The more you make the easier it is to control.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Ooh wow, your right.” Catharine said while increasing the size of the glowing water ball.

“Now you use it to create a shell around yourself and make it bend the incoming light around you.” Aaron covered himself in a water bubble and vanished.

“How do I make it bend the light?”

“Imagine the light as enemy arrows and the shell as a shield. The incoming arrows bounce off your shield and tell the enemy your behind it. But if you were to catch the arrows and throw them behind you they wouldn’t know if they hit or missed.” Aaron’s voice explained from behind her.

“Catch and throw behind instead of deflect?”

“Exactly.”

“Oh, I see. Thank you that makes a lot more sense than just being told to bend light.”