Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Vedas Agis slumps to the ground, the ring at his back automatically swerves under him like a floating chair, stopping his descent.
His face pales from despair, he had faced many difficulties in his twenty six years of life and lost many dear friends and family, but none caused him such sadness as what he heard.
"Father, Mother, Ebras, Oxius, they're all dead?!" He asked himself.
Theodore's gaze softens out of sadness and pity. "I'm afraid so." He softly speaks. "Your father and Young Master Ebras died in the campaign against the Trolls; they sacrificed their life against Kazko the Hideous in order to give his Majesty the chance to slay him. The King fell to his wounds the following day while the Crown Prince died to a stray arrow from rebels."
"The Madras, taking advantage of your family's plight, staged a coup against your Mother and Oxius, your brother thought it better to fight them while he sent me and the Knight's order to fetch you… "The knight kneels in front of him. "Young Master, I deserve punishment, I failed you and your family, I should be smote where I stand."
"What about the Royal family, they should have sent aid?" Vedas asks, trying to make sense of this deplorable situation.
Theodore looks up to the wizard. "There is no more royal family, my liege, both the King and the Prince died at the war, and the princess suddenly disappeared after the Queen got assassinated, the Irearith Dynasty is no more and the Kingdom is at civil war. It is complete and total anarchy."
"I… I'll need time to process this… You- You'll find me at my quarters." He didn't give the knight time to respond, as his body was suddenly enveloped by the floating Ring, and in a sudden burst of light, both Vedas and the ring were no longer there.
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It has been more than twenty five years since Vedas found himself reborn in this world. He was shocked at first, but he embraced the second chance readily once he realized the type of world he found himself in.
His previous name was meaningless to him; it was a relic of a boring, meaningless life as a software engineer, where he lived day to day in complete monotony, the days blurring with each other.
He vowed to never live a life like that again, and took complete advantage of his status as the third born of the Marquis House of Agis. Using his ancestral aptitude with mana and taking advantage of his early awareness, he took to exploring the wonders of magic and found his previous expertise as an engineer compatible with the art. So at the age of fourteen, he left his home to embark on a breathtaking adventure.
He fought monsters, uncovered plots, joined an academy that taught magic (magic! Can you believe it?), explored mystic ruins, stood on floating islands, rode magic beasts, found friends, became a famed hero, and at 24 became the youngest living Archwizard of this Era. (The record goes Xal'rus at 13 years old, but he's a dragon so he doesn't count.)
He was Vedas Agis, the Archwizard of Stars, the Slayer of Goliaths, Savior of Alkatraz (ain't that a coincidence?), Anathema of Liches, and he was living through the worst day of his life.
For all intents and purposes, Vedas has lived a life for the ages; he has achieved his dream of never living in mediocrity, and has happily resigned himself to a lifetime of blissful retirement, with some new adventures here and there.
But as he stared at the miniature picture on his pendant, an image of a happy family of five, his stoic but generous father, his tender but scary mother, playful Ebras and responsible Oxius. They were his family in this life; they showed him for the first time in both his lives what a loving family should be like. This was his real family, not the absentee mother and the alcoholic father, love wasn't shown by flaming cigarette butts and stinging belts, but by hugs and attention.
And now they were gone, taken away from him by the ugliness of war and greedy treachery, and it was up to him now, to live up to their name and avenge their deaths.
Vedas cried not as a mighty Wizard, but as the bruised 8 year boy on the street of Brooklyn, silently, the whine of his voice was too low to echo in his room.
And when Theodore finally reached him, he found him asleep, the tears still running on his cheek.
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The next day, he sat next to a now rested Theodore, his eyes were red from a day and a night of tears, and he was much more lethargic than usual.
Without prompting, a cup of warm coffee appeared in his hand. "Tell me more." He asked the knight before taking a sip.
"Yes sir, as you well know, the nobles were much too angry at the constant raids from the Trolls and their thralls, so King Allerion gathered our armies and declared a campaign against Kazko the Hideous and his ilk. The war… It wasn't pretty; the Trolls turned out to be much more organized than predicted and were entirely prepared for our arrival." Another mug of coffee appeared next to the knight, who nodded as thanks to his liege.
"They had allied with dark powers, by the time our armies left the Kingdom, our lands were besieged by the Nagas from the sea and the Kog'zul from the north." The Kog'zul are Yeti like creatures that practiced ice magic, necromancy and survived in the cold north through cannibalism, as you can surmise they were as evil as they come. "With our navy crippled by the Nagas, and the Iron Wall with Duke Gunther occupied in the north, Troll raiders and their slaves were left free to bypass our armies and sow chaos in our kingdom."
"The Prince proposed that we separate our army into twain, we had too many numbers to move comfortably in the mountains that the Trolls made home, so the King would lead a contingent of our most skilled combatants to lead a precision strike to kill the leaders of the trolls, while he and a much larger portion of the army would head back and fight against the scattered bands of Trolls and Nagas."
"The King's army cut through the lands of the Trolls with swiftness, and as you know, we managed to kill Kazko the Hideous with heavy sacrifices, the King had lost his life, alongside your Father and oldest brother."
Vedas couldn't help but wince at the mention of his family.
"The Prince proved his reputation as a strategist and skillfully led a protracted battle of attrition against the invaders, but he was hampered by his Uncle, who had the idea to take advantage of the Chaos to lead a rebellion. It failed, but while the Prince managed to handily defeat his uncle, some of the rebels managed to kill him with a stray arrow."
"Duke Gunther had at the time already won against the Kog'zul, and finished off the prince's job before heading back to his lands, leaving the Kingdom in a state of chaos."
Theodore suddenly tightened his grip on his mug. "Young Master Oxius was part of the Prince's army, so after that whole debacle got settled he decided to come back and take on his mantle as Marquis, but the Madras' had allied with Count Jevius and led an ambush for him on the way, they… they had already murdered the Lady, and injured the Young Master using the news of her death as distraction."
The Madras were a subordinate House to the Agis', they acted as Stewards to the realm and managed their land for generations. However, it seems their greed had grown too much…
"They chased him back to the castle, it was there your Brother… He was too saddened by the news, so he decided to create a distraction for the Order to escape, and to send for you to avenge the house of the Rising Star. He… I think the news may have been too much for his heart…"
"Why wasn't I called earlier?! I would have helped!" Vedas demanded, his eyes misty once again.
Theodore sported a sad smile. "As you know, we lead campaigns against the Trolls regularly, it had never grown big to this extent, and by the time we realized the danger it was already too late to send for you; even if we had, we would have been to late…"
Vedas once again sunk in his chair, an expression of defeat painted on his face.
Theodore just sat silently, not finding the words to comfort him.
The silence was interrupted by an Owl flying through the open window, it landed softly at his shoulder and rubbed the side of his body with his cheek. He had felt Vedas' sadness, and thought to comfort him.
Vedas softