Forgotten Conqueror

by Za1d3

  “Are mom and dad awake yet?” he questioned the energetic girl, seeing that the room was still quite dark.

  “Nope!” she replied triumphantly.

  “Can I sleep a little longer?” He asked.

  “NO! Mommy shays Anish keep you from be lazy!” she quickly refused, shaking her head.

  “Then does Anise want to take a nap with me?” He moved over and brought up his blanket to make room for her.

  She looked to make sure he wasn’t lying. “UHN!” Anise grinned happily. She immediately crawled into his bed, hugging him tightly.

  Soon, both siblings were back in dreamland.

  “MASTER!” Hasen’s raspy voice jerked him awake.

  *CRASH!* his window exploded.

  A cloud of smoke erupted between them and the window, blocking the shards of glass flying in the air. The crash had also woken up his sister.

  In front of him was a floating dirty brown rag with an excess amount of tears and holes. It billowed ceaselessly as if a strong wind was blowing in the room. “The Elusssssssive Winnndddnnd, Foreverrrrrrrr At Yourrrrrr Serrrrrrvicccccce. Masterrrrrrr.” It hissed.

  “Brother…” The ring around his sister’s neck spoke in his mind.

  He grinned at the intruder. “Zion.” A single name came out of his mouth.

  The rag swooped around the room at his word, and Anise’s face lit up at the display as she continued to hold him tightly.

  ——————–

  As usual, his wife was already up and preparing breakfast. Troyle got off the bed and headed downstairs to freshen up.

  *CRASH!* halfway down the stairs, he heard a loud noise coming from his son’s bedroom. Scrambling, he charged towards the boy’s room.

  “Kaidus?!” He barged inside, yelling for his son.

  “Good morning dad.” He was greeted with a blank stare from his son. His daughter on the other hand, was giddy with excitement.

  “What happened in here?!” He asked, eyes widening at the shards of glass on the floor before noticing the ugly rag flying around his children. “And what is that thing? Are you doing that?” he questioned.

  Moving objects with magic was simple to his son. He’s witnessed it many times before, but this was the first time something had broken. It was unlike his son to do such a thing.

  “Daddy! It talk!” His little girl’s face was beaming with excitement as she spoke.

  Suddenly the rag stopped flying about and fell onto the ground, becoming motionless.

  “Sorry Dad. I kind of got carried away.” His son apologized. “I’ll fix it right away.”

  With those very words, the pieces of glasses on the floor rose up and shot towards the window. The shards melded together, reforming into a perfect pane of glass. Within seconds, the broken window was fully restored.

  “Be more careful next time. You both could’ve gotten hurt.” He scolded.

  “I will. Sorry to worry you.” His son replied apologetically. Taking another look at his daughter, Anise had gotten off the bed and was looking at the rag on the ground. Curiously poking at it with her finger.

  “Anise, don’t touch that.” He scolded her.

  “Hm?” She looked back at him and poked the rag once more before stopping.

  “Breakfast should be ready soon. Come down and wash yourselves before your mother starts going on about how cold breakfast has gotten.” He gave the two a loving smile as he left them.

  “We’ll be right down.”

  “KAY DADDY!”

  A thought occurred to him as he made his way downstairs. The shattered glass was on the inside of the room, meaning a force had entered from the outside. ‘Daddy! It talk!’ he puzzled over what his daughter had said as she watched the rag dancing about.

  He quickly removed any further thoughts from his mind. His son was enough of a mystery. There was no need to cram more questions into his head.

  Thinking back: Kaidus was always an oddball, but ever since Anise was born, the boy had changed quite a lot. He was more emotional now than when he was still Anise’s age. Hints of embarrassment, joy, anger, disbelief, curiosity, etc…

  Normally sporting an impassive face along with a calm attitude, his son usually comes off as a cold and indifferent child, but after all these years, he could read the boy almost as well as the boy reads books. A pause in his words, a pitch in his voice, a strange nuance depicting unease, a hesitant answer, a twitch of the eyebrows.

