《Archage》Chapter 3: Meeting the Family
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Making their way out of the forest, Lutius was met with a scene which will forever remain buried in his heart. Atop posts that bordered the streets, orbs of light shun vibrantly lighting up the entire roadway whilst crowds of people filled the pavements, some hovering a few inches of the ground zooming by. The streets were filled with magical beasts being used as transport vehicles, massive lizards and wolves whose eyes were filled with ferocity were being used to pull along carriages. The greatest surprise to Lutius however, was the beast that was pulling the carriage that was waiting for him. With pure white fur that sparkled in the light and a horn on its head, with wings resting on its side and a golden collar around its neck, a unicorn stood proudly on the road. Any other beast that passed nearby slowed down and bowed for a couple seconds before moving on, no matter how much the people on its’ carriage encouraged it to hurry along.
“Holy hell, that’s a fricking unicorn!” Lutius couldn’t help but mumble as he watched the majestic beast.
“Are you alright Your Highness? Ahh, yes, the unicorn is very mystical creature isn’t it. His Majesty was very pleased when you tamed it.” Eobard said noticing Lutius’s gaze.
‘Oh, damn I caught this, right that was two years ago… so when I was 16 damn, I’m awesome ain’t I?’ As these thoughts ran through Lutius’s mind they boarded the carriage and made their way towards the palace that was situated in the inner city.
The layout of the kingdom according to Lutius’s memory was three circles within one another. The palace was situated in the middle of the ‘first boundary’, as they called it, with the abodes of the kingdom’s Dukes. Within the second circle the Counts and Marquess resided. In the last circle the barons and most of the citizens lived. This doesn’t mean that only in the ‘third boundary’ citizens lived. After schooling and making any significant contribution to society you are given a property in the ‘second boundary’ or first depending on your achievements, or simply if you save up enough you may purchase one yourself.
Suddenly the carriage stopped, and loud shouting was heard from outside.
“Your Highness I will check it out please stay inside where it is safe.” Eobard seemingly faded away till he disappeared from inside the carriage. After a few minutes and noticing that Eobard hasn’t returned, curiosity got the best of Lutius as he opened the carriage door to peak outside.
“I told you move or get cut down. Don’t you know who we are. This is the Crown Prince of the Ember Kingdom, Bizird Ember’s Carriage.” A high-pitched voice rang out.
“Yeah and I am telling you I do not care. Get out the way or even if your King was in front me, I wouldn’t hesitate to cut you all down.” Eobard’s bestial voice filled with rage, shook the carriage.
“Yo…you, how dare you disrespect the Emperor you wish to die?!” At this point both sides were readying their weapons and spells. The civilians on the road all looked at the Ember kingdom’s carriage with scorn.
“Emperor? Since when did the King of Ember gain the title of Emperor. Just because he has the a backing of the Church of Holy he feels he is a bigshot?!” Mumblings similar to this could’ve been heard from all around. The Eunuch of the Ember Kingdom couldn’t stop his face from glowing red with anger. However, soon after, the citizens who were engaging in gossip all bowed down as a youth clad in white appeared.
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As Lutius stepped outside the carriage all the citizens of his kingdom bowed in greeting.
“Hail the Prince of Honour, Long live the Prince of Order!” A shout so loud rang out the caused the fire lizard that was pulling the carriage of the Ember Kingdom to squeal in fright shaming those from Ember Kingdom’s party.
The shout was repeated three times before Lutius waved his hand and everyone went about their ways. Scenarios like this was truly rare as the usual custom is to simply bow for a few seconds and leave. However, seeing the arrogance of the ones titled by them as the ‘enemy’, the civilians greeted Lutius with the shout used in the case of victory in war or for some major accomplishment.
Suddenly a fire bolt appeared from the window of the Ember kingdom’s carriage and targeted Lutius. However, before the bolt of fire could’ve hit him, Lutius simply sighed and the flame was dispelled, but it didn’t stop there. Soon after 5 more bolts and a fire ball were sent towards Lutius.
“You are courting death!” the temperature in the area dropped as these words were muttered out of Lutius’s mouth. Out of thin air, a yin yang circle about 24” in diameter appeared in front of Lutius, after which the entire circle became white. “ORDER!” commanded Lutius as all the fire spells that was coming at him disappeared, “and Penance!” Lutius moved levelled his hands in front of him then moved his right hand up whilst moving his left hand down. In the air in front him, a golden scale appeared in the white circle, and the scales followed the motion of Lutius’s hands.
“Argh. Lutius you bitch! I will kill you! Release my spiritual essence at once!” The shout of a boy was heard coming from the carriage. This was the wizard Bizird Ember, the Crown Prince of the Ember Kingdom. Kicking open the carriage’s door, a boy around 17 years of age with an imprint of a small flame in the middle of his forehead appeared. Dressed in red and black robes holding a magic wand, with eyes filled with rage, Bizird stared at Lutius. However, there was a sliver of fear mixed in with the rage that Lutius noticed.
‘So, this is magic. Thank god I still have access to the previous Lutius’ memories, or I would’ve probably been reduced to ashes just now. Still the element of Order…quite a weird element yet its so powerful. Hey Trixie categorise and analyse all data about elements and have it ready for me to run through later ok. Now what to do with this fool.’ As Lutius contemplated, the Prince of Ember was getting more and more enraged as he thought Lutius was purposefully ignoring him.
