Part 1
- SORA EVERGARD’S POV -
My heels clicked solidly on the marble floor. It bothered me how clear the sound was. It felt mocking. Laughing at my inability to grasp the situation. To grasp that which I sought. Even my inability to think clearly as of late felt as if it was caused by them. Fake as it was, that thought only worsened my already sour mood.
“Forgive me for dragging you into this, my child-” My father said as he locked his eyes with mine, carrying such sorrow and compassion that my heart almost sank. He was wrong, of course. He mistakenly thought that my mood was due to his request…or rather, order. However, I did not blame him for it. He had very little say in those matters. In truth, I was glad to be made part of it with prior notice “- I will try to speak, plead if I must, to the Duke. He’s an intelligent man, I’m sure he’ll understand”
“I have yet to be made aware of anything, father-” I replied, forcefully stirring my mind away from the thoughts that clouded it and set on the back of the man walking in front of me. A shadow of himself. A shadow of my father “- Though I suspect this hasty meeting will regard my future involvement in the war. Correct?”
“Bright as always-” Replied Elodor as a wary smile crossed his sunken cheeks “- Sora, listen…if you want you can jus-”
“My lord!” Shouted a voice echoing through the long hall along with the click of his boots.
“My lord, please wait!” Shouted the young man once more, his words strained by the lack of air reaching his lungs.
“Bennard, please, show some decorum when in the palace” Sighed my father as he stopped the young man by placing both hands on his shoulders and stroking them fatherly.
“I’m a thousand times sorry my lord, but it is urgent!” The man replied halfway through a shout.
“Go on then, relay your message” I interjected as I saw my father’s already pale face pale even more at the thought of the possibilities that an ‘urgent message’ implied.
“Yes *cough* yes-” Said the man as he apparently gulped in enough hair to settle down his ragged breathing and cool down his frenzied mind “- Your house received a message from your mansion in Fortenova just now. It is dated five days ago. It states that a man came looking for the young lord and lady along with you, my lord. The guard that took his message said he spoke your names directly but upon hearing that none was there, he exploded in a fit of rage and injured both guards at the gate before disappearing. The guard’s captain said, in his letter, that the injured guards stated that said man was an assassin sent against you. They contacted the town’s guard but there was no trace of the man. Searches are still taking place”
“This is disconcerting news-” Answered Elodor as he picked at his thin goatee thoughtfully “-...but strange also. Why would an assassin go for our residence in Fortenova? Even better, why would an assassin point his blade at my throat so brazenly? I am not as important as my noble title makes me sound like…there is something amiss”
“Who was the man? What was his name? What did he look like?” I asked all in one single, fast breath as I interrupted my father from speaking further.
[It’s not him, is he?-] I thought as my gaze bore into the messenger’s skull. A pang of painful hope bounced around the walls of my skull, causing the already bothering headache to sting like a needle [- It doesn’t make sense. Why there and why now? Fortenova is close to Migur but… The messenger only said it was a man, why have I thought of him first?]
“Sora…” Sighed my father with eyes and voice brimming with pity.
“So?” I pressured, ignoring my father’s pleas.
“Ehm…ehm, there is no description…the-the guards said they couldn’t see him” The messenger replied as he averted his gaze in shame.
“...Something is clearly wrong here-” My father said as he almost pulled off his goatee while swimming deep in his thoughts. Snapping out of them, he shook his head as a dog shakes away the wetness “- Send word to the house. I want the two guards brought here to be questioned-” My father ordered with an authoritarian tone, unfortunately, unbecoming of his current state. As the messenger bowed and began to sprint away, father grabbed him by the wrist receiving, in turn, a questioning look sparkled with a hint of fear “- And make sure it’s done fast. I want them here by the end of the week”
Eager to follow the order, or most likely to escape what he mistakenly thought was the wrath of his lord, the messenger ran through the long hallway careless of the many maids and butlers eyeing with disdain or surprise. I stood in the middle of the hallway motionless. My muddled-up thoughts preventing me from understanding the situation and moving forward. Only my father’s urging woke me from those thoughts and led me away from the wide hallway into a smaller one covered in lavender tapestry.
“Do you think that man was…” I asked tentatively.
“Rapahel? I doubt-” My father replied with a scoff “- I have not received any information about him and the people of our house know of him. I made sure of that…I find it hard, extremely hard, to escape my net of informants and I don’t see a reason why he should”
“Right…you are probably right” I said disheartened.
