Within the Tribe of the Glacial Throne, Eryndor.
Tabitha clapped her hands once and the air around them shimmered and solidified, forming an invisible barrier that cut them off from the rest of the world.
"Are you for real?!" Her voice was so loud the walls of the Sealed Chamber shook.
They had just gotten the news that the witch had announced thirteen winners. Thirteen! Instead of fourteen. She purposely left out Ben Scott's name when in fact he was a victor of the Blood Reaping Contest prologue.
The message reached the Second Realm before dusk just a few hours after the Reaping prologue had ended and now Tabitha, also one of the victors and Ezra, her younger brother stood in the Sealed Chamber, baffled and borderline panicking.
(The Sealed Chamber is a temporary pocket of isolated space created through magic. When activated, it forms an invisible barrier around those inside, cutting them off completely from the outside world. No sound can escape and no magic can penetrate. No one could see or hear what happened within. It existed for as long as the caster maintained it, then dissolved back into nothing, leaving no trace it was ever there.)
"I don't know," Ezra responded plainly, barely looking up.
He was staring at a grey translucent screen floating in front of his face. It was known as the Sesh-Medw. His fingers moved across it as typed into it. Every time he tried to send a message, the same word appeared in red letters:
Error!
He tried again.
Error!
His jaw tightened. Frustration and confusion was written all over his face.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Tabitha snapped.
Ezra sighed, dragging a hand down his face. "I mean I can't reach him. Ben Scott. The Sesh-Medw won't let me through."
"You what?!"
Tabitha punched him in the shoulder really hard.
"Ow!" Ezra stumbled back, rubbing his arm. "What was that for?"
"This is all your fault," she yelled, stepping forward and shoving him again.
"My fault? How is this my fault?"
"You're the one who brought him here!"
"I didn't bring him here! The Sesh-Medw di…"
"Dummy, 'you' have the Sesh-Medw," She interrupted, shoving him again. "You're the one to be blamed."
She was right though but Ezra wouldn't accept defeat just yet.
"Would you stop?" He swatted her hands away, but she grabbed his collar and pulled him close.
"Fix it, Ez! You have to fix this."
"I'm tryin…stop." They scuffled for a moment. Her pulling him and him responding by pushing her back, until Ezra finally threw his hands up.
"Hold on, hold on.
Tabitha let go, breathing hard and glaring at him. Ezra straightened his tunic, eyes wide with sudden realization.
"What if... what if he was arrested?"
Tabitha blinked. "You think?"
"What if they took him to the dungeon? As an intruder?"
They both gasped.
"Or…" Tabitha's voice dropped. "...he actually died In the arena?"
Another gasp.
"Or.." Ezra's face went pale. "...what if..."
They both froze and stared at each other. And said it at the same time.
"He's with the king."
Silence. Tabitha's hand flew to her mouth. Ezra started pacing, running his hands through his hair. "This is bad. This is really, really bad."
"Bad?" Tabitha's voice pitched higher. "Ez, do you remember what happened to the last person who stole from the royal treasury?"
Ezra winced. "Don't remind m…"
"He had their arms ripped off." She interrupted. "It was literally torn from the sockets and thrown into the tribes of the Reavers to find."
"I kno…."
"And what about the Tweheat rebellion?" Tabitha continued, her voice shaking now. "When the Goblinkin tried to rise up? The king didn't just execute the leaders. He made their families watch as he executed them in public. Then he burned their villages. All of them."
Ezra closed his eyes. "Tabitha, I…"
"And the false prophecy spreaders!" She was yelling now. "Anyone who even whispered about a 'new king rising' in the last ten years vanished without a trace only to find them beheaded in the desert months later. Some say he chopped them off and fed their body parts to the beasts. Others say….."
She grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. "Ezra, if the king finds out Ben is human, or worse, if he finds out that you were the one who brought him here,"
She swallowed. It was best to leave the sentence and imagination unfinished. It was already well known in the Mortal Realm that Eryndor's king was brutal.
Sigh.
"I know." Ezra snapped, pulling away. "I know so don't worry too much."
He turned away, hands shaking. Tabitha's voice softened. "This is bad, Ez."
"Yeah." His voice cracked. "Yeah, it is."
She stepped closer. "Hey. Pull yourself together. We'll figure this out."
Ezra didn't respond. They stood there in silence for a long moment. Then Tabitha asked quietly,
"Where did we go wrong?"
Ezra didn't answer. Because the truth was, he didn't know the answer to that. Or maybe he did. Maybe it went wrong the moment he went to see the Oracle. Maybe this was all his fault after all.
But worse than all of that, Ezra knew something no one else did. Something that could get him in big trouble and eventually killed just for knowing it.
It was that the king wasn't from Eryndor. The king was human.
