Raghav walked down the stairs, turned to the right, and walked through the empty corridor, reaching his room. He sighed, opening the door and stepping through.
A few moments later, the door swung open and Raghav stepped through clad in black shoes and pants, a plain white shirt under his brown jacket, and his silver locket resting on his chest.
His face hardened as he stood before the door to the King's council. Raghav looked down, closed his eyes, and placed both hands on the doors, slowly pushing them open.
All those present in the room turned to the door. King Belreid stood up. "Raghav!" Everyone followed suit, greeting The Hero, except for one. Raghav calmly looked around.
To his direct front was King Belreid at the head of a long table with Queen Anessa and Aurelia to his left, and his immediate right stood Reinhardt, followed by what appeared to be a buff man in black chest plate and a great sword leaning to his side.
He then quickly glanced towards the other eight people in the room, sitting on either side of the table. "To what do we owe the pleasure? Let me guess, you were bored in the library?" Raghav shifted his gaze back to the buff man, rubbing his brown beard as his green eyes studied Raghav up and down.
Raghav turned back to the King. "I saw a wyvern fly in just a few minutes prior, and Mr. Galreid seemed troubled and left in a hurry. I thought something might be amiss."
King Belreid nodded, gesturing towards the empty seat opposite his. Raghav walked forward, taking a seat, and he was then handed a newspaper by the man sitting to his left.
Raghav slightly bowed his head, took the newspaper and looked at the front page. On it was a picture of Kanah standing atop the snake, and above the picture was written. "The Hero of Marne! Kanah!"
Raghav read the article below. "Impressive, only one casualty among thirty-five million people. No wonder you have no objection towards him."
He read the rest, flashing his eyebrows. "I appreciate the kind words he used for me."
He then turned the page and observed the 2nd page, reading the headline out loud. "Is there a war between Istreid and Xalath? Troops clash at Tri-lake near the border."
He placed the newspaper down. "I understand now, Xalath invaded you after the assassination attempt was made public."
Raghav looked at King Belreid. "It speaks volumes about the capabilities of your information network. To have kept it a secret until you were ready for it to be made public."
He narrowed his eyes, leaning back in his chair. "Are you going to war?" King Belreid nodded and gestured to his right. "We may. General Temis Fergnes has returned from the site of the clash to discuss our next course of action."
Temis looked at Raghav from the corner of his eye, before turning towards the King. "Our spies have observed the movement of their troops marching for the border from all major provinces. There are certain rumours among the adventurers and merchants returning from Xalath that the adventurer, Albr the Dread, has joined the army."
Raghav sat there, his arms folded and his right ankle resting on his left knee. Silently observing the meeting, as the ministers and General Temis briefed the King.
In this gathering, there was one who was not her usual self today; she found herself drawn towards someone at the end of the table.
Aurelia looked at him sitting there, looking directly at the King until his eyes darted towards her. Being caught in the act, she smiled, which Raghav reciprocated.
Her distracted state of mind had now spread to another, reeling him in and soon, both were looking at one another, their smiles growing wider.
"Would you look at that?"
Aurelia and Raghav turned towards the council, finding them looking at them. Temis leaned on the table, staring at Raghav. "Enjoying ourselves?"
He gestured towards both Raghav and Aurelia. "No, please carry on, it's not like we were discussing the possibility of going to war in the near future."
Raghav looked at Temis with a calm and collected expression. Meanwhile, Aurelia looked at her father and mother, who gently smiled at her, shaking their head.
King Belreid turned towards Temis, leaning forward. "General Temis, I believe we should let them be. Raghav has been busy for the past few days."
"Doing what exactly?" Temis turned back towards the King, pointing towards Raghav. "I have heard about the efforts The Hero has put in towards solving the prophecy and saving our world."
He then turned his hand upside down, extending it further. "The Hero has been held up in the library reading, he finds the time to have three baths a day and water the Sun. He has refused to meet with the lords and ladies of this kingdom, and he brings us no insight as to what he intends to do."