  His son was obviously hiding something, but it did not matter to him. The boy will surely tell him whenever he’s ready. Until then, all he can do is be a parent to the child as he had for the past seven years.

  Heading towards the washroom, another smile crept onto his face as he thought about how inseparable his kids were.

  ————————–

  ‘Cease your movements and silence yourself.’ Kaidus had ordered when Troyle came into the room. His familiar obeyed.

  “Go and wash up before breakfast.” Kaidus told his little sister after their father had left.

  “Anish wanna shtay!” She refused, eyeing the rag on the ground.

  “I thought you were a good girl? Good girls listen to their brother’s don’t they?” He coaxed with a smile.

  “Muu…..” Anise puffed her cheeks, ready to pout.

  “I’ll show you later.”

  “Promishe?” she stared at him inquisitively.

  “I promise. Now go.” He grinned.

  “Okay!” Anise happily bounded towards the door and downstairs.

  ‘Master…’ Hasen’s voice echoed in his mind.

  ‘Stay with her.’ He directed back to the ring.

  “Zion.” He spoke after closing the door.

  “Massssterrrrr.” It hissed, shooting back up and encircling him. “You Look… Difffffferent.” It added with an impertinent tone.

  “Will that be a problem?” Kaidus questioned. His hair was now a light silver, and he emitted a torrent of mana outward, suppressing the elemental’s movements.

  “No Masssssterrrr. Zionnnn, The Everssssstorm At Your Sssssservicccce.” In a display of obedience, the rag stopping moving and lowered itself to his level.

  “Surely you heard my summons. Where have you been?” Kaidus questioned.

  “Riding The Winnnnd, Resssssstoring Myssssself.” It hissed without delay.

  Zion was always like that; a free spirited elemental whose enjoyment of its freedom is only second to its loyalty. “Where are Vishan and Feziel?” he inquired, giving no further thought into his previous question.

  “Thissss One Isssss Unccccccertain.” It replied.

  “Where have you been? How long has it been since Veratoraliz?” he asked, hoping to get some answers.

  “Thisssss One Hasssss Been Sssssslumbering. It doessssss not knowwwww.”

  “…” Another unknown. “Conceal yourself for the time being. We will talk later.” He commanded, about to head downstairs.

  “Masssster. I Senssssse My Brotherrrrrr… I Too Sssshall Followwwww…”

  The rag distorted and shook itself in the air before crumpling itself into a ball. A violent gust of wind gushed forth from within the ball, and in a flash of light, the cloth unfurled outward, revealing a small clear ring floating there. The rag caught fire, and was incinerated instantly—leaving nothing behind.

  “You will not make a sound.” He told the ring as he grabbed it out of midair and placed it in his pocket.

  Breakfast was roasted venison with steamed laraze cut into small bites to be dipped in thick visouris sauce. A bowl of mashed mulse sat in the middle—sprinkled with salt and pepper to give it flavor—while a pot of meaty stew sat next to it. There was also his favorite roasted derilt root with plenty of dronnon butter to the side. To wash them all down, two jugs of fruit juice sat on opposite sides of the table.

  Kaidus took his place at the table for breakfast.

  “Is this the last of the Oshun meat from last night?” he asked, taking a slice of the roasted venis
on.

  “It is. Go ahead and eat up.” Adalina answered with a smile.

  The meat had been the topic of conversation last night at dinner.

  For the past four days, a pair of Oshuns had been raiding one of Lord Varath’s newly planted lisal field, aggressively attacking those who tried to fend them off. From what Troyle said, one of them had skewered a Kaltier with its majestic horns and injured a few of the guards—who were trying to trap the beasts and defend the field—before backup was called in. Backup, being a team of seven of Lord Varath’s trained guards, a hired mage, and Troyle.

