A young man was dragged by his shoulders by two fully armored knights. They were bringing him through a silent corridor with beautiful walls. Only sounds of the rhythmic clanking of the knights' armor could be heard.
The young man slowly gained consciousness. He felt pain all over his body. As if a giant, mad orc bashed at him at full force. The first thing that would get out of his mouth would be multiple grunts of pain.
That pained young man was none other than the apprentice that had participated in the preparation of the ritual. He remembers helping the mages in the preparation of the ritual, and then when it started… he heard shouts accompanied by an explosion. That was all he could recall.
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?' He wondered.
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.
His words were weak but clearly echoed throughout the silent, beautiful corridor.
The knight on his left responded with a hard punch to his cheeks.
"Silence, peasant!"
The apprentice instantly grunted and grimaced from the pain. His lips even tore from the punch. He could vividly feel the sharp pain that came from it.
"Take a punch like a man, weakling." The same knight sneered.
The apprentice looked down in shame from the knight's words. His shame didn't last too long, as they finally arrived at their destination. The knights stopped in front of a giant, towering metal gate. The gate slowly opened with a loud creaking sound, showing how heavy it truly was.
The two knights brought the apprentice in front of a throne. The throne was on a platform made to keep anyone who came before it look smaller. A design made for one and only person worthy of such arrogance.
"Your Highness!" Both knights saluted their leader with a knee lowered and a fist to their heart.
They pushed the apprentice in front of the king and stood behind him in a stationary position.
The apprentice already felt uncomfortable all over his body. Accompanied by all the emotional stress he felt right now, he was literally shaking now. The KING who ruled with an iron hand over the entire continent was right in front of him! He 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 behind him to do something about the insect below him.
The knights quickly put the apprentice back on his two feet and forcefully raised his head so he could face the king.
For the first time ever in his life, the apprentice saw the king in body and flesh. He was totally unlike the portraits he had seen before. He sat like a god on his throne. He felt if he got any closer, he would immediately disintegrate from the immense aura the king emanated. With eyes burning like the sun, a face chiseled by the gods, and a priceless crown that would not rest anywhere else other than on his golden hair.
The apprentice's awe turned to fear when he noticed that such a being he saw as godlike had a frown on its face.
"Speak."
"What happened?"
The king's voice sounded like an order from the gods themselves. He felt totally pressured, immediately suppressing any idea of lies. Not that he was planning on ever doing so.
The apprentice knew the king was asking him about the ritual. So he opened his mouth and told the king all that had happened from the very start of the preparations of the ritual till the gruesome explosion. His way of telling the story was clumsy, but he still managed to say it as clearly as possible.
The king massaged his temples after hearing the apprentice's story. The ritual really did go wrong.
'This is bad…' He thought.
"Get the advisor here right this moment." He ordered.
Right as a servant went out to get the advisor, another peculiar character entered the room.
It was none other than the Archmage! He was carried on a stretcher accompanied by several clerics.
"Your Highness." The old man saluted as he tried to stand from his stretcher.
"Stay where you are, Vis. You're injured."
"I need an explanation as to what caused the ritual to fail."
The Archmage still sat on the stretcher despite the king's words. He didn't want to lie down while talking to the king.
As he was about to speak, a fat, plumpy man entered the Royal Court. He stood right next to the injured Archmage. Beads of sweat fell down his greasy cheeks when he saw the injured Archmage and the frown on the king's face.
He quickly wiped the sweat off his face and saluted the king.
"Oh, honorable King that stands above all! What is it you need my humble assistance for today?!" The fat man chanted as he did the most exaggerated salute possible.
The king only slightly raised his fingers in response and looked back at the archmage, waiting for the interrupted response.
"Your Highness, no offense intended, but the only reason for the ritual's failure is that royal advisor's fault!" The Archmage was so angry that he even stood up and pointed at the fat man next to him.
The clerics quickly assisted him and put him back in his seat as he was about to fall from exhaustion.
"Nonsense! Your Highness, he is clearly trying to frame me! Guards! Imprison him this instant!" The Advisor squealed and squealed as he pointed back at the Archmage with his thick finger.
"Enough! If you open your mouth one more time, I will not consider your status as family anymore!"
For the first time, the king yelled, causing not only the fat advisor to immediately shut up.
"Archmage Vis."
The Archmage nodded and spoke as to why the ritual failed. The mages weren't competent enough. If they had just had the minimum skill required to do the tasks, he could've compensated, but it was way below what he expected.
"The same mages the Advisor insisted on to participate in the ritual!"
The advisor's plump body was shaking strongly as he resisted the urge to open his mouth and retort in every imaginable way possible.
"Understood. Thank you, Vis. We will discuss the matter of the advisor's punishment another time."
"For now, we have more pressing matters at hand… The hero was our ONLY hope in repelling the next demon horde invasion."
"Everyone is dismissed."
The king spoke; everyone followed. 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 royal advisor sighed before turning towards the king.
"My grace has its limits, Vota. Your father was a good brother and saved my life on multiple occasions. His death wish was for me 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.
"MY father would be king if he didn't save you." The fat advisor spoke without any remorse or fear towards the king.
"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 looked at his nephew. No matter how fat he looked, he could still see his brother in his eyes.
"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. Vota didn't know that this time was different.
The king sighed and stood up. He looked outside the window display at the vast and beautiful Royal Capital.
"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 looking his nephew in the eyes.
"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. They immediately left without saying another word.
'I'm starting to get used to being thrown around…' He sighed as he stood up.
'What do I do now?' He asked himself
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! It left him wondering what was next.
As he was lost in thought, he noticed a group of people exiting the palace. It was the Archmage Vis and the clerics carrying him.
He quickly rushed towards them, but a knight escorting them stopped him in his steps.
"It's okay, I know the child." The Archmage weakly stated to his knight.
"What is it that you seek from this old man?" He asked.
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, he suddenly felt something move on his chest. Not only that, but the apprentice also felt something strange happening to himself too!
"What the?!" The apprentice shouted as he saw that a blue hue was emitted from his skin!
It looked like he was surrounded by a thin blue aura. It didn't all stop there, but a necklace on the Archmage's neck started to float and was emitting a blue hue too! It was even slightly perched towards the apprentice, as if it wanted to go towards him.
The old Archmage stared in amazement at whatever was happening. He looked at his necklace and then back at the apprentice that was glowing both blue.
"Of course!" He shouted.
He immediately jumped off the stretcher he was on and grabbed the apprentice and pulled him back towards the same corridor that led towards the royal court. His escort and clerics just stared dumbfounded at the old man that looked like he was about to die now running like crazy.
"Slow down, Archmage, your injuries!" The apprentice looked at the Archmage with worry, who was rushing the both of them.
"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.
At the pace they were going, they quickly arrived in the royal court. The Archmage didn't bother knocking and immediately entered the room. He would soon regret that, as they were instantly greeted with a strange scene.
The Royal Advisor Vota was kneeling while grabbing onto the king's leg with both hands while crying loudly.
"Noooo! I'm sorry, Uncle, please don't send me to the frontlines! Pleeeaaase!!!!"
"Ahem!"
The Archmage slightly coughed twice to capture the duo's attention. The apprentice didn't dare look again after getting a glimpse of what was happening. He feared the king would execute him on the spot for witnessing their interaction.
The king quickly pushed his nephew away and fixed his clothes. And for the advisor Vota, he stood quickly behind the king as a good advisor would.
"This better be important for such rude interruptions." The king said with a hint of annoyance.
"So important it could save the kingdom!" The Archmage shouted.
The King immediately turned serious as he stepped down from his high platform and stood face-to-face with Vis.
"I'm listening." He spoke.
"See for yourself." The Archmage said as he pulled the apprentice that was hiding behind him.
The king then looked at the apprentice. He saw nothing special on him. Just a young man with cheap apprentice mage clothes. Dark hair, not too short and not too tall. He would look like every typical peasant wandering in the streets were it not for a blue aura on him.
The Archmage removed the necklace on his neck and showed it to the king.
"Recognize this?" Vis asked.
"Hero Roberto's necklace… the one I gifted you during your Archmage ascension. Why is it attracted to this kid?"
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 him.
"See?! 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.
"What does this have to do with the kingdom-saving idea?" The King frowned, a bit disappointed by the information.
"Everything! The reason why we can't conduct another ritual is a resources problem. Otherworldly artifacts can be used as a substitute! And 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 have one Hero artifact kept for safekeeping by the Elves in the East." A glimmer of hope started flashing in the king's eyes.
"We just need to send him there 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 our powerhouses. There were a few stationed here for the purpose of training the newly summoned hero... but with the ritual failed, I've already sent them all to defend the borders where all the powerhouses should be. The clashes with the demons are growing increasingly stronger. Our borders must not fall." The King grimly replied in the face of the Archmage's suggestion.
Meanwhile, a certain person had his ears wide open to their conversation. It was Vota, the fat advisor. He suddenly had an idea in mind while he was spying on them.
"I can escort him!" He shouted.
"You WILL go to the frontlines!" The king stated he heard his nephew.
"I am the perfect candidate for this! I am the king's nephew; everyone knows my face! No one will dare mess with us if I accompany that nobody!" The advisor, Vota, pointed at his face proudly.
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.
The King noticed the Archmage's silence. Normally he would've utterly gone against what Vota was saying, but this time, he accepted it quietly.
"You better not do me wrong, Vota… There won't be any second chances. I swear it on my dead brother's name." The king gave his nephew a serious look.
"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…"