“Bizird, that is enough, or do I need to remind you to whom you are speaking to and whose Kingdom you are in currently. You were invited to His Highness’s wedding out of courtesy and but that doesn’t mean we won’t kick you out, even if you are going to be considered family.” Eobard’s voice resounded shocking those of the Ember Kingdom’s party even more. By calling Bizird’s name without any formalities and even threatening the Crown Prince of a Kingdom, one can only imagine how the Ember Kingdom’s troupe even found the face to stay and attend the wedding.
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After that little setback, Lutius and company continued to make their way towards the palace, after all to face Eobard, an advanced magic knight, would be suicide for the Ember Kingdom’s party which only consisted of 15 people. Along the way Lutius was able to thoroughly understand the magical abilities of this world. According to the data Trixie analysed, there were 5 tiers of mages, tier 1 being the lowest, and 4 versions of Spell casters, namely, wizards, sorcerers, warlocks and magic knights.
‘Hmm, so to simply put it, wizards, specialise in crafting and using grimoires to store their magic, wands or staffs to enhance their magic and scrolls to cast spells above their tier. Sorcerers can be thought of as the rarest of all as they are born with an extremely high affinity to their element making using specific words for spells useless. They can simply say fire instead of fire ball, and a fire ball would emerge once they visualise it properly in their minds. Warlocks specialise in rituals, arrays, summonings and are born with extra spiritual essence. How much extra depends on one’s luck it seems. And finally, magic knights, they specialise in close combat and is the most common type of spell casters. Trixie you have done well.’
After finishing reading through the information, they had finally arrived at the palace. The castle was a behemoth of a building, giving the Malbork Castle in Lutius previous world a run for the title of the biggest castle in the world. The colours white and gold was used in the most intricate manner in the engineering of the building’s design. After alighting from the carriage and entering the Palace’s gates, a crystal marble pathway bordered by flowers and small lakes lead straight to the entrance of the main building which had a star hovering off its’ roof. The flag of the kingdom, a totally white cloth with a golden star encrusted on it, flew majestically on the right of the building, and further beyond the flags was the servants’ quarters. To the left of the main building was the guards/ soldier’s barracks and towards the back was the Royal Family’s quarters which joined the main building with a long corridor.
“This is amazing,” Lutius whispered to himself.
Walking towards the main building followed by Eobard and company, Lutius couldn’t help but be taken aback by the beautiful scenery in front of him. Along the way the gardeners and caretakers of this masterpiece would stop working and bow to Lutius before continuing what they were doing.
‘Host, the presence of someone stronger than you have been detected. Answering Host’s following question, after receiving the instruction to analyse and compile data related to this world’s magical abilities, an analysis of the host’s spiritual essence and the world’s was done, thereafter a detection ability had been developed.’ Trixie’s voice rang out in Lutius’ mind giving him a pleasant surprise by the capabilities of this little box.
‘Its obvious that Eobard is stronger than me so the only reason why Trixie pointed this out has to be because she detected the person before I even saw him. This is akin to having a passive detection ability. Trixie keep detecting and alerting me when someone stronger than me appears.’ Lutius commanded.
‘Host… everyone in that palace is stronger than you. Also, you are right if something is obvious, I will not point it out unless its absolutely necessary.’
Before Lutius can even reply back mentally they had already entered the palace and came face to face with his parents and siblings for the first time. His father, King Luther Whitstar sat on a golden throne in the middle, with his mother Queen Alexis Whitstar to his right, on the highest level of the podium like structure. Four silver seats filled the level beneath, where his two brothers, Lexus and Lucian Whitstar sat and on the final ground level the Dukes, Counts Marquess and Barons, sat in conversation. As soon as Lutius stepped into the court, the assembly of nobles all hushed before erupting in loud cheer.
“Congratulations to the Crown Prince, Congratulations to the Prince of Order!”
“Congratulations to the Crown Prince, Congratulations to the Prince of Order!”
“Congratulations to the Crown Prince, Congratulations to the Prince of Order, Lutius Whitstar!”
The nobles all congratulated Lutius on his marriage. However, a sweet voice which covered all the cheer, silenced them once again.
“Son, are you alright?” …
Mothers will always be the most mysterious beings in the world. Immediately after seeing Lutius, Queen Alexis simply had a feeling that something was wrong. Her son seemed…, different in some way to her. Forget congratulating him, his wellbeing was more important to her.
‘He seems melancholic…as if some great problem occurred.’ The Queen thought and she would be right. From the journey from the forest to the palace, though a lot of things happened it was still within a relatively short time. No matter how great a person, being transmigrated and thrown into a situation where the previous occupant of the body you are in was assassinated, anyone would be rattled deep down even if they tried to hide it. With that, together with the Queen’s great abilities and simply being his mother, how could he hope to hide the emotions he was truly feeling. Even if he was 100+ years old, with the memories in this body being his own presently and being at the forefront whilst his previous memories taking a backseat, he simply couldn’t hide his true feelings this time.
“Yes, mother I am fine now, but a situation occurred which I need to inform the court of immediately. I was taking a stroll in the forest when a dark figure suddenly attacked me. I was able to defend myself, but I was poisoned. If not for me happening to find a rare herb in the forest I am afraid today you would be mourning my death rather than celebrating my marriage. I wanted to wait till after the preliminary ceremonies was done before informing you all of this matter, but I reconsidered, due to my worries of my siblings and fiancé’s safety.”
In truth the reason why Lutius chose to inform them of this matter now, was so that he could get some time to truly settle down before having to ultimately confront the fact he was going to be married… again.
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