He then slammed his hand on the table, standing up. "The worst of it is, he is considered a warrior, yet he never trains. A warrior is like his weapon, left unutilized, it rusts. I grew up imagining the Hero to be a warrior of legend. I am disappointed, and I wish that you are not the prophesied Hero."
Raghav looked at Temis as he stood up. "I see."
General Temis chuckled. "Is that all you have to say?"
Raghav nodded before he turned towards King Belreid. "I found something in the library. I was going to share the details with you later in the day, but when I saw the urgency of Mr. Galreid, I thought I would come and see if I could help."
He then looked at the rest of the council. "I apologise." He sat back down as King Belreid raised his head. "What have you discovered? I am curious."
Raghav nodded. "For that, I would need you all to follow me to the library."
King Belreid nodded. "We shall discuss what to do with Xalath this afternoon. Firstly, we shall see what Raghav has uncovered."
King Belreid stood up, followed by the rest of the council.
.
.
Raghav walked at the head of the group with King Belreid at his left and General Temis to his right. At the end of the group, Aurelia walked accompanied by her mother.
"My beloved Daughter, I advise you to show some restraint." Aurelia shot towards her mother. "Mother!"
Anessa placed a finger on Aurelia's mouth. "Sh. I understand."
Raghav pushed open the door, and the council entered the library, the size of the throne room. They entered an open passage with a three-floor-tall ceiling between two towers of the same height, where the books were organised.
The hallway was long and ended with a mural of Paneria drawn on the end wall. King Belreid and the council looked at the library, where the books were stacked on a long table that ran through the hallway.
General Temis looked around. "What do you want to show us?" Raghav looked at him as he pointed towards the floor at the base of the mural. "There is a hollow space under the floor at the base of the mural. I would like for you to break the floor."
Temis frowned at Raghav before turning towards the King. King Belreid nodded as General Temis took a deep breath, as Raghav looked at Temis before quickly looking forward, as the floor shattered.
At the end of the hallway stood General Temis, fist buried in the floor. He frowned as he moved his hand around and closed his eyes, pulling his hand out. He turned around, throwing something towards King Belreid.
King Belreid caught it and looked down at a book. He took a few steps forward, placed it on the table, and opened it.
"Die Reise meines lebens."
King Belreid frowned as he looked at Raghav. "What is this?" Raghav pointed towards the book. "That translates to 'The Journey of My Life.' Please do look at the name written below."
King Belreid looked back at the name written below. "Written by Istreid, who in truth is Hans Walter."
King Belreid looked at Raghav holding the book. "This is the journal of King Istreid the First?" Raghav nodded as General Temis walked towards him, looking at the Journal.
He then looked at Raghav with a smirk. "How did you discover this?" Raghav gestured towards the stack of books. "I studied every book for clues, and there was something about the books from Istreid's era that felt familiar. I looked through them and found Morse code hidden within, and all the books had the involvement of King Istreid himself. I deduced a hidden message through these books."
Temis moved forward. "What was the message?"
"You who seek Crimson, shall find it through Paneria and at its end, you shall find me."
King Belreid placed the book down on the table. "Crimson!?" Raghav nodded. "Crimson from Crimson shall shatter, I believe it to be some form of artefact or a seal somewhere in Paneria."
He then walked towards the mural, placing a hand on it. "This is Paneria, at its end we found Istreid's journal, and as the message spoke, the path to Crimson is through this."
King Belreid looked up at the mural. "What will you do?" He then looked at Raghav, who knocked on the mural. "Knock it down."
Raghav stepped back, turning towards King Belreid. "I need some mages to fortify the castle while we break this wall. It is at the heart of the castle; one mishap and the entire castle might come down on us."
General Temis looked upon the mural and nodded, stepping back. He turned to the soldiers. "Bring us all the mages in the castle."
King Belreid chuckled. "What happened, General? You were unhappy a few moments ago, even going as far as to question if he were the hero."
General Temis shook his head. "I just wanted to observe how the Hero behaves when someone criticises him. I have heard of his skills as a warrior and heard of his unique personality. Thought I'd get a reaction and get to spar with him, but oh well, I don't have the luxury to keep this up."
Raghav sat at the end of the table, folding his arms and looking up at the mural. "A shame. It was a beautiful mural." Aurelia sat to his left, looking at the mural. "So this is what kept you away from me these past few days."
Raghav turned towards Aurelia, gently smiling. "It did, and it just might do it again."
Aurelia frowned. "I hope otherwise, there are a lot of questions I want to ask you." Raghav smiled, turning around as the door swung open and the mages entered the library.
Raghav shook his head, turning back to Aurelia, matching her gaze. "I will answer them all when the time comes."
He stood up as the flock of eight mages led by Head Mage Olda reached the mural. The mages split up, two stood at the ends of the mural on the floor, two were on the first floor on opposite ends of the mural, two on the second floor, and lastly two on the third floor.
Once they were in their position, Olda turned towards Raghav and the King. "We are ready, I have already assigned the rest of the mages to go and fortify the castle from all key locations, all that remains now is to knock it down. Who is going to do it?"
General Temis cracked his neck walking forward. "I will do it."
One of the soldiers accompanying General Temis stepped forward. "My Lord, please allow me to do it."
General Temis turned towards the soldier. "You have my permission."
The soldier smiled under his helmet and saluted General Temis before he walked forward, winding his fist back as it was engulfed in a blue glow.
General Temis and King Belreid stood to the right side of the table with the rest of the council, while Olda stood to the left with Aurelia and Queen Anessa.
Raghav pulled a chair in the middle, ready to take a seat.
As the young soldier struck the mural, a golden glow emitted from within, wrapping itself around his hand before launching him back at incredible speeds.
Raghav sat down with a neutral expression, letting the soldier fly over his head, knocking the books stacked on the table and breaking through the door and slamming into the wall.
Everyone looked back at him except for Raghav, who rested his head on his left knuckle.
General Temis looked at his soldiers. "I know you all thought about joining him and showing your skills to the King and his council. There was a reason we had summoned the mages to fortify the castle; if this were any normal mural, I would have ordered you to do it. I do like the spirit, but I never wish to see it burst up when your commanding officer decides to do something himself. Am I clear?"
The soldiers saluted. "SIR, YES SIR!" General Temis nodded. "Restack the books in the exact order as Lord Raghav had set them in. Once you are done, I want you to pick your comrade and do laps around the training grounds till sunset."
"SIR, YES SIR!" The soldiers then went back to collecting the books.
Raghav looked at the mural. "So when did you sense it?" General Temis gently knocked on the mural.
Raghav closed his eyes, nodding. "Just from me knocking it, you figured out the protective spell. As expected of the strongest warrior in Istreid. Anyone else that picked up?"
"I did." "As did I." Raghav looked to his right and saw King Belreid and Reinhardt with their hands raised.
"I did as well." Raghav turned to look at Aurelia at his left. "That's good."
Raghav smiled at her before seriousness returned on his face. "General Temis, what shall we do now?" General Temis smirked, walking over to Raghav, standing before him.
Raghav looked up to meet his eyes. 'I did not notice he was this tall, he is a foot taller than me.'
General Temis moved to the side, gesturing towards the wall. "It is all yours, My Lord." He turned to look at the mural. "It was constructed by King Istreid himself, a Grand Master. I will be useless against him. We need your power."
Raghav nodded, taking steps forward as his body was engulfed by a white glow. When he was within reach of the mural, he pulled his right fist back, a calm and collected expression on his face.
He struck the mural the golden glow came out of the mural, reaching for Raghav's fist, but the white glow began overtaking the golden glow, spreading all over the mural before it vanished and with it vanished the mural, revealing a space previously hidden.
Raghav stood straight, lowering his hand as the white glow vanished from his body. He stayed still for five seconds before taking a deep breath and turning around.
"Time to uncover some secrets."