- RAPHAEL BLUESCALE’S POV -
“Was it really necessary?” Julie asked. Her voice was gingerly, almost giddy as she trailed in my wake while coaxing our horses to follow calmly.
“If you do not specify the subject, I won’t be able to answer” I sighed, resigning myself to push the train of thoughts I was currently following in favor of satisfying the girl’s seemingly incessant curiosity.
“Breaking the guards’ arms, of course!” She shouted. I did not need to turn around to know that she was pouting as if the obviousness of her question, and my failure to understand it, had somehow offended her.
“They forced my hand” I replied coldly as I dislodged an arrow from an orc’s green neck and passed it to Julie who rapidly cleaned it and shoved it down the quiver.
“Lies!” She said in a melodious, almost sang, yet mocking tone.
“*Sigh* Think about the battle and the mistakes you made rather than bothering me with useless questions” I replied, throwing an arrow her way and speeding my step.
Although I reproached her, she was right. I did lie. In a fit of rage, I broke both arms of both guards standing in front of Evergard’s mansion in Fortenova. The reason was petty and in hindsight, I behaved like a petulant child. The two men rudely denied access and laughed at my urgency. It took all of the strength of will I had not to clasp my hand more tightly around their necks.
Ever since setting foot onto the War Land, I had lost my grasp on my emotions. Everything I had bottled up, tied tightly at the base of my stomach and forgot about, came surging up like a tide. Much like bubbles in a pool, motes of red-hot rage erupted along, grey sorrow, a crushing sense of guilt, and icicles born of the void of my feelings. Amongst those bubbling resurfacing emotions, new ones surfaced. Emotions I had no notion of ever feeling. Emotions whose existence was unknown to me. One such emotion was something akin to a big, cocky pride that seemed to regard every single glace as a hostile act. It was with a surprisingly clear mind that I gouged my descent into insanity.
With my thoughts trailing off on the matter, I finished picking up the arrows and mounted my horse. Silently, Julie trailed behind like a shy duckling. Further behind us, an hour on horseback, stood the ruined walls of Migur East. The warband of orcs whose blood now pooled under our horses’ hooves, was nothing more than exiles of a bigger one. Their armor was shabby and all of them were ‘marked with shame’. A gruesome tradition that orcs used on those that they deemed weak. I only gave them a thought in passing…the strangeness of orcs so close to a city worried me, yes, but not as much as our next stop did.
By lunch, the walls of Migur West- or at least what little remained of them- were above us. There were no guards patrolling the gate. No archers standing atop the walls with torches and braziers. Even from outside, the city felt cold… empty. A ghost town. The loud gulp and the meek appearance on my sister’s face almost as if the sight of the city caused her physical pain were telltale that her emotions mimicked mine. Perhaps mine were dimmer…diluted. My head was still a whirl I struggled to keep in check.
We crossed the gate and strode horseback onto the empty and barren main road. The main road, once bright and loud with noises now stood silent and comatose. No other word described the sight better than a simple ‘sad’. I stirred my mind away from the memories resurfacing along with a deep sorrow. I chose not to linger. My sister’s tears were enough already.
Silently and slowly we strode along the street. I ignored my sister’s suffocated sobs for I had no words of comfort to share. Only the emptiness I was actively digging through my heart in preparation for what was to come. The shops, those whose structure still remained somewhat intact were, for the most part, closed. The others were now simply used as shelters or had changed the type of product they sold. Books, furniture, those fancy clothes I always saw exposed behind glass…it was all gone, now replaced by weapons and rations. A long, stretched, grey line of fresh bricks trailed alongside us at times, at others it hid behind a building. That was the ‘scar’. A testimony of the death and suffering that the calamity known as labyrinth brought upon our lands. A grim reminder of my choices. One that brought likewise grim questions to my attention.
Were my actions the true cause of all this? Was I the one those people should blame? Have I any right to mourn and mope alongside them? Those questions and many more blinked in my head like grim lights on a dead Christmas tree. Bearing the sight of a beggar entirely missing an arm was the last drop that spilled the glass and the question- the one question I had been pushing deep ever since it lit in my younger self’s mind- that had begun to bother me as of recent, surfaced anew.
[What happened to Raphael Bluescale?]
Upon my reincarnation, I had taken this name, this form, this place in the world. But was it truly mine? And if it was, at what cost had I gained it? Perhaps it was a dead child given life once more through me. Perhaps the same force that granted me life anew also granted me this body and name…Perhaps I stole it forcibly. Perhaps I snuffed the life out of Raphael Bluescae, the true Raphael Bluescale, and took his place.
