In a large corridor with walls beautifully decorated with luxury painting and medieval armors, the sound of the clanking metal echoed rhythmically as two fully armored knights were dragging a young man by his shoulders.
The young man slowly gained consciousness, awoken by the clanking armors. He did not have time to admire the beauty of the corridor nor ponder on his current situation as he was immediately assaulted with great pain all over his body. He felt as if a giant, mad orc bashed at him at full force. He could only mutter painful grunts from whatever had happened to him.
That pained young man was none other than the apprentice that had participated in the preparation of the ritual. After calming himself down and trying to ignore the pain, he tried to recall what had happened. Memories of the ritual's preparation soon resurfaced: how he tired he felt from helping everyone; his awe as he saw the completed magic circle and then when it started… he heard shouts accompanied by an explosion, then... nothing.
He set these thoughts aside for now and focused more on what was actually happening at the moment.
"Who are these people? Where are they bringing me?"
When he slightly moved his head sideways to take a look at them, instant horror engulfed his eyes. On the chests and capes of these very knights were engraved a dark, ominous-looking skull. He had heard enough stories about these knights to know true fear about them. These were none other than the Inquisition, responding only to the King himself.
"I-I am innocent..." The apprentice weakly spoke.
"Quiet!" The Knight ignored him, instead giving the young man a punch to the face. A punch that would make him grunt and grimace as his lips tore open. He could vividly feel the sharp pain that came along.
"Take a punch like a man, weakling." The same knight coldly sneered, making the young man droop his head in shame.
Thankfully for the apprentice, his moment with the knights wouldn't last any longer as they have finally arrived at their destination. The young man raised his head to be greeted by the sight of a giant metal gate, tens of meter tall. Good thing that the gates were already open as no normal human would be able to move these two towering metal doors.
The two knights dragged the apprentice through the gate, and they went on until they reached a throne at the end of the room. There, they coldly pushed the poor young man to the floor, immediately kneeling as they saluted: "Your Highness!"
The apprentice was already visibly hurt from the explosion, and with the addition of his unnecessary aggressive fall to the ground , the pain he felt increased two-fold. The poor young man started shaking, not capable of supporting the torment of both physical and mental pain he felt.
Who could blame him, after all, the KING himself, who ruled with an iron hand over the entire continent was right in front of him! The apprentice did not dare look up and stayed slumped down, shaking in fear right below the king's throne.
The king slightly raised his jewel-covered hands, signaling the two knights to do something about the insect that was cowering in fear.
The knights forcefully grabbed the young man and with one strong tug, they put him back on feet. They weren't done with him yet as he still had his head drooped down, so they also had to pull his hair up so his eyes could face the king.
And for the first time ever in his life, the apprentice laid eyes on the king in body and flesh. The king high up his throne, emanating a divine aura that made the apprentice's eyes squint, as if staring at a god. But he was no god, as under his priceless crown, were beautiful golden hair that showed signs of withering, streaks of white hair clearly visible on his sides.
The apprentice's awe would then turned to fear when he noticed that a frown formed on the the god-like being's face.
"Speak. What happened." The King's voice was deep and elegant, yet carrying a small tone of anger and frustration.
The apprentice might be young, but he wasn't stupid. After recollecting his thoughts, he could tell that the King was asking him about the ritual that he had been participating in.
The young man took a deep breath, ignoring the pain on his lips, and exhaled, spouting all that had happened from from the very start of the preparations, till the gruesome explosion.
The young man was clumsy, stuttering during a few passages of his storytelling, as the pressure of conversing with the king was no easing thing to deal with. But that didn't stop him from clearly describing the previous brutal event. Events that would make the king massage his temples upon hearing them.
"This is bad…" The King thought, suppressing his clenched fist to grab onto his crown and flinging it out the window.
"Get the advisor here right this moment!" He grumbled at a servant standing quietly behind him as he took a deep breath to try to calm himself down. The servant then quickly dashed out the giant gates not wanting to make the King angrier as he was already visibly fuming at the moment.
Right as the servant disappeared, another peculiar character entered the room, carried by multiple clerics on a stretcher. It was none other than the Archmage!
"Your Highness!" The old man saluted as he tried to stand from his stretcher. The King raised a hand, signaling the Archmage to stop the formalities. There were more pressing matters to attend to.
"What in the gods happened Vis!" The King shouted, demanding an explanation.
As the old Archmage was about to respond, a fat, plump man entered the Royal Court. Beads of sweat would roll down his greasy cheeks as noticed the King's angry demeanor along the injured Archmage.
The plump advisor took out a small cloth and wiped the sweat off his face as he saluted the king.
"Oh, honorable King that stands above all! What is it you need my humble assistance for today?!" The fat man chanted, saluting in the most exaggerated way possible.
The king only slightly raised his fingers in response and looked back at the Archmage, waiting for his interrupted response. The old man nodded back at him before angrily turning towards the fat advisor, pointed his shriveled fingers at the thick figure.
