The Sage's Reign

by Shakyra Dunn

  It always came down to this. Everywhere he laid his hat, despair followed. That was the curse of the Vesarus bloodline that blanketed his kingdom. He never imagined that it would carry him this far. So many lives were taken, towns incinerated in retaliation to his right to reclaim his crown. There would continue to be more places like Paluna, Linarus, Kinsley, so long as he had the strength to fight.

  Adrylis would fall, even if his life were put on the line. Hope was crumbling, much like the people that housed it.

  After laying down his blade, he crumpled to his knees, his forehead pressed against the icy pavement. To think, just yesterday, so many people crossed the path where he laid in wait. Now they were barricaded inside of an abandoned building without food, water, or electricity, and it was all his fault.

  He covered his face with his arms, shielding away tears. He tucked away his thoughts, forced himself to remain strong because it was what the kingdom deserved. Sentora proclaimed that he was playing the role of king and ripped apart his only chance to protect people. He put his best friend on the brink of death, and effectively tortured his already fractured soul. In one fell swoop, he had deemed the last royal of the Vesarus family a sniveling hypocrite.

  A carrier bird came and sat in front of him, cooing to rouse his attention. Rem briefly stared at it but didn’t bother to shoo it away.

  “Prince Remiel, I presume?”

  Rem jumped to a stand with sword in hand, pointing it in the direction of the unfamiliar voice. The person standing in front of him was younger by a year or two. He looked past copper eyes and long hair that framed his chubby face, noticing a pair of knives holstered near his ankles, a sword at his side, and even a bow on his back with a quiver full of arrows tucked over his left shoulder. Rem clenched his hand into a fist and conjured his dark power, the claw extending towards the boy, centimeters from his neck.

  “Drop your weapons,” Rem ordered. “All of them.” One by one, without even blinking, he removed his weapons, taking care not to throw them on the ground. After a few minutes, the boy held up both hands, his expression harrowed with discontent due to the knives at his feet. It was as if he was naked without anything to protect him.

  “I don’t want to fight.” Rem was processing the boy’s accent, reminiscent of Solus’s, though far less contained. “I just wanted to meet with you while you were still in Kinsley.”

  “Who are you?” Rem hissed, never faltering from the situation’s turn. “How do you know me?”

  “My name is Kinaju Leerus,” he stated. “I have an ally that knows you.” Rem narrowed his eyes. His words differed greatly from his clear concerns. “I came to give you a message from Hinju. I’m positive that you know who I’m referring to?”

  “Yes, bits and pieces,” Rem settled with. “Are you with the Order of Helix?”

  Kinaju started to lower his hands but quickly threw them back up when Rem’s claw inched closer to his throat. “Uh, yes and no, actually. It’s a little complicated.” Rem considered asking what the complicated aspects were, but he had lost enough time as it was.

  “All right. What’s the message?” Kinaju gestured to the bird, which flew over to him, landing on his shoulder. Kinaju unraveled the string holding an envelope in place and held it out for Rem, who claimed the note for himself, the dark aura dissolving once it reached him. He tore open the envelope, scanning its contents.

  Prince Remiel Vesarus…

  He mumbled a few choice words to himself and rolled his eyes upon reading the subtle introduction that Hinju made before he continued.

  It has come to my attention that you have overcome yet another obstacle. The death of Sentora Irai has unraveled your potentials and laid them out for me. This new development of your skill is a hindrance, and you are in turn damaging the fate of your people.

  Rem scoffed. He could already see that he was ‘hindering’ the man by opposing him, but that didn’t make his actions any less certifiable. There was so much that he didn’t understand about Hinju, and he couldn’t put the pieces together in his mind.

  I know that you seek the Orb of Concord, and I am more than willing to witness you honing its power. I will await your arrival in Linmus so that we can meet face to face anew. In the meantime, I certainly hope that you don’t die on me. There is someone that is being sent in your direction already.

