The inauguration brought a festive air to Albustone, the city even more lively than it usually was. Cheering crowds and loud trumpets led the pair in the direction of the emperor's castle, a massive structure that claimed a good portion of the eastern part of the city. While everyone was eager to get a view of the emperor and his daughter, the future empress, Talynn and Mavence were on a mission. Ignoring the stink-eyes directed at them, they weaved through the masses of people, at times resorting to crawling on their hands and knees to get through. Talynn had extra trouble from attempting to maneuver his large mage hat through the crowd, but somehow he managed. Slowly but surely made their way towards the front.
Far down the main road leading to the castle, behind the ever-growing crowd, the Furvusian in the green cloak stood with four others of his kind in plain gray cloaks.
“We part here. Wait for my signal.”
“Yes, lord Zaphkos,” the four in the gray cloaks gave a slight bow and split up, taking different directions through the crowd.
“Welcome one and all,” the booming voice of the royal herald sounded out as the front gates of the castle opened. “Today is a momentous day for Aedonia. A day we shall celebrate with festivals for years to come. Sons and daughters of Aedonia, welcome the leader that brought peace to the five kingdoms, emperor Prosephius Rego!”
The crowd replied with passionate ovation. As the castle gates opened, a long procession of imperial guards marched out followed by an elderly man accompanied by his two daughters. The emperor and his eldest daughter both were garbed in snow-white cloth with intricate gold inlays, also sharing the same platinum white hair and amethyst purple eyes. While sharing a similar facial structure with her older sister, the youngest daughter looked starkly different with tan skin, dark brown hair, and cunning emerald-green eyes. She wore a brown dress much plainer than that of her sister's.
“Do you see that white-haired girl, Mav? I’ve never seen eyes that color before,” Talynn said as they reached the edge of the crowd just behind the barrier of imperial guards, less than fifty feet away from the royal family.
“That’s the most beautiful girl I’ve seen in my entire life,” Mavence breathed as they stared with open mouths at the princess, nearly drooling on themselves.
“Welcome, sons and daughter of Aedonia,” the emperor spoke in the voice of a loving grandfather. “Thank you for joining us in celebration of forty years of peace and unity amongst our empire. Through many pains and sacrifices, we prevailed against the Griseans and secured four of the sacred stones, ensuring the safety of not only our people, but the people of the four kingdoms that have joined us in our fight for peace and prosperity.”
The emperor paused, waiting for the crowd to finish its applause.
“To commemorate our accomplishments and look ahead to our bright future, I present to you my beloved daughter, princess Lumenaeva. One day, she will take my place and become your empress. May she rule with kindness, compassion, and strength. But for now, I bestow upon her the necklace of her late mother, the legendary jewel Lucidaros. A symbol of hope and peace for our empire. May its holy light protect her for eternity.”
The crowd cheered all the more as the emperor fastened the necklace around Lumenaeva. The cord was made of a simple brown leather holding the gemstone by an intricate knot. The stone looked like uncut tanzanite in the shape of an octahedron with a gentle purple glow.
“Man, that stone she’s wearing is powerful. I can feel its lumi from here,” Talynn said to Mavence.
“Really? I’m not lumi sensitive. What does it feel like?”
“It feels like sitting by a fire on a cold night while someone softly plays the harp in the background. Just warm and serene.”
“To peace and prosperity!” Prosephius held his hands in the air as the crowd erupted in an applause greater than any that had occurred thus far. As the cheering died down, a sinister voice echoed over the smooth cobblestone road from behind.
“Peace and prosperity, you say? For whom? Certainly not the kingdoms you conquered. And certainly not my people.” Zaphkos pulled back the hood of his cloak, revealing pointed ears, a hooked nose, dark gray skin, and pale red eyes.
“Uh oh, that’s the guy!” Talynn and Mavence began scrambling through the crowd to get a better view.
“What is he talking about? Is that an imp?” The crowd murmured amongst themselves as they watched him approach the front of the castle from a distance. Imperial guards quickly began to form a wide circle around him, their halberds ready to strike.
“Oh good, the guards are closing in on him. We’re okay,” Mavence said as they slowed to a halt, watching as the guards around them streamed to the intruder.
Suddenly, one of the guards surrounding Zaphkos collapsed, his body twitching as it hit the ground. One of the gray cloaked Furvusians standing behind him twirled his bloodied dagger around his fingers. The nearby guards turned to face their foe. Orderly attack formation turned to a dissonant mess as the rest of the assassins entered the fray. The cloth garments and curved daggers of Zaphkos’ men afforded them much higher speed and agility than the heavily-armored guards wielding weighty halberds. They targeted the separation between the guard’s plates of armor with their daggers with pinpoint precision.
“For being soldiers of an empire, you lot sure are soft. This must not be the army that conquered the four kingdoms,” Zaphkos scoffed as his men downed more and more of the imperial guards.
The crowds attending the ceremony retreated in panic, people screaming while mothers desperately tried to find their children. Zaphkos strolled down the long path to the stairs that led up to the castle landing, but a growing band of imperial guards rushed to stand in his way.
“So eager to defend your emperor. If only you knew the kind of man Prosephius is. Maybe then you wouldn’t stand in my way,” Zaphkos said as he pulled back the sleeves of his cloak, revealing the unlocked mutostones inserted into the back of his gauntlets. The stone on his left hand began to glow hot orange as he channeled his lumi through it. With his arm extended, he opened his palm and faced it towards the human blockade.
“It’s unfortunate that you must share his fate. Now, burn!”
A great torrent of flames spewed out from Zaphkos’ hand in a wide cone, conflagrating the guards in his path. The smell of scorched flesh filled the air as the guards staggered about, trying to extinguish the flames seeping out of their armor. Zaphkos leapt over his victims and began sprinting towards the stairs, his four assassins abandoning their skirmishes to join him in his charge.
