Location: Aether Kingdom. Royal Palace.
It was already late at night outside the palace walls.
Two guards stood by the heavy double doors that led into the castle. They held their spears attached to their waist. They were guarding the entrance.
Suddenly, shadow figures moved out from the dark. They were covered in black clothes from head to toe—looking completely like assassins. They crept up behind the guards without making a single sound.
Almost immediately, the assassins grabbed the guards, covered their mouths tightly, and sliced their throats.
The two guards twitched once and went completely limp. The assassins lowered the bodies softly to the ground.
Once the entrance was clear, they slipped inside the palace. They were moving fast, and sticking close to the walls and sliding past every corner.
Inside the palace corridor, wooden fire torches were fixed to the walls, lighting up the bright hallway.
A guard patrolling the corridor stopped mid-step. He heard a tiny sound behind him and turned around.
"Who is there?" the guard called out.
No answer.
He raised his sword and slowly walked toward where the noise came from.
Boom!
one of the assassin popped out from the dark, grabbed the guard’s mouth from behind, and drove a dagger deep into his chest. The guard convulsed once, then twice and his eyes went wide, and then he was still in the assassin’s arms.
The assassin lowered the body gently to the floor and then he looked up and raised two fingers and pointed up.
They quickly moved toward the staircase leading to the upper floor. At the top of the stairs, three guards were standing post along the corridor that led to the royal chambers.
One assassin pulled a small object from his belt and threw it into the far dark corner of the hall. It hit the floor with a quiet clack.
"What was that?" one of the guards muttered. He walked over to check the noise.
As soon as he stepped away, an assassin stepped out from behind a pillar and sliced his throat.
Before the other two guards could even react, the two assassins rushed up the stairs. They grabbed both guards from behind, driving their blades straight into their backs.
The two guards fell dead.
The assassins looked at each other, nodded once, and kept walking down the quiet hallway.
Inside her private chamber, Queen Hadassah pulled the last pin from her hair and let her royal gown fall from her shoulders.
She slipped into her sleeping robe and walk over to the bed.
She climbed in and lay down next to her wife, Keturah.
Hadassah let out a long, tired sigh—the kind of sigh someone makes after a very exhausting day. She turned to Keturah.
"Are you okay?" Hadassah asked gently.
Keturah forced a quick nod. "Yes... I am."
Hadassah frowned slightly, staring at her. "Your face does not look like you are okay. Tell me what it is."
Keturah bit her lower lip, hesitating for a moment. She looked away, then looked back at Hadassah.
"I know you don’t want a baby," she finally said. "But I do. I want that, Hadassah. I want to feel what it’s like... to carry a child, to raise someone who’s ours. I know it’s not easy for us, I know there’s a hundred reasons to wait, but I can’t stop thinking about it."
But suddenly, Hadassah stopped listening.
Her eyes drifted away from Keturah’s face and fixed sharply on the chamber door. Her body went stiff.
"Babe?" Keturah reached for her hand. "Are you even listening to me?"
"Run to the bathroom now."
Keturah blinked, completely confused. "What? Why..."
Before Hadassah could say another word, the heavy door was pushed open with a loud BANG!
Immediately, something fly into the room at terrifying speed.
Hadassah acted on pure instinct. She grabbed Keturah, roughly shoved her to the other side of the bed, and used her own body as a shield.
Thwack! Thwack!
Two black arrows slammed straight into Hadassah’s back.
Hadassah groaned loudly, gritting her teeth because of the burning pain.
Keturah’s eyes widened in total horror. She almost screamed out loud, her hands trembling as she reached for her wife.
"Hadassah!"
"I’m... I’m fine!" Hadassah gasped through the pain. "Get under the bed! Now!"
"No! I’m not leaving you—"
"Get under the f**king bed, Keturah!" Hadassah barked, her eyes wild. "Never come out no matter what happens! I will be fine!"
Thwack!
Another arrow fly into the room and hit Hadassah in the shoulder.
Hadassah gave Keturah one last hard push off the bed. Keturah rolled off onto the cold floor, tears spilling from her eyes as she quickly crawled under the wooden bed frame.
Hadassah tried to stand, but two more arrows hit her lower back. She let out a loud yelp and collapsed to her knees.
The two assassins rushed into the room.
They quickly scanned the chamber, seeing no one else. Their eyes landed on Hadassah, who was kneeling on the bed, gasping and shivering in extreme pain.
The assassins exchanged a quick look and nodded at each other.
They stepped forward, grabbed Hadassah by her hair and arms, and dragged her roughly off the bed.
Hadassah gritted her teeth in pain, struggling with everything she had, but her body was too weak.
One of the assassins kicked her hard right in the stomach. Hadassah doubled over, gasping for air, and the other assassin immediately slammed his heavy boot down onto her wounded back.
Under the bed, Keturah slapped both of her hands over her mouth, her body shaking with fear as tears poured down her face.
Hadassah dug her fingernails into the wooden floorboards as she squeezed her eyes shut
"Sker’athal, en vaeru thassenor — Ithranor, dosk’en rhaal!"
One of the assassins paused and turned to his partner. "Quick! Bring out the rope! She is calling her Skereel!"
The other assassin rolled his eyes under his mask. "Or we could just kill her right now and leave!"