  Rem crumpled the paper in his hand and dropped it on the ground, squishing the sheet onto the stone pavement with his foot. Kinaju was staring blankly at the remains of the message. “So, he wants to meet in Linmus once I have the Orb of Concord, huh?”

  “Are you going to pursue him?”

  Rem shrugged. “I have no choice. It’s still my duty to secure Adrylis’s fate.”

  Kinaju watched Rem disappear into the streets, gathering his weapons. “So that’s why Solus stuck with him. When that guy has the world on his shoulders, he fights to lift it back up. Must be nice to know someone with that kind of strength.”

  When Sien stumbled upon Rem, he was toting a bag over his right shoulder. They held deep stares for at least twenty seconds before Sien decided it was better to avoid another argument, but she stopped in her tracks when Rem asked calmly to speak with her. Confused as she was, she couldn’t say no, and they took a walk around Kinsley’s tattered grounds.

  “You know, if you aren’t comfortable being out here, we could always go back to the building to talk.” Rem was still shaking at the sight of the ruins, and it was becoming noticeable. He waved off Sien’s statement, putting his hands in his pockets, lowering his head.

  “I wanted to apologize for earlier,” he told her. “It was way out of line.”

  Sien folded her hands in front of her. “I don’t deny that. But I was more out of line. I shouldn’t have tried to stick my nose into the situation without considering your thoughts. I know that you want to help as many people as you can. Your parents didn’t have much trouble shaping a regime, but now that the burden of reforming it is yours, I imagine it’s harder to get in good graces with war coming.”

  Rem rubbed his temples. “I’d love to say no to them. Everyone here is acting pretentious about the world outside of this city. It’s right below the kingdom. No wrong has come to them before now.”

  Sien raised an eyebrow. “If you see that, then why are you so insistent on helping them?”

  “I couldn’t stop the destruction. I couldn’t do anything about innocent people being slaughtered.” He shakily exhaled. “I wasn’t strong enough to slow down Sentora either, not before he took down Leilana and Solus. He marveled at the idea that everything was going to be lost and hearing those words shattered my confidence. For just one minute, I thought that giving up was okay. And when I stepped out to see this city for the first time, when I forced myself to hold up my head… it made me realize that Sentora was right about one thing.”

  “What’s that?” she asked evenly.

  “If I’m still breathing and fighting, at least until this conflict is resolved, then destruction will be in the wake of my footsteps.”

  Sien rested her hands on his shoulders. “It’s not like you gave the order for execution or laid down your sword to watch everything fall. What Hinju planned, it may have been to draw you out, but you have no responsibility for the fate of others. I would never blame you.”

  She moved her hands to cup his cheeks, smiling softly. “Everything that you have done up to this point has been to correct your mistakes. Seeing you consider giving up when you’ve come so far, it’s something that none of us would accept. You’re already a king in my eyes. You accept that someday you’ll make things right, which is hard for someone that’s lost so much already. You were always able to pick yourself back up and resolve the conflict in your heart, and you strive for justice. Don’t let something like that slip away now.”

  Rem flicked the girl’s forehead with his index finger, and she quickly covered it with both hands, shooting him a glare. When his eyes softened, she lowered her guard. “Talking w
ith virtue isn’t like you. But hearing that really brightened my mood.” He laid a hand on her head. “Thank you, Sien.”

  “Don’t mention it. Just don’t go throwing the slack on us because your mind is in other places. You can talk to us, you know. We do want to understand what’s going on in your head.”

  “I know. I’ll try to do better.” Sien rose on the tips of her toes and gently kissed his cheek, which sent him into a mental frenzy, though his expression remained void. She cleared her throat, scratching her cheek with her nail.

  “Well, um, we should be heading back now, right?”

  Rem jumped, barely noticed by the girl, and he brushed some hair out of his face as he reclaimed the bag of provisions. “U-Uh, yeah, you’re right.”