“Father, what do we do?” The young daughters of the emperors clung to their father, their eyes filled with terror as they watched the Furvusians drawing closer.
Prosephius kneeled down and held his daughters in his arms. “Do not fret, my dears. We are not alone.”
“And here I thought I’d get to relax and sip my tea today,” a deep and authoritative voice echoed over the cobblestone road. The archmage of Albustone exited through one of the smaller side doors of the castle, his grand brown beard and royal purple robes gently catching the wind. The rings on his fingers and the gold inlays on his robe bore the insignia of the emperor. In one hand he held a large wooden staff with a brilliant red stone at the end, and gently levitating above the other was a leatherbound spellbook with ornate golden foil inlays.
“Woah, this guy is decked out,” Talynn said as he and Mavence observed from the side of the landing. The archmage moved to the top of the stairs, blocking the assassin’s path to the emperor. The few remaining imperial guards stayed far away, giving the archmage an extra-wide berth.
“As the archmage of Albustone, it is my duty to protect and defend the emperor,” he boomed as Zaphkos and his men slowed their approach. “But I can’t guarantee you will survive after I’m done with you.”
Zaphkos’ face contorted with contempt as he looked upon the decadent servant of the emperor. He channeled lumi through his left gauntlet, releasing an intense beam of fire directly at the archmage.
“Aer shas obexia!” The stone hanging from the archmage’s gold necklace glowed a bright lime-green as he uttered words of an ancient language. A powerful wind spell left his hand and met with the incoming fire, snuffing out the entirety of the flames in an instant.
“No inscription circle? You’ll have to do better than a simple fire manipulation, imp. Let me show you a real fire spell,” said the archmage as he focused his lumi into the red stone at the end of his staff. An inscription circle formed around the stone, his lumi tracing out various lines, shapes, and glyphs with a glowing red line that seemed to spark and dance in the air. After the spell inscription was completed, he raised his staff heavenward and conjured three large orbs of fire orbiting around a central point, each about four feet in diameter.
“Now that’s a real fire spell! That guy is toast,” Talynn said to Mavence.
With a vindictive swing, the archmage launched the fiery orbs at Zaphkos and his men. While the other assassins rushed to evade them, Zaphkos stood his ground, instead getting down on one knee and placing his right hand in front of him as if he were holding a shield. As the fire orb was about to consume him, a bright blue inscription circle formed around his gauntlet. A cloud of steam exploded from the impact as the flames converged with a wall of ice and frigid air.
“Frost shield? Looks like you can cast a real spell after all. Not bad, Furvusian, but your reliance on mutostones allows you to only use one element at a time,” said the archmage as he strolled down the steps onto the same plane as his opponent. “Juvenile.”
The glint of a metal object rapidly approaching through the cloud of steam caught the archmage’s eye a bit too late. A throwing knife from one of the assassins hurtled toward him, but he had no time to cast a spell. Just before it reached his head, a sword passed in front of him, striking away the knife with a loud tanging sound.
“They found your weakness, Selvus. Anything that happens faster than you can cast a spell,” the woman holding the sword poked fun at the archmage. Barely over the age of thirty, her heart-shaped face and silky brunette hair were the only part of her not covered in heavy armor. Unlike the imperial guards, her sword, shield, and armor were gilded with much more gold and held the insignia of the emperor.
“See? The Emperor’s Guard is here, no need to worry,” the emperor said to his daughters, pointing to his elite soldiers with pride.
“Looks like the party started without us,” a man in his late forties said as he took his place on the other side of the archmage. Arrayed in gold-adorned armor with a massive battle axe in his hand, he was the perfect picture of a battle-hardened warrior. “Selvus, why don’t you leave those pesky assassins to us while you take care of that magic-user. Sound good?”
“Assistance won’t be necessary, but if you insist, I won’t stop you,” the archmage replied, attempting to spare his ego. With the steam finally clearing out, the archmage faced off with Zaphkos while the Emperor’s Guard engaged the four assassins.
“Mavence, come here, I have an idea,” Talynn ran to the edge of the landing a few yards from the top of the stairs. A book in left hand and lux chalk in his right, he began drawing on the cobblestone ground.
Down the stairs, a faint yellow glow appeared in the archmage’s hand as he gathered lumi. A green inscription circle formed around it, the lines of lumi dancing like feathers in a light breeze. The yellow aura faded and was replaced by the sound of a tempestuous wind. The archmage cast the spell at Zaphkos. Unable to see any visible attack, the assassin steadied himself, but a befuddled expression took his face when nothing happened. Several seconds later, he was thrown backwards by a hurricane-force gust of wind. He quickly returned to his feet, but his clothing now had a wide slash on the chest. He looked down at his exposed gray skin, blood beginning to pour from the laceration the wind spell had made to his chest.
“You’re beginning to bore me, imp,” the archmage tapped his finger on his arm with disinterest.
“Arrogance will be your downfall, just as it will be the emperor’s.” The stones in both of Zaphkos’ gauntlets began to glow. A horrible high-pitched ringing filled the air as the stones began to resonate. He held his arms level with the archmage and clapped his hands together, cupping them slightly to create a small pocket of air. Utilizing the mutostone’s ability to create extreme heat and cold, he condensed the moisture in the air and then superheated it between the palms of his hands. The steam expanded rapidly, generating a supersonic pressure wave that he directed through a space between his middle and ring fingers. The compressed air shot out with the loudness of a shotgun and struck the archmage directly in the forehead.
Talynn and Mavence looked up in alarm as the archmage’s unconscious body fell to the ground at the bottom of the stairs. The only thing now standing in the way between Zaphkos and the emperor was them.668Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTxA8OwvZfc