[If I never came…If I never reincarnated-] I thought grimly as I watched two kids fight nail and tooth for half a sandwich [- would this be different?... Better?]
I choked the thought in my head, strangling it with surprising hate as Julie called for my attention. Or rather, her absence did. I turned around and goaded my horse to meet hers still in place in front of what remained of a building. Her eyes were distant, clouded by a haze of tears and memories. Words were stuck in her throat, I could feel it, but I coaxed her not. Rather, I allowed her the time to think, to sort her thoughts.
“That is…was the library, right?” She asked as her eyes never left the white, now greyed out, building.
“It is” I replied studying her gaze and trailing after it.
“I really liked it. It was big, imposing and brightly white-” She said as memories flashed before her eyes “- I’ve only been there twice, the library at home was enough and I never liked books too much…Mom said you went there often”
“Our library wasn’t enough and father filled it with stories rather than books I could study-” I said as the faintest of smirks curled the edge of my lips “- I came here often. So much that the clerk knew me by name”
I lingered on the building. Half of the white structure had sunk and the top floor had collapsed onto the lower, robbing the library and the books inside of a roof. The marble columns outside lie broken on the ground like fallen soldiers. A group of homeless, all huddled around a fire born of books, sought shelter in a cozy corner of the library where the roof remained intact. The ruins painted a disheartening picture…The failure of knowledge, of my knowledge. One more testimony of my mistakes added to the pile. I allowed myself one more moment before turning my horse around and guiding it towards my goal.
Soon, the familiar garden surrounded by the stone fence greeted us grimly in all its ruin.
Part 2
It was a mess.
The garden had overgrown so much that the path of stone tiles that crossed it had completely disappeared. The sea of green was so eager to consume the house that it swallowed everything in its path. The flower garden, the fallen fence, the wooden bench, it even began to climb the walls as if to try and eat the house whole. I doubt the vegetable garden mother tended behind the house had been spared.
It was upsetting seeing the house like this. The house I grew up in. The house I lived in for the most part of this life…my house. A hint of melancholy hovered over my head as I took the path less eaten by the grass. Julie followed close behind me, her head drooping as her eyes were transfixed on the awful state of our house. I tried to keep her hopes as low as possible but the idea that our father could be waiting for us there had taken root already. Upon seeing the house half-ruined, those expectations and hopes crashed. I could see them shrink in her eyes. I sighed as I placed my hand on the handle of the door.
“Do you need a moment?” I asked, expecting the girl to say yes. It was with surprise that I saw her shake her head and puff her chest as a self-encouragement.
“Very well then, let’s-” I said as I opened the squeaking door and moved to take a step in. My blood froze and beads of cold, cold sweat formed on my face and neck. An aura, strong and dark, menacingly and violent, was pressing on me with such weight that I felt my bones bend in place. I jumped back almost instantly, my instincts kicking in and unsheathing my sword. Julie was looking at me with shock. Who would blame her? I was drenched in sweat, with a heavy, erratic breath and my sword in hand yet no enemy stood in front of me.
“Did you feel it too?” I asked as I tried to ease my sister’s clear worry by shifting to a more relaxed stance. The sword never left my white-knuckled grip.
“Feel what?” She asked as her eyes began to dart from one corner of the garden to the top of the house.
“That presence, that…*sigh* Are there any spirits around?” I asked as I moved away from the door and prompted Julie to do the same.
“I’m not sure…I can feel one but it’s very weak and shy. I don’t know if it’ll listen” Julie replied as she closed her eyes and massaged her temples like she always did when she wanted to concentrate on the spirits.
“Try anyway-” I said as I urged her to sit on a bunch of stones that rolled away from the fence and formed a small pile “- See if it’s willing to go check inside and report back”
Her concentration visibly heightened as she clutched her eyes shut and a single bead of sweat ran down her brow, cheek, and finally neck. It took her several minutes to unclutch her eyes, sigh in relief, and crash down beside me. The mental strain of whispering to a spirit was that great, especially for her untrained self. Thoughtlessly, I stroked her hair and it was with great surprise that I discovered her usually brown hair was starting to gain a tinge of auburn near its roots.
“I’m making progress” The girl chimed gingerly amidst her still uneven breathing. Her head was leaning into my hand like a spoiled, cuddly cat.
“I can see that-” I replied. I wasn’t truthful in the slightest, the ‘progress’ she was making was purely in her head but I did not wish to halt her growth and motivation. Her mentality was different from mine “- Has the spirit told you anything relevant?”
“Yes…-” Julie said as her previously relaxed expression turned into a disheartened frown “- the house is empty…Dad’s not here…no one has been here”
“I’m sorry, Julie, but I told you that-”
“I know, I know-” The girl replied swatting my hand away with a certain soft violence, telltale of how upset the young woman was “- I just…hoped, I guess…Anyway, the spirit said something was strange like some of the destruction was…intentional, whatever that means. Oh, it also spoke of a flower or a plant. I didn’t really get that part”
After giving her a few more minutes to catch her breath, rest and drink some water, the two of us crossed the unruly garden and made for the door. The door squeaked open and we set foot through it yet the threatening aura did not strike. With a strangely expecting sigh, I stepped through. The room was an outright mess. Where once was the kitchen and dining room with the table and the hearth, now stood piles of broken wood, stone and dust. An immense amount of dust. So much that by walking through it, Julie and I left our prints as if it was snow.
The long wooden table was gone. A part of it was pressed against the wall together with a couple of chairs and a wooden beam that fell from the upper floor. The rest was scattered around the room. One leg was lodged into the window, another piece ended up mixed with the remnants of the hearth and the rest shared a similar fate. A hole in the floor near the door leading to the lower floor gave us a peek into what lay below. The basement, our father’s stash of good wine, pelts and all sorts of things was but a memory of its old self. The beams that kept it standing collapsed and brought down the whole thing, walls and all. The spilled wine had already evaporated by the time we entered the house and only the peculiar scent now hovered in the air. The only reason why the main floor was spared from collapsing was because the basement was built one or two meters below the first floor and it was partially under the garden. I doubted the stairs leading down would have encountered a better fate.
Shifting my focus to the other rooms I noticed how both the bathroom’s door and the library’s were torn open or fully dislodged from their hinges. Half the stairs had crashed down on the bathroom that now looked like a messy janitor’s cabin where water spilled almost constantly from the tubes. On the other hand, the library seemed to be fairly in shape. Curiosity moved my legs as I stepped over the ruined threshold.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
I could not mask my surprise upon noticing how staggering the difference was with the other rooms. While half of the library had been crushed by the weight of the falling second floor, the rest remained surprisingly neat and intact. The bookshelves were still in the very same place I remembered them to be. Half the books had fallen on the floor but that was to be expected. With a mix of skepticism and ease, I walked through the isles, gently nudging the books in place. Soon my fingers were covered in a thick layer of brownish dust. The same dust that puffed into a cloud the moment I sat down on one of the red leather armchairs. A tainted laugh, almost choked back, escaped my lips and the look of confusion on my sister’s face deepened.
“It’s still the same” I explained as I opened my arms as a way to point to the whole room.
“Yeah…sure is” She replied half-heartedly, not fully understanding what she was supposed to do or say in that situation.
“You don’t understand. Isn’t it strange?-” I said as I rose from my seat and moved to blow the dust from a nearby shelf onto my sister’s face “- It hasn’t been touched. Not a book. Not a chair. Nothing’s been touched. Not even the floor!”
“I-I don’t think I understand” She replied backing off a bit and coughing away the dust.
“The library we passed a while ago was used as a shelter. It had probably already been ransacked of everything valuable. Books are valuable, aren't they? And even if we don’t take the books into consideration, isn’t it strange that nothing in this house has been touched?” A glimmer of understanding shone in Julie’s eyes as she took a few seconds to understand my words.
“You mean they…avoided it?” She asked confused.
“I wounded-” I replied as I slowly paced my way through the room and to the door “- We still have the upper floor to explore. Maybe the answer is hidden in the strange thing the spirit spoke of”
Wordlessly, the girl followed me. There was an odd spring in her step, one I could not seem to understand. She was on the verge of tears mere minutes ago, so why now? From the corner of my eye, I spied her struggling to place her steps upon mine. A childish game it was, nothing more yet it gave me no insight into her sudden giddyness. I pushed that thought aside with the mental comparison of a sigh, knowing damn well that understanding women was never one of my strong suits.
As I began climbing the stairs with Julie in tow, an odd feeling washed over me. A wave beckoned me. Scentless, powerless, motionless yet loud enough to send a soft ring through my ears and down my spine. It stopped me mid-step, just momentarily. It was an unusual sensation that seemed to call for something that, alas, did not connect. Shaking my head, I shook this feeling off and resumed my climb.
The top floor was the one that sustained the most damage. Of the many rooms the top floor had, only two now remained intact and somewhat accessible. Those two and the hallway connecting them were all that remained. One room was the study, the other was mine. Not wanting to enter my room just yet, I decided to walk past it and into the smaller room. A decision that seemed to spike my sister’s curiosity but did not prompt any questions other than a curious look. It didn’t take long to explore the small room. Books were on the floor as was the chair, the maps usually hung on the walls and one of the bookshelves. A large pool of ink stained the floor and the many books bathed in it.
[Such a waste] I thought to myself as I clicked my tongue.
As I walked to the table, I noticed how the stacks of paper were all over the place except for one singular portion of it in which many of them seemed to have been stacked. I grew curious and picked up the first one. It was one of the letters Lucas and I sent from the academy. Surprised, I picked up another, and another, and another, until the last letter was in my hands, the most recent. It was then that I noticed how the letters were stacked in chronological order from oldest to most recent.
[So someone was here…but why the interest in our letters?] I thought as I placed them back and paced out of the room quite rapidly. In hopes of not giving the girl beside me too much to worry about, I chose not to voice my thoughts.
I went to open the creaking door of my old room and a shocked gasp escaped my lips, prompting Julie to stick her head in the room from behind my side. It was bare, completely empty of anything. No desk, no wardrobe, no bed…nothing.
“Has my stuff been sold or moved?” I asked as I moved into the room still half shocked.
“No-” Replied Julie equally shocked “- everything was here…what-what happened?”
“How should I know?! This is so-” The words choked in my mouth as I took notice of the only thing inside my room.
It was one lonesome flower. It looked like a tulip just plumper, bulbous, and built like a small purplish crown. What was most surprising was how well-preserved the flower was. With lively and verdant colors and a healthy shine to it, the flower looked as if it had just been picked up. Furthermore, the area nearing the flower was completely devoid of dust. I exchanged a glance with Julie in search of understanding but her gaze was as confused as mine. Deciding to act first and think later, I picked up the flower, expecting something to happen…yet nothing.
“What a strange thing…” I said as I showed the perfectly preserved flower to Julie.
“Oh…oh! I know this one!-” She chirped excitedly “- It’s…ehm. It’s…Right! Friti…friti…Fritillaria! Yes, that’s the one!”
“Oh really? Never pegged you for someone with a green thumb” I mocked with a stifled laugh as the girl answered me with a soft pout.
“It’s mom’s fault!-” Replied Julie while stomping her feet and, in turn, raising a cloud of dust “- For a while it was all she talked about. Flowers, plants and vegetables…she was fixated on her garden. Ugh, anyway, where’s the strange thing the spirit spoke of?”
“Good question” I said as I gently patted her on the head, making a bit of a mess of her hair.
It didn’t take long for us to figure out where that strange thing was. At the end of the hallway, after crossing the other collapsed and ruined rooms, stood one lonesome wall with nothing around it. It stood straight, like a pillar that somehow escaped the fall of the temple. While fairly intact, the wall was marked with long scratches and a few holes, tricking us into thinking that it was the result of the falling ceiling. Yet, upon closer inspection, it appeared as strange as the spirit said. Intentional even. The scratches were too straight and regular for them to be the result of a falling beam or stone tile. A pinching headache began knocking on the back of my head as I approached even closer, almost touching the strange markings etched on the wall.
I stepped back, noticing with surprise and worry how the headache retreated. Julie was as surprised as I was as she backed away from the marking after having placed one hand over them. Her eyes were shut and both hands were massaging her temples yet her mouth was left agape. I urged her to sit down on a fallen beam but she swatted my hand away and instead reached for the markings once more.
“This is what the spirit was talking about!-” Julie said with excitement at her discovery, though the discomfort from the headache was painfully clear in her voice “- There’s something in there…something…Mana! There’s mana in those scratches!”
“Are you sure?!” I asked as I jumped up and closed on her, not believing how it was possible for her to feel mana when I didn't.
“No-” She answered confused and daunted as she stepped away from the wall and met my gaze “- I mean, I’m not sure. I guess it…felt like mana but not really? Does that mean anything?”
“No, it doesn't” I replied chuckling, causing the girl to punch my side.
Nonetheless, as strange and unlikely her version sounded, my curiosity had already been spiked. I moved some mana from my circuits to my eyes and shielded them in a thin layer of it. The surprise was almost instant. The very moment Iaid my mana-clad eyes on the wall, a pattern appeared in front of me. Some of the scratches, or marks, were simple as that, scratches with nothing special to them, but some had been imbued with mana which seemed to softly linger on the marks. But it wasn’t enough. Either by conscious design or by fault of time, the mana left on the marks struggled to connect with the others. There simply wasn’t enough of it.
Tentatively, I stretched my hand to the wall, pushing the growing headache away. With one finger on the corner where two marks met, I began pouring mana. The reaction was almost instant. The two scratches began glowing with suffused golden light eliciting a loud “wow” from my sister. More curious- and eager to know who was behind such a strange phenomenon- than ever, I began repeating the same process for all corners shared by two or more mana-clad marks. As I connected the last corner, the seventh, the golden light shone brighter than I could bear with my mana-clad eyes, and was thus forced to shut them tight.
“A crown” Julie said softly as my mind wavered and strength left my body.
Liquid gold began to flood into my mind like a tidal wave, washing away all thoughts and worries. It left me barely capable of recognizing myself, understanding who I was and what I was doing, along with the fact that I was now being torn away from my physical body. My consciousness began gloating away with my say in it, dragged away from my house and far away from Migur. I felt myself traveling tens and tens of kilometers in the span of a single second, flying over green forests, rivers, hills, and cities I failed to recognize. By the time I stopped, I found myself surrounded by a verdant forest of tall trees, mostly pines. I was at the foot of a mountain where a large cave seemed to open into a small clearing.
Unwillingly, I moved towards the cave and began descending into it. The darkness was so thick that it seemed to cling to my nonexistent skin and eyes. My phantomatic stomach hurled and twisted as the scent of blood and sulfur washed over me. I stopped as the cave opened into a large underground lake, lit up only by a bright golden crystal lodged at its very bottom. My nonexistent body shivered and my nonexistent skin vibrated with goosebumps as a presence made itself known. Two large golden eyes, each easily bigger than my entire torso, focused on me. It was mesmerizing how a fire seemed to glow inside those huge snake-like eyes. A fanged grin appeared from an elongated maw previously hidden in the darkness and a low grumble shook the entire cave.
“It’s about time-” The low, disembodied voice growled, making its words echo throughout the cave and sending ripples on the surface of the lake “- Come now. Waste no time”
The golden-eyes creature blew on me as a kid does on their birthday candles. The smell of sulfur intensified and, before I could speak, act, or think otherwise, my mind began to be dragged away from the cave. Past the forest, mountain, cities, and rivers, until it crashed back into the house and placed itself snuggly into my body.
I began breathing. Hard, rugged, desperate breath that filled my lungs with dusty and heavy air. I felt the weight of my own body, my flesh and bones pressing against each other, almost uncomfortably. I felt how my muscles shifted beneath my skin as I prompted my unresponsive legs to move. This body, my body, for a few insufferable seconds felt like a prison of flesh. I curled up retching soon after.
“Raph! Raph! Thank the heavens you are fine!-” Julie shouted as she hugged me from behind the moment I stopped spewing what used to be my breakfast “- I thought you were gone. I-I…you touched the thing then…then you fell and your eyes were all white and-and”
“Don’t worry-” I said in a pathetic, and unsuccessful, attempt at a comforting voice “- I’m here and I’m fine. There’s nothing to worry about”
“BUT YOU DIED!-” The girl shouted as I only now noticed the tears cornering her small eyes “- You had no pulse and you weren’t breathing. I-I didn’t know what to do” She was sobbing as she spoke, almost loud and heavy enough to choke on them a couple of times.
“It’s all fine-” I said as I took the crying girl in my arms and hugged her tightly “- I’m fine Julie. I’m alive and fine. Nothing to worry your pretty, little head about”
“W-what happened?” She managed to say after several minutes of sobbing and crying, leading to my shirt being covered in tears and snot.
“I received a message” I replied bluntly as I thought back on the brief conversation.
“A message?-” She inquired incredulously “- What kind of message?”
“An invitation” I answered with a grin.
Part 3
- ??’ POV -
I walked down the long hallway. As usual, it was unadorned of anything noteworthy yet so unbearably long and boring. The many doors on either side were either leading to even more unadorned hallways or rooms I had yet to explore. I had been there only for a month and was already starting to question whether my goals were truly worth the boredom.