"Him! It's all his fault!" The Archmage so angry that he even stood off his stretcher. The clerics quickly assisted him and put him back in his seat as he was about to fall from exhaustion.
"Nonsense! Your Highness, what are all these sudden accusations without proof?! This is blatant daylight framing!!" The Advisor squealed and squealed as he pointed back at the Archmage with his thick finger.
"Silence!" The entire room fell quiet as one word from the King made silence reign again.
"Archmage Vis, continue."
The Archmage nodded and finally spoke as to had happened during the ritual. He told the King of the mages' incompetence, how they could barely even meet the minimum requirements to complete each task. If they had just had that bare minimum, he could've compensated, but it was way below what he expected.
"The magic circle was way too unstable because of the mages chosen by HIM!" The old man added, keeping his angry finger pointed at the advisor.
With a finger on his face, the advisor's plump body shook considerably, as he resisted the urge to open his mouth and retort in every imaginable way possible.
As for the King, he had his eyes closed, digesting all the information he had just received from the Archmage.
"Everyone leave." He said, his fingers rapidly tapping his armchair as if doing so would somehow help the situation.
With his order, the room was slowly cleared. The two knights escorted the apprentice out of the palace, the clerics carried the Archmage out too, and the fat advisor nervously tiptoed his way towards the giant gate.
"You stay, Vota." The King opened his eyes, immediately glaring at the fat man.
"…" The royal advisor sighed before turning towards the king, putting up his most charming smile.
"My grace has its limits, Vota. Out of consideration of your father, I did my best to take care of you."
"I didn't think it would be this hard." The king lowered his head, recalling all the troubles Vota had caused him up until now.
"Had he not saved you, MY father would be King." The smile on the advisor disappeared, his father being mentioned.
"I know. And I would've turned a blind eye to your every mistake for his sacrifice. But this time, you went too far…" The King sighed deeply.
"So, what are you going to do to little Vota? Imprisonment? House arrest?" The fat young man yawned as he awaited his punishment with his hands on his hips.
As usual, the king would give him a lecture along with a light punishment, and then that's about it. Of course, that was what he thought would happen.
The King did not reply to the advisor, instead slowly standing up to head towards a nearby window, setting his eyes outside, gazing at the Royal Capital's giant towering walls at the very limit of his sights.
"The next demon horde invasion is close. We have about a year left till their demonic claws will reach our borders. We can't defeat them. Our predecessors couldn't. No one in history could."
"And YOU caused the only ritual that would give us a chance to victory to fail…" The king sighed again before staring at his nephew straight in the eye.
"I hereby remove your title as Royal Advisor... May you seek redemption and forgiveness in frontlines, Vota."
Meanwhile, outside the royal palace, the apprentice was thrown to the ground by the two Inquisition knights and left without saying another word.
"I'm starting to get used to being thrown around…" The young man sighed as he struggled standing up.
"What do I do now?" He asked himself, while still being slightly shocked to all that had happened. The entire day felt like a fever dream for him. Participating in a top-secret ritual, discovering a kingdom-level secret, even meeting face-to-face with the king himself!
As he was lost in thought, he noticed a group of people exiting the Royal Palace. It was the Archmage Vis and the clerics carrying him. The apprentice quickly rushed towards them, to be stopped by a few knights guarding the Archmage.
"It's okay, I know the child." The Archmage weakly stated to his knight, opening up the apprentice's path.
"What is it that you seek from this old man?"
The apprentice bowed to offer his respects before nervously asking, "Do you happen to know where my master is? I don't know where to go or what to do, and I'm not so familiar with this area…"
As the Archmage was about to answer him, the old man raised an eyebrow, noticing something wriggling on his chest. It was not only him that was out of focus as the apprentice too felt something strange on him!
"What the?!" The apprentice shouted as out of nowhere, a thin layer of light blue aura completely enveloped him.
The Archmage stared with awe at young man, wanting to get closer and discover what was happening but on his side, something else caught his attention. It was the wriggling on his chest that he had felt earlier. A necklace would emerge from the old man's robes, levitating in the air, surprisingly emitting the same aura as the apprentice! The necklace was even slightly perched towards the apprentice, as if it wanting to fly towards it.
The old man's baggy eyes glowed as if witnessing a miracle seeing the succession of events right in front of him.
"Of course!" He yelled after shifting his head back and forth towards both his necklace and the young man.
The Archmage immediately jumped off his stretcher, grabbed the apprentice, pulling him back to the same corridor that led towards the royal court.
The old man's escorts and clerics could only stared dumbfounded at them, not only witnessing the strange blue event, but also having seeing an old man on his deathbed suddenly running like crazy.
"Slow down, Archmage, your injuries!"
"I'm okay, child. It was just a small act to get the worst for that wretched advisor!" Archmage Vis responded as he laughed with satisfaction, recalling the advisor's reaction.
It didn't take too long for them to arrive back to the Royal Court, immediately rushing through the gates. The old man would soon regret doing so, as they were instantly greeted with a strange scene.