Ezra sighed as his mind drifted back in time to that very moment. He couldn't help it.
***
It was three years ago or maybe four. He had been summoned by the king after a mission, a simple reconnaissance task with another kingdom in Kher-Neter, the Mortal Realm.
But Ezra had been late. And worse, he failed his mission.
He arrived at the palace well past midnight. His heart was pounding as he thought of all the possibilities of what the king would do to him because he knew quite well that the king didn't tolerate failure.
The guards at the gate recognized him and let him through with a nod. Ezra walked quickly through the empty halls, boots echoing on the marble floors.
"Your Majesty?" he called softly as he entered the throne room.
No answer. He tried again. "Your Highness, it's Ezra. I…I'm sorry I'm late. There was an issue in the Wilds, the…"*
Still nothing. Ezra swallowed hard and moved deeper into the palace. Past the throne room. Past the guards' quarters. Up the spiral stairs to the king's private chambers. His bedroom.
He knocked gently on the door. "Your Majesty?"
Silence. He opened the door gently and peeked inside.
It was empty. Ezra stepped in quietly, glancing around nervously. "Hello? Are you here? I…I know I messed up, but I can expla…"
Still Nothing. Not a single noise was heard. He sighed. He was almost about to leave when,
Vwoom!
A portal opened. Right in the middle of the room. Ezra's eyes went wide. He dove behind the nearest piece of furniture, a large cushioned seat near the window and clamped a hand over his mouth.
The portal shimmered, edges crackling with violet energy and bolts. And then someone stepped through.
It was the king. Or supposed to because this was his bedroom. But the person standing in the middle of the king room was...not looking Iike the king.
He was wearing something Ezra had never seen before. A strange garment. It was dark purposely and sleek, with sharp lines. It wrapped around his torso and legs in a way that looked almost... tailored.
The top part had a V-shaped opening at the neck, showing a glimpse of his chest.
'What in the realms is that?' Ezra thought. 'Some kind of ceremonial armor?'
The king was smiling and laughing, even. He held a bottle in one hand, glass, filled with amber liquid and took a long swig as he stepped into the room.
The portal closed behind him with a soft hiss.
The king walked over to the chair. The very one Ezra was hiding under and sat down heavily, still chuckling to himself.
Ezra's heart was hammering so loud he was sure the king could hear it. The king took another sip from the bottle, then set it down on the table.
He stood up, stretched, and started undressing.
Ezra squeezed his eyes shut. 'Please don't look down. Please don't look down.' he prayed.
The king peeled off the strange garment, first the top revealing a muscular scaled free body. It was smooth and slightly hairy. Then he took off the bottom, and tossed them carelessly onto the floor. He was completely naked and Ezra fought hard not to look.
This was not the King's original form or maybe this was 'his' original form and when he was in his king form, that was secondary. Ezra wasn't sure which was which but he couldn't stop staring at the impressive should he say 'beautiful' body before him.
The king wrapped a silk robe around his waist and headed toward the bathroom.
And that's when Ezra saw him fully.
The horns…they were gone.
The small, elegant golden horns that always curved from the king's temples were not in its place. And the crown of fire that usually flickered above his head was also gone.
Even the faint glow in his eyes, the shimmer of magic that all Eryndites had was gone.
The king looked different…. Like a picture of humans they were shown as kids during history lessons.
Ezra's breath caught in his throat. His mind was running wild. 'No. That's impossible. That's….it cannot be! Our king is…human?'
The king suddenly stopped walking right in front of the bathroom. He tilted his head up and turned.
'Shit' Ezra gasped as quietly as he could. The king was walking towards his hiding spot.
Closer. Closer. Then he…..
***
"Ezra!" Tabitha's voice snapped him back to the present. Ezra blinked, realizing he'd been staring off into space.
"Huh?"
She was looking in his direction. Particularly at the translucent screen floating mid air before him. The Sesh-Medw.
"I've been calling your name and you didn't respond. Where's your mind at?"
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Millions of thoughts running through my head now."
She sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry we'll get through it together."
He smiled and nodded.
"By the way," she pointed at the screen, "How did you get that?" she asked, pointing at it.
Ezra's eyes widened. "Oh."
He waved his hand lazily, and the grey system screen expanded, hovering between them.
"You mean this?"
"Yeah. What does it really do and how did you get one? We've only heard of it in history lessons, but we've never really seen it before. Not in the past, not even now. And why didn't I get one?"
Ezra hesitated.
Tabitha narrowed her eyes. "Don't tell me you've never told me this story."
"I... thought I did?"
"Of course you did!" She said sarcastically. "You better tell me right now." She crossed her arms. "Spill."
Ezra sighed.
"Alright, alright. I'll tell you. But…" He gave her a look. "...it's a long one."
Tabitha sat down, gesturing for him to continue.
"I'm listening."