I slowed my step as I reached the only curious and interesting bit of that long, earth and stone-smelling hallway. I took a right where the path forked and another right when it forked again. Finally, I was where I wanted. The short hallway leading to the main room of the base was the only one that could be considered ‘beautiful’. Torches burning with green fire lit it up quite majestically, giving the hallway a sort of mystic-dreary look. Statues expertly carved out of black stone stood stoically under those torches, surrounded by banners sporting black, green, purple, and white. The symbol of a moon hidden behind a gate was pictured on them.
What most attracted my curiosity was the sheer number and diversity of the black statues. Not one was the same as the other yet all had one subject. One was a knight clad in great and bulky armor with skulls and pauldrons and a sword made of bone. Another was a sorceress, her long hair splashed on the ground like a fountain and clad her prominent curves in a soft sheet of black. Another was an old man sitting on a throne. The other a kid. Then a fearsome dragon. A snake that seemed to want to swallow the whole world. Then a towering creature that pushed the ceiling up with its shoulders…one statue for any fear a man could have. And yet, as diverse as they were, all statues had one thing in common: their eyes burned with poisonous green light, staring right into the soul of all watchers. It was creepy, yet I couldn’t help but be fascinated by those statues and the being they represented.
Felling time trickle by faster than I wished it would, I forced my mind away from the statues and focused instead on the large stone doors at the end of the hallway. There were symbols and carvings that told of a story but I had no time to enjoy those so I hastened my pace and crossed the threshold. The green light exuding from several braziers washed over me, embracing me with the subtle warmth of the many fires.
The room wasn’t very large but longer instead. The black and white tiles on the floor reminded me of a chessboard and the black pillars adorning the blackstone walls brought forth uncomfortable memories of an old temple I had been in. At the very end of the room, standing in front of three large banners with the moon and gate symbol, stood a throne draped in fancy and soft-looking red velvet. Even though it was empty, two armored guards, one holding a large sword and the other a heavy-looking warhammer, stood by its side at all times.
Closer to the entrance, lower in height compared to the throne, was a long oval table carved out of a single slab of black onyx. I particularly liked that long table since the onyx which it was carved out of had very peculiar reddish veins running through it. I couldn’t help but think of blood vessels every time I looked at it. Sat at it, on greyish chairs carved out of stone and adorned with wood and cushions, were three people all dressed in long black, green and white robes, the same I was wearing. Their hoods covered their faces but I knew exactly who they were. The mana exuding from them did not escape us.
“Join us, sit” Said with his usual gaudy voice the man sitting at the front of the table.
Following the instructions, I took my usual sit and shifted once or twice to move the cushion into a comfortable position. The other two were silent. One, the youngest, a woman a few years younger than me, was resting her head on the table, using her arms as a pillow. The other, a middle-aged man, was playing with a golden coin by making it run through his fingers.
“Where are the others?” I asked as I turned my head to the leader of this meager company.
“On a mission-” He replied as he crossed his arms and sank into his chair “- There’s been movements in Hephos Hold and Gilmore. We think they are preparing something but it might be just bait. Whether it’s for Three Crowns or Hadoc is yet to be discovered”
“Haven't they had enough with The Three Crowns’ Kingdom?-” I asked with a loud sigh as I massaged my temples “- Wasn’t one apocalypse enough?”
“Apparently those old geezers in Belza think differently” The coin-playing man said with a snicker.
“That is exactly why we need to understand in which direction this approaching war will go” Replied the first man as he massaged his beard.
“Hasn’t this already been decided?-” I asked, genuinely not understanding the urgency the bearded man showed “- I mean, Belza wants to get its hands on the War Lands, Hadoc wants to prevent Belza from doing that, and Three Crowns is trying to sort itself out now that the King is becoming senile. I don’t think Belza can afford a two-sided war against the other kingdoms”
“That’s exactly why those movements are *yawn* so strange and dangerous-” The yawning woman said as she rubbed her eyes and stretched her back “- the big man here thinks they are hiding something”
“Indeed is what I fear…Belza has been acting strange. Especially after…” He said as his eyes focused on me.
“Yes, yes, I know. The whole thing about the old Ghaller death and the young one disappearance. I was there-” I said with a sigh as I crossed my arms behind my neck “- I remember the morning after the fire but I already told you all I know about it”
“I know, it’s just-” The man said as he scratched his beard thoughtfully “- that student is such a mystery yet undeniably innocent. I fear there are powers at play beyond our understanding”
“Which is why we sent Junior here to scout Hadoc. Brought back anything useful?” The coin-playing man asked as he rudely kicked his legs on the table.
