Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, Everybody! How are you all?

Well alrighty then...

A decent amount of people have seen this.

Let us begin writing the second chapter.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Unknown amount of time later... - Alice's Point Of View...

Opening my eyes to reveal a very known ceiling has never been quite as relieving. I feel like someone who's just been kidnapped.

And then thrown back into her own bed once the kidnappers realized I wasn't worth the effort.

The amount of times this has happened is.. dangerously high."A-ah! Mistress! You've awakened!"

An unknown voice entered my ears as I turned my head to the left, a maid wearing a very French-like dress appeared in my eye's view.

.. Wait, French?

What and who is French?

And why am I thinking that word with a capital letter?

... AND WHY DOES MY NECK HURT SO MUCH WHEN I MOVE IT?!

Feels like I haven't moved in months. Wait, what the maid said...

How long have I been asleep?"Uu..gnnn."

A gurgling sound escapes me as I attempt to move myself but to no avail. With a gasp, the maid seemingly woke from her trance, dropped a towel she was carrying and ran out of the room. Most likely to go inform whomever became my county regent in the meantime.

Or adoptive parent, for that matter.

Within what seemed to be the span of a second, an old man wearing a very royal outfit, with a crown of gold and diamond, rushed into the room."Alice! You're awake!"

The King. Or uncle Rudolf, as I'd like to call him.

Huh, so he's the one who adopted me. I suppose that's not too bad.

Without replying to him, I forced myself to an upright position, managing to put force into my hands."Uughh.." One of my hands rose upwards and planted itself on my forehead, as the headache I'm experiencing right now has to be one of the more painful ones.

"D-don't move, child! Lay back down, please!" The old man exclaimed with worry as he sat down onto the bed next to me.

In that moment, I saw my arms. Dry and nearly hollow, with bones clearly visible.

Starvation.

The very late stages of it."H-how l-l-long?" I managed to ask of him, causing the old man to lower his head in sadness."Alice.. you've been asleep for three months. Our healers gave up on you but I couldn't just let you die after what happened to your parents..."

"M-m-mother?" A question which seemed to shock him as he turned away.

Momentarily, he seemed to ponder weather or not to tell me the answer, but he decided that I deserve to know soon after."Your.. mother, has passed away, darling. She... she committed suicide the day you arrived back home. It seems that you were caught in the explosion."

I unconsciously bit my lip as the bony hand fell back down and I slipped into the bed, burying my head into a pillow.

After what she tried to do to me... they still cooked up a story which makes her the victim. Gritting my teeth, I tried to move again, causing my bones to make terrifying, echoing cracking sounds."I.. s-see.."

The maid from before rushed into the room, carrying a deliciously-smelling soup, some milk and water and dried herb which I recognized to be Medentes, a herb used by nobility for cleaning and/or healing teeth.

I licked my own teeth.. or what was left of them. I felt holes in my mouth, several of my teeth had been taken out. I turned towards Rudolf.

The old man sighed, answering my unsaid question."We had to remove them because you had an infection. Don't worry, you are still young. Some magic and a lot of Medentes will be needed but you can easily re-grow them in time."

A nod was his answer as the maid places a hand onto his shoulder."Please, my king. I apologize for my bluntness, but the girl hasn't eaten in three months. May I?"

Blinking in surprise, the old man immediately stood up."Very well.. I must leave for the southern front tomorrow, but as soon as Lady Pendragon has recovered, send me a letter."

What was so important that the king himself wanted to talk to me about? Probably something to do with marriage.

My father was his best friend, after all. He owes him that much, or so the old fool would like to think.

"N-now milady, I know that you feel weak but, please open your mouth for me. And by the way, please call me Julia." The maid spoke rather eloquently for a lowborn and received a slow nod as her answer.

She began to spoon feed me."W-where is.. Eu.. Eug-g-genia?"