The Royal Advisor Vota , kneeling with tears in his eyes, his hands tightly latched on the King's thighs, his mouth open wide shouting out loud: "Noooo! I'm sorry, Uncle, please don't send me to the frontlines! Pleeeaaase!!!!"
The old man smiled in satisfaction witnessing the scene play out in front of him. Although he wanted the advisor's torment to go on, another part of him strongly wanted to report his new discovery.
"Ahem!" The Archmage coughed twice, instantly capturing the duo's attention. The apprentice would look away, his entire body shaking in fear as two pairs of eyes landed on the two. These were no normal eyes. These eyes could get him killed were he to make a slightly wrong move. And the poor young man had just been part of seeing something he shouldn't have.
The king quickly pushed his nephew away and fixed his clothes. And for the advisor Vota, instantly composing himself, rushing behind the king as a good advisor would do, acting as if nothing had happened.
"I clearly said everyone to leave. This better be important." The king said with a hint of annoyance.
"This is so important it could save the kingdom!" The Archmage shouted, completely indifferent to the King's fiery eyes.
Hearing the Archmage's bold statement, the King immediately turned serious as he stepped down from his high platform and stood face-to-face with the old Archmage.
"I'm listening." The King spoke, his eyes opened wide.
"See for yourself." The Archmage said as he pulled the apprentice that was hiding behind him.
The king turned his head towards the apprentice, not seeing anything special in the young man. Just a normal looking young man garbed in cheap apprentice mage's robes, neither too tall nor too short, with a set of messy dark hair on his head. The kind of guy could easily blend in a crowd of people and be easily forgotten.
"I see nothing." The King annoyed, turned back to the Archmage after giving the apprentice a single glance.
The Archmage didn't answer him but instead removed the necklace off his neck and raised it up for the King to see.
"Recognize this?" Vis asked.
"Hero Roberto's necklace… the one I gifted you during your Archmage ascension." As the King was about to ask what that had to do with anything, the necklace glowed blue, levitating towards a certain direction. The King turned his head to see where it was pointed, and his eyes landed on the apprentice again, who was now completely enveloped in the same color.
The Archmage put the necklace in the apprentice's hands, and surprisingly the blue hues on them disappeared. When Vis took the necklace back, the same phenomenon resurfaced: both the item and the apprentice glowed blue, and the necklace was flying towards the young man.
"See that?! The explosion from the ritual, it tainted the child!"
"Now he's a living otherworldly artifact magnet!" The Archmage laughed and laughed when he looked at the glowing apprentice.
"How will this help against the demonic invasion?" The King frowned, a bit disappointed by the information.
"Everything! The reason why we can't conduct another ritual we don't have the materials left to do so."
"And this!" The old man raised the necklace again.
"Otherworldly artifacts like this can be used as a substitute! And that's why we need the lad! With him, we can try and locate all the long-lost Hero artifacts. We just need two—no, three—artifacts, and we can proceed with another ritual!"
"This… is... doable. We do have one Hero artifact kept for safekeeping by the Elves in the East." A glimmer of hope started flashing in the king's eyes. With the artifact in the Archmage's hand, that would already be two artifacts.
"We just need to send him East, escorted by a few powerhouses to retrieve it, and if he's lucky, he might find another artifact!" Vis excitedly prattled as he saw that he had managed to convince the king.
"No, we can't afford to mobilize any more powerhouses..." The King frowned, as they were faced with another issue.
"There were a few powerhouses stationed here for training the newly summoned hero... but with the ritual failed, I've already sent them all to defend our critical borders. The clashes with the demons are growing increasingly stronger. Our borders must not fall..."
Meanwhile, at the corner a fat figure had his ears wide open, eavesdropping the conversation. It was Vota, the fat advisor. His ears would wriggling in satisfaction, upon hearing everything they've said. Jumping out of his hiding place, he shouted at them: "I can escort him!"
"You WILL go to the frontlines!" The king shouted back, resisting the urge to go and give him a beating.
"I am the perfect candidate for this! Look, I am THE king's nephew. Everyone knows my face! No one will dare mess with us if I accompany him!" The advisor Vota laughed loudly, pointing proudly at his own thick face.
The Archmage Vis slightly raised his eyebrow when he heard Vota's suggestion. No matter how much he hated the advisor, he had to admit that he had a point.
A rare act that did not go unnoticed by the King as normally the old man would utterly go against every word uttered by Vota.
The King sighed, reluctantly nodded in approval at Vota's suggestion.
"You better not do me wrong, Vota… There won't be any second chances. I swear it on my dead brother's name." He added, staring straight at Vota's eyes with slight killing intent.
"I promise." The fat Vota let go of his joker act and, for once, looked truly serious. He really didn't want to go to the frontlines.
The king nodded approvingly at his nephew. He thought that for once, the kid truly looked like his father.
"And as for you, young man, What is your name?" The king finally addressed the long-forgotten apprentice.
"I-I'm called Spes, your Highness."
"Well, Spes, now the fate of the entire kingdom now rests in your hand…"