“Not much new-” I replied as I took out of my robe a few parchments and maps to spread them on the table “- Haddock is preparing for war. The king has called both high and low nobles to the cause. Mages are being called from all over the kingdom. Young, old, male, female. If someone’s a mage, they get called and quite unceremoniously forced to take part in the war under the pretense of ‘the kingdom helped you grow, now you help the kingdom back’. Bunch of fucking leechers, I tell you”
“What about the nobles? Anything new about them? If things go as they usually do in Hadoc, nobles will be the center of the war effort and they’ll try to rack up as many achievements as possible to rise in status” The woman asked. Her voice tinged with bitterness.
“I have very little about the high nobles. See here-” I said pointing at a short piece of rolled-up parchment “- I have the names of a few houses that seem…amicable to our cause, thought I wouldn’t put my hand over fire for them”
“And the lower nobles?” Curiously asked the bearded man as he picked up a map I drew with numbers and positions of groups of soldiers and mages.
“Most of them are just doing their own thing. You know, the usual. Raising armies, squeezing their lands of all their gold to boost the number of soldiers, trying to gain favor from the kind. Same old, same old. What’s interesting is that there seems to be a smaller group of nobles led by Duke Van Grephen-” I began to explain before being interrupted by the coin player.
“Oh, I know that man!-” He said excitedly “- That guy’s a devil with the sword!”
“What would you know about devils, uh?” I replied irritatedly.
“Sorry-” He said raising both hands in surrender “- wrong choice of words”
“Ehm, ehm! Continue please” Intervened the bearded man.
“This group seems to be looked favorably upon by the king, so much that it’s receiving a generous amount of funding. I couldn’t gain much in terms of names or numbers since they meet with a strange amount of secrecy in the castle but I believe they will be a cornerstone of this upcoming war” I ended as I threw another rolled-up parchment at the bearded man.
“Mhhh, this name” He said after a couple of minutes in which he appeared to study the parchment.
“What name?” I asked knowing damn well what he was referring to.
“Evergard. You know this one, do you not?” He inquired with a smart glint in his eyes that made me worry.
“I do-” I answered knowing that lying would not help me or be allowed “- Sora Evergard. She was at the academy when I studied there. One year older than me. Extremely capable in magic and an outstanding student. I never had the chance to talk to her nor I ever saw the point in doing so. That’s all there is to it”
“Wasn’t she connected to the student that supposedly offed the Gallhers?” Asked the girl with a sudden spike of interest.
[Curse you fucking drama queen!] I shouted in my mind.
“Supposedly?-” I replied with a shoulder shrug “- Never thought Bluescale, the student in question, was the dating type but word was that the two were engaged. I think I saw them once or twice out in the city but I never really gave it much thought”
“Ooohhh, romance at the academy!-” Squeeled the girl “- Two students, one a noble’s daughter and the other a commoner, find love and pressure their families into an engagement. This sounds sooo romantic…and daring for the boy! Makes me want to meet him”
“Pfft, girls and their fantasies-” I shrugged “- I just told you Bluescale wasn’t the dating type. The man studied and trained. That’s all…His brother on the other hand…What’s the word for someone who flirts with many women but has no stable relationship?”
“Certainly not you, that’s for sure!” Replied the woman as she stuck her tongue out and laughed almost hysterically.
“Oh shut up, you psycho bitch-” I retorted spitefully “- Like anyone would date your flat and crazy ass!”
“Ok, ok, enough banter kids!-” Said the bearded man as he struck the table with his fist before either of us could reach for our weapons hidden beneath the robes “- I have to admit, this is most interesting information…I realize you came back from a lengthy mission but I fear I may have to send you on another one”
“It has to do with the Evergard, does it?” I asked sighing and sinking into my chair.
“Indeed it does. Follow them, especially the girl and the father since their names are on this list. I have an inkling they are the key to solving some of the mysteries of this war. Leave as soon as possible” Ordered the bearded man in the commanding tone he always used when barking orders.
“*Sigh* I’m not happy in the slightest with this mission-” I replied as I stood up from my seat and walked to the heavy double door “- But it will be done…As it always does…For the greatness and the return of our king”
“For the greatness and the return of our king!” The other three repeated in unison as I shut the door behind me.