  Leilana was the first to wake from her restless slumber, surprised when no morning light reached her left eye. She unconsciously reached up her hand to try and rub away the remaining residue, but it did nothing to clear the darkness. Taking consideration into her exhausted friends sleeping a few feet away, silently, she brought herself to tears, wiping them without a second thought. Grief was long overdue, but now that it was finally occurring, she couldn’t deny that she was feeling useless. She had lost more battles than won, all because she was more inexperienced than her allies, and every opponent had a way of overcoming her.

  Maybe using magic to fight still wasn’t the right answer.

  She glanced at her grimoire resting at the edge of the bed. The only remnant left of the Minsura clan, a kingdom of isolation that devalued anything related to magic, destroyed by the very energy they shrunk from. The book was sacred solely because of its dangerous content, and everywhere that she carried it, it brought only anguish. Ridding of it would be far more dangerous than keeping it close.

  Minutes after she woke, others began to stir. She remained silent about her condition, more concerned for Solus’s after discovering that his fever hadn’t yet broken. Rem, originally adamant on leaving, suggested waiting another day until Solus discovered Hinju’s message and turned the situation on its head. Talking progressed into arguing that they didn’t have time to wait, followed by Rem criticizing his recklessness, which led to a glaring war that ultimately forced Solus to put his foot down about their travel plans.

  They were out of Kinsley by noon.

  Rem couldn’t stop glaring at Solus’s back. The elder boy was keeping steady support by leaning on Sien’s shoulder, though he didn’t seem to have much trouble keeping his focus on the rocky path with Leilana watching the front while Rem himself brought up the rear. By the time that the sun passed into the western horizon, they were nearing the mountain range that would pull them to Nilu—that was when the true beckoning of trial and error would come into play, and the young prince was secretly hoping that the trek would teach his assistant about taking risks too far outside of his threshold. Sure enough, halfway over the rocky cliffs, Solus was unable to keep up with the rest of the group and ended up stopping partway, slumping against a boulder when the dizziness won out. The gesture caught Amiria’s attention first, and she ushered for Leilana to stop while she ran back to assist him.

  “I’ll be fine,” Solus told Amiria, though the shortness of breath and the light tint of pink coating his cheeks offered no confidence in his words. “I just need a moment.”

  “I think you need rest,” Amiria responded. “You’re going to end up hurting yourself…”

  “We have to finish what we’ve started.” Solus pushed himself to a stand, dusting off his clothes. Rem watched in disbelief, his mind working in overdrive as Solus walked past him. The split second of rage cut through the tension, and Solus couldn’t react to the slap coming for him until after it had struck his face and he was left clutching his throbbing cheek. Amiria covered her mouth with both hands while Leilana grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the chaos.

  “You idiot,” Rem snarled. “I told you not to push yourself! How many times do we have to go through this with you?”

  Before any further retorts came, Solus suddenly gained the momentum to slap him back, the sound far more audible than Rem’s was. The young prince was staring at Solus in shock, the servant’s hand still ablaze and held in the air, primed and prepped for one more good blow of rebellion if necessary.

  “You had absolutely no right. And if you do it again, I’m going to make sure that there is bloodshed to teach you lessons in fisticuffs, Highness.”

  Rem mimicked Solus’s previous gesture, gingerly caressing his right cheek. “…Ow?”

  “‘Ow’ is right,” Solus snarled, jabbing his finger into the boy’s chest, which promptly led Rem to push his hand away and save his own skin, growling at him. “You need to be more refined in handling these types of situations.”

  “And you need to be better at listening to someone besides yourself,” Rem shot back, venturing onward ahead of his companions. Sien calmly followed, giving her allies a knowing glance; she could probably quell him faster than any of them could attempt.

  Leilana took Solus by the arm. “Please don’t fight. He’s just under a lot of stress, I don’t think he’s trying to be so… commanding?”

  Solus scoffed at the remark, rubbing his temples furiously to try and ease whatever headache was forming. “Commanding is in his blood. He doesn’t know the difference between what he’s controlling and what to be in control of. There are many things that Rem has a grasp on. Pushing other people’s buttons shouldn’t be one of them.”