The maid blinked and looked away."Your head maid has.. run away as soon as news of the incident reached her. Lady Flarewreath was the one who placed the magic mark upon her which dispersed after death, thus making her free, so she ran away."

A nod, much to the maids surprise, was my answer. Truth be told, I had expected as much.

Still, three months?

I guess it makes sense.

After all, why would time have any meaning within the realm of Chaos, much less its apparent stomach?

That makes it August."W-what d-d-date i-is i-it?"

I asked the maid as I swallowed a spoonful of the soup which was just as delicious as it smelled. It appeared to be some form of pheasant soup."It is currently the thirteenth day of August, milady."

So much for school being over. Now I have only around seventeen days before I have to go apply for the next one.

Back to the so-called Grand City-State Of Sorciere.

A neutral ground between several great nations, made for the sole reason of advancing magic. And making sure that those who would study magic are separated from the normal populous.

Peasantry has a deep fear of all magic, one which non-magician nobles are more than happy to abuse out of spite. However, doing things like exiling mages, especially female ones or as they are more likely to be called; witches, is liable to get one in very bad relations with his or her liege.

After all, what kind of king does not like having magic soldiers in their army?

Anyways, where was I? Ah yes, Sorciere.

A city whose main features lie in its many schools of magic.

There are the basic schools of Clause, Irysia and Kadrin. Schools forcefully formed by the human kingdoms surrounding the city in order to indoctrinate their young mages into a state of supreme nationalism. Mages from each kingdom can only attend their own kingdoms basic school, causing much rivalry between the schools and their students. A bonus to this rivalry is a greater degree of education for all three schools as they continuously look to one-up each other in every way possible.

However, after one passes the basic school, they enter a complete other world. After all, there is only one Academy of Advanced Magic within the city which means that the rivalry previously born does not last very long.

There are, of course, competitions between students and, in some extreme cases, duels but that's about it.

During their time in Basic Schools, students learn about Mana Manipulation, Meditation and Alchemy.

And, the most important subject of all, History.

Lots and lots, of History.

Their kingdoms own version of History, that is. Where every single hero and their mothers are exalted in order to achieve the aforementioned nationalism.

Its kind of sickening, honestly.

But, I guess its also necessary.

As for the Academy.. well, there are a multitude of classes one may take and they're completely free to pick whichever one they want.

Of course, different classes have differing costs.

Things like Fire Magic is most definitely not going to cost nearly as much as Spatial Magic classes. Still, rare is the lowborn with the gold amount necessary to attend the Academy of Sorciere, since even the lowest air magic classes cost ten gold coin to attend for only a single year.

Our currency system works like this; one gold coin equals one hundred silver and one silver, equals one hundred copper. In some of the more distant kingdoms, there is another currency named platinums which are apparently worth one hundred gold coins, but this isn't the case in Clausia or either of the remaining two kingdoms.

Of course, this isn't always the case. Sometimes, a gold coin from one kingdom may be worth more than a gold coin from another kingdom. Same goes for the lower currencies.

But I admit that I'm not exactly the best when it comes to calculus. Money hasn't ever been much of a problem for me.

Though, I have a feeling that might change dangerously soon."Miss? Are you... alright?"

My gaze turned towards the maid, causing her to flinch."Let me s-see.. My parents a-are d-d-dead. I'm h-half dead m-m-myself. The king most l-l-likely wants m-me to m-m-marry one of his s-sons. My county w-was i-i-in b-bad s-shape before this so now its likely e-e-even w-worse.. need I g-g-go on?"

"W-well, at least the ones the king wants you to marry are princes, right?" She asked with a drop of sweat falling down her brow. I merely sighed in response."Y-yes. Princes. A-a-arrogant, insensitive, a-a-assholes w-w-with sticks up their r-r-royal bums."

"S-s-surely not all of them are l-like that, no?" I let out a dry, shameless laugh."Well no. Guldman isn't... but h-he i-is thirty y-years o-o-old a-and ma-married."