  Cooperating with those who were already on guard outside of Ferrent, they were able to subdue the two large deer while only incurring minor injuries during yesterday’s clash. The two Oshun were divided amongst those who had helped in their subjugation, and being one of the two who played a key role, Troyle had been given a modest portion of the deer.

  “I don’t think we’ll be able to finish all this.” Kaidus joked back to his mother, motioning to all the food on the table.

  “That’ll only mean we won’t have to go out shopping for lunch and dinner later. We can spend the whole day inside.” Adalina replied with a grin.

  “NO! Anish want go outshide!” Anise exclaimed, raising her face up from her bowl.

  “I want ‘to’ go outside.” Adalina corrected her daugthers words with a smile.

  “Anish wantsh to go outshide!” she repeated. This time, grinning back at their mother.

  “Hahahaha!” Troyle started laughing.

  His parents have been trying to teach his sister how to speak properly, but for some unknown reason, she always refers to herself in the 3rd person. No matter how often they’ve corrected her, it always comes back as “Anise this” or “Anise that”, making for entertaining conversations against the girl.

  “Hehehe. I wonder when you’ll stop referring to yourself like that.” Adalina giggled, patted the girl’s head.

  Already forgotten about why she was shouting due to the outburst of laughter from her parents, Anise’s face became rife with happiness at her mother’s display of affection.

  Breakfast ended, and Troyle was already gone. Chores around the house were already dealt with, and Adalina was reading to Anise as they spent a lazy morning together in the living room.

  Kaidus held a book in front of him, but his eyes stared blankly at the pages. His mind was racing.

  After a long while of inactivity, he finally stood up and went over to his mother and sister to join them.

  Sticking to his commands, Zion never made a sound.

  ———————–

  Two days later, and evening outside of the Paltos house. Kaidus was giving an early goodbye to his family.

  Troyle already returned from work, and they had just finished dinner together. There was still a whole day of the ryes left, but it was time to begin his plans.

  “I’ll be gone for a little longer this time. Remember what I told you?” He asked Anise, kneeling down to eye level with her.

  “Uhn!” she nodded with eyes full of determination.

  “Tell me.”

  “Alwaysh shtay with mommy, and alwaysh wear thish!” She replied, pulling out the necklace with the black ring to show him.

  “Good girl.” He patted her head then gave her a hug. Those were the very words he told her when he first gave her the necklace.

  Last evening during dinner, he had told his parents that: due to being a second year student and many things starting to happen for him at the academy, he would not be able to come back home for a while.

  Both Troyle and Adalina took his words understandingly.

  Surprising enough, Anise did too. Instead of crying, she told him that she was a big girl and she wouldn’t cry as long as he keeps his promises, yet he could see her cute little face fighting back the tears, trying to be strong. To make up for it, he had given her a grand display of magic and stayed with her the whole day today.

  “I’ll come back whenever I can.” He told Adalina and Troyle once again. Giving them each a goodbye hug before stepping into the carriage.

  He did not want to lie to his parents, but what he was about to undertake was something he did not wish for them to know. It was way better for them to remain ignorant of it for their own safety—for the time being.

  The academy on the other hand, was a different story. All he did was leave a note with Zeeke that says he will be taking a leave of absence for a while. The note was to be delivered to any of the masters should they start asking for him. Many of the masters knew how capable he is, and he was hoping that they would not worry about his sudden disappearance. The nature spirit looked intelligent enough and seemed to be able to understand him, so he was only mildly worried about it losing his note. He did not tell anyone else in case they start asking him questions about what he is doing.

  Passing through the Shorza district, his carriage took a different turn in the road. It did not move towards the 11th ward gate, but made a drastic turn elsewhere. After a while, the carriage came to a stop in front of an Inn. It had taken him around the Shorza district, through the Hennelain district, and back towards Ferrent’s outer walls.