  Leilana sighed. “Solus, you should take some points he mentioned into consideration. Now, I don’t agree with how Rem handled that. But you are pushing yourself too far. You can’t stand up for long without support. You’ve barely been able to eat or drink, and your fever hasn’t broken because of the strain on your body. You were lucky to survive with how severe your injuries are.”

  “I’d rather the injury kill me off than be unable to save my best friend’s life. If he can’t see that, then what does it matter?” Amiria remained silent as she took in Solus’s words. There had to be more to his life than protecting Rem, even if his life was sworn to the royal family.

  “Don’t say something like that,” Leilana hissed. “That’s just foolish.”

  “Foolish words often bear truth.”

  Solus brought himself to a stand before pulling Leilana to her feet, continuing to cradle her hand in his own. Leilana wasn’t sure how sound his phrasing was, but it didn’t seem too far off from the statement playing in her mind. Fools were often trumped by their own sentiment of truth. She supposed that made sense.

  The ash-ridden city, Nilu, lived up to its name. Layers of soot were pouring from the skies, the clouds a smoky grey. Smoke was rising from the mining fields from a bird’s eye view, the town blanketed in shadow. The night was far too still. None of them could make out the figures roaming the grassless streets, no lanterns to guide their way. The air reeked of burning oil and scorched coal, and it was making Solus’s stomach turn. Leilana outstretched her hand to catch some falling dust, the texture thicker than snowfall. Rem grasped the ropes holding together the bridge that would carry them into the town limits, the ashen rain dancing on the tip of his tongue, making him gag on the repulsive taste.

  “There are guards down there,” Amiria warned. The figures lingered about the stone houses that filled the vicinity. “The Order of Helix must have anticipated our arrival.”

  “No surprise, given Hinju’s message,” Sien stated. “It’s only natural that they’d be keeping tabs on where we’d be headed next.”

  “We may need to sneak around if we want to reach Laikros Olen’s house at the edge of town. All sorts of rumors pass through Nilu, and he’s bound to know something about the Orb of Concord. He’s probably our only hope for figuring out a way to secure it and getting us back to Linmus.” Rem began. “Though with Solus’s condition, that’s going to prove difficult.”

  “Don’t sound so spiteful,” Solus hissed. Leilana tightened her grip on his arm, shaking her head
.

  Amiria sighed, turning to Rem. “Do you have any ideas on what to do?”

  “We could always try wiping some of the guards out,” Rem suggested. “It would save us a nice chunk of hassle if we could hide the bodies too-”

  “That would take too much time,” Solus piped up. Rem shut his eyes, inhaling slowly at the interruption. “If anything, we should utilize our surroundings. It’s nightfall, a lot of people aren’t out. And we could blend in with the shadows if we move fast enough. The guards wouldn’t even see us-”

  “Do you really have a place to strategize right now?” Rem asked sharply.

  Solus tightened his gaze. “I am ill of body, not of mind. If you wish to run the risk of getting executed before you are to reach Linmus, then rush forward.”

  “You’d know all about taking one for the team though, right?”

  “This is no time for arguing,” Leilana warned. “If you start getting loud, or we stand back for too long, they’re going to know that we’re here, and then we can’t execute any plans.”

  “I think that we can use both plans,” Amiria suggested. “We could try using our surroundings to move towards our informant’s home, and if we get caught, we could quietly take out the guards. They seem like they’re spaced out enough. I could put some to sleep with my flute. Maybe Sien could shoot them if they come too close.”

  “True, shooting them would be easier if I aim at the right place,” Sien agreed.

  “And Leilana could probably use her own magic to keep things silenced,” Amiria stated.

  “Amiria, are you looking to replace me as a strategist?” Solus joked.

  Amiria folded her arms behind her back. “No, not replace you. I just thought it would beneficial if we could all contribute our ideas instead of arguing about them.”