She blinked."Point taken..." Then she turned her head around uncomfortably.

Before her eyes widened and I decided to follow her gaze to find what surprised her so. And there, placed leaning onto the wall, was my fathers famous enchanted poleaxe, Luctus."A-ah right, the axe! Yes, we can use this."

The maid then stood up, walked over to the axe and then brought it over to me with great effort. Putting it on the bed next to me, she spoke with heaving breaths."Milady, I know that having your fathers weapon may not be something you approve of right now but... the weapon is enchanted with healing properties which only activate when one of your bloodline holds it. So uh, could you maybe do so?"

I reached out to the axe and placed an uncertain finger upon it. My eyes went wide as crimson energies flowed into me... before, I would have bought the story about healing properties.

But now, as an Agent Of Chaos, I think I know more about this enchanted axe.

Maybe me being suddenly chosen right after fathers death wasn't a coincidence. After all, this weapon teems with the same energies I felt while in The Red World."M-M-Mistress? Are you alright?" The maid asked me for a second time as I pulled the axe closer to myself, feeling the life-force of all those it had slain rejuvenating me.

Its quite obvious now. Father was not the kind of man who loved war, but he was over sixty years old while having the physique and good looks of a man thirty years younger. Not to mention how he was still capable of making me... most men are outright infertile at that age.

Dear father, how many lives have you devoured during your time?

How many lives am I going to devour in mine?

A prospect which seemed to intrigue me more than I'd like to admit as my face twisted itself with an insane grin. I clutched the axe tightly to myself before turning around to answer the maid... only to find that she was no longer there.

When had she left?

How long had I been drinking in the stolen life of people I never knew existed?

As I turned my head back around in order to shift myself into a more comfortable position, I finally noticed something wrong... My hair.. my beautiful black hair...

It has become white.

Was it trauma? But I barely feel anything at all.

... My instincts tell me no...

My instincts have been telling me a lot of things lately... maybe I should ask Antioch for an explanation the next time I see him.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Moments later... - Within the Throne Room - Reader Point of View...

The oval-shaped room was abuzz with activity.

Servants were rushing to clean the castle, restock the food and secure the treasury.

All the duties they had been neglecting with the absence of their lady.

But now she had awoken from her dreaded slumber.

Now, they needed to make sure she does not see the results of their negligence.

Lest they face dark times. Mayhaps even execution.

One of these servants, a maid in her thirties, ran towards her liege. She bowed to her king and spoke."M-Milord! I... The girl! The Axe!.."

Her running combined with the previous effort of carrying a huge piece of enchanted metal had caused the poor woman to run out of stamina."What is it, woman? What's got you in such a hurry?"

The king asked her with a quirked eyebrow as the maids head rose back up."The axe's healing properties... they are far stronger than anything we could have imagined! Once I gave the weapon to her, the life seemed to return to her eyes within seconds as some strange red energy started entering her!"

She took a breath."I tried to question the girl but she became unresponsive afterwards! I'm truly sorry my lord, but I did not know what else to do so I thought to inform you..."

He shook his head."No, you needn't worry lass. Twas I who ordered you to do this. There was no way we could have known a-a-a-... what would h-happen..."

And there, at the other end of the throne room, a white haired girl with crimson, glowing eyes, walked into the hallway while dragging along a massive poleaxe as if it barely had any weight.

Her half-dead form, her pale skin, her menacing, maniacal gaze and visible bones caused many of the female servants to either look away or lose consciousness.

Their lady had awoken from her slumber.

It was time to start working.

Or face execution.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

And that is it for this chapter of Destiny: Infernal.

Now then, what will happen next?

I guess we will both find out, won't we?

Hheheheheheh... I wonder if some idiot is going to call me sexist because I made Alice's father to be a strong, healthy old man while her mother is a much younger woman married to said old man.

Meh, probably.

Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!