  Getting out of the carriage, he thanked the driver and waited until the carriage disappeared. Not going into the Inn, Kaidus faded into the shadows of the incoming night, and moved into the alleys and far away from where he might be discovered. He waited until darkness had truly set in, then pulled out the two rings in his pocket.

  One made of metal, and too big for his small fingers.

  The other, a small clear ring that fit him perfectly.

  Looking at Zion’s form, he shook his head, dispelling the thoughts of what may have happened to the other two familiars. He had waited long enough, and there was no use in wondering about it any longer. The three of them being here would make this drastically easier for him, but he had already resolved himself to move forward even without any of them.

  ‘Zion should be more than enough. I will try to reach the other two again after this is over.’ He thought to himself.

  “It is time.” He spoke in the darkness of the alley.

  “The Tempesssst Obeysssss.” The clear ring shattered as the voice hissed out. A gust of wind burst forth and encircled him.

  Kaidus brought forth his hand, and a large incision appeared on his palm. With a thought, his blood flowed out and the tempest greedily sucked it up. The gale calmed down and merged together, forming a cloak around him—dyed red with his own blood—and concealing him in the darkness.

  Illuminated by the moonlight, a blotch of dark red shot out of Ferrent and vanished into the night sky.

  Chapter 38 – Winds of Carnage

  Carried by the winds and untethered by the laws of the world, Kaidus soared through the night sky. He had been flying northeast ever since leaving Ferrent, following the mana signature from the metallic ring in his hand.

  A few hours later, and he was approaching a proximity village.

  These villages serve as a resting point for travelers and merchants moving to and from the Capital, and are a vital place to inquire about information for the road ahead, or to obtain any required resources before making the final journey to Ferrent.

  He saw the telltale sign of lanterns and outdoor campfires all along the inner perimeter of the village walls, indicating travelers. It would have taken a day of intense riding or two days of caravan travel, but the village was within his sights in a matter of hours.

  Fatigue kicking in, and having given up some blood to disguise his cloak, Kaidus willed Zion to lower him onto the ground. In the darkness, he carefully made his way into the village without being noticed by the guards. Unsure of the next time he’ll be resting in a village or town, Kaidus headed towards a sizable building that looked to still be doing business at this time of night.

  Also doubling as a tavern and diner, the Inn was full of strangers; many people were having a late night snack as they drank and told stori
es. Rough looking men and women sat around, minding their own business. Not a single pair of eyes cared for the strangely cloaked young boy who had just entered the building.

  “You there, is there any rooms available?” He asked a woman who was behind the counter—working the bar.

  “And who might you be?” she looked around for someone else.

  “Why does that matter? I’m asking if you have a room available.” he retorted back.

  The woman scrutinized him for a moment. “Aren’t you too young to be out alone at this time of night?” an expected question.

  “My entourage and I just pulled in. Do you have a room or not?” He inquired again with a tone of irritation. Opening his cloak, he revealed his finer school clothes underneath as he fished a green fer from his money bag and placed it onto the counter.

  “Yes of course my lord. For how many people?” The woman was not stupid. She picked up on the tone and display immediately.

  With a fine red cloak, his attitude, how he held himself, and his brazen display of wealth, he gave off an impeccable impression of a young lord.

  “Just me. My guards will be camping out tonight with the others.” He replied, not caring about his imaginary companions. “I trust I will be fine in your care?” He asked, giving an imposing stare.

  “Y-Yes of course, my lord. Our establishment is one of the most respected in the village. You will never have any problem as long as you are within our walls.” She replied courteously.

  It was a plan he concocted as he entered the village. He did not want to be conspicuous, but a normal child wandering around at this time of night was abnormal. Fortunately for him, he had on his finer clothes—as he was supposed to be returning to the academy. With the five green fers in his pocket—250erns—he could play this off as a rich kid not wanting to camp with the rabbles, and hopefully get a good night’s sleep to restore himself.

  The role came to him easily. Being a past noble and now surrounded by pompous lordlings and ladies, there was not an ounce of love for the common folk in his tone.