"No! They said to bring her back alive!"
"Then stop talking and bring out the damn rope!" the short-tempered assassin growled.
"Sker’athal, en vaeru thassenor — Ithranor, dosk’en rhaal!"
While they were shouting at each other, Hadassah dragged her battered body across the floor, crawling toward the heavy wooden table near the window.
The short-tempered assassin saw her moving and his eyes flashed with rage.
"Where do you think you are crawling to?!" he yelled.
He marched over and kicked her heavily in the ribs once, then kicked her again.
Hadassah groaned, curling into a ball near the table.
The other assassin finally pulled a thick rope from his bag.
Just as they bent down to grab her arms and tie her up, a terrifying, high-pitched screech sounded from the outside the window.
Boom!
And almost immediately, The large glass window shattered into a million pieces!
CRASH!
"Hurry up!" the assassin shouted.
Before they could react, a massive stream of green venom shot through the broken window.
The venom splashed directly onto the faces of both assassins.
The acid immediately ate through their black cloth masks, melting straight into their skin.
The two men screamed in pure pain, clutching their melting faces as they crashed hard onto the floor.
.....
Location: Valdris. The Capital, South District.
It was a very poor neighborhood. The streets were filthy, and covered in mud and trash.
Because there were no streetlights, it was almost impossible to tell who was who in the darkness.
A tall figure wrapped in a thick black cloak walked slowly down the street.
The figure turned to a corner and entered into a crowded compound filled with tiny, broken hut houses built side-by-side.
He passed several quiet huts until he stopped right in front of a small, run-down door.
He reached out and tried the door handle but it was locked.
The figure looked left and right, checking the empty alley before he held the handle firmly and muttered a brief low spell under his breath.
Click.
The lock snapped open. He checked his surroundings one last time, before he stepped inside, and pulled the door shut behind him.
Inside the tiny room, a man was sitting calmly on a wooden chair with his eyes closed.
"Here you are," the man’s voice sounded in the quiet room. "I must say... you are a very hard man to find."
The cloaked figure quickly pulled off his hood.
"Prince Valerius!"
The man on the chair instantly opened his eyes.
He panicked seeing who it was. He immediately leaped out of his chair, and tried to run through the back exit.
Professor Valerius just casually flicked his wrist.
BOOM!
An invisible force slammed the man hard into the chest, sending him flying backward across the room. He crashed heavily onto the floor, letting out a painful groan.
Valerius started to walk around the small room slowly.
"Don’t make this hard for yourself," Valerius said calmly. He paused, looking down at the man. "Thirty-five years ago... my mother, the Queen, paid you to kill a woman and her son. Who was it... and why?"
The man on the floor gasped as he stared at Valerius in disbelief. "What?! Thirty-five years ago? You were just a kid back then! Five or ten years old! How can you be sure it was me your mother paid?!"
Valerius tilted his head, a cold look in his eyes. "Nah... I am very good with faces. And it was your face I saw that night."
Valerius took a slow breath and stepped closer.
"I am going to ask you again. Thirty-five years ago, on May 25... my mother paid you to kill a woman and her son. Who was it... and why?"
The man shook his head rapidly as he crawled back against the wall. "I have no idea what you are talking about!"
Valerius sighed. "Fine. We will do this the hard way then."
Valerius lifted his hand and clenched his fingers like he was grabbing an invisible ball in the air.
CRACK!
The man’s right leg bone snapped internally.
"ARGHHH!" the man screamed out in terrifying pain, as he held his leg.
Valerius flipped his hand slightly.
CRACK-SNAP!
The leg bone twisted and bent outward.
"STOP! STOP! I WILL TALK! I WILL TALK!" the man shrieked as sweat was already pouring down his face.
.....
Location: Wyrmwood Academy.
Next Day!
It was already afternoon when Reynold finally arrived back at Wyrmwood Academy.
As he reached the academy front gate, the guard there called him over.
"Reynold," the guard called out. "The administrative block wants to see you as soon as you return."
Reynold gave a short nod. "Alright. Thank you."
He walked straight toward the administrative block.
Inside the office, the lady was sitting behind her large desk, wearing her reading glasses as she checked through some papers.
When she heard the door open, she looked up and saw Reynold. She gestured toward the seat across from her.
"Sit down, Reynold," she said.
Reynold walked over and took a seat.
She pushed her glasses up her nose.
"Welcome back. Was your family property dispute resolved?"
"Yes," Reynold nodded simply.
"Good," she said, leaning back in her chair. "The siblings sharing the dorm with you have already moved out to another dorm."
She reached into a drawer, pulled out a thick paper file, and handed it across the desk to him.
"This is your new schedule. It includes both your dragon rider classes and your magic classes."
Reynold took the file, glancing at the pages inside. "Thank you."
"You may go now," she said, turning her attention back to her work.
Reynold stood up and left the office.
He reached his dorm door. He slid his nameplate across the door slot, and the door clicked open.
He stepped inside the common living room and paused.
He looked toward the bedroom door—they were locked shut. The shared parlor space was completely empty now. The sofa and chairs that used to sit in the corner were completely gone.
Reynold said nothing. If anything he was happy they are gone.
He walked over to his own room door, slid his nameplate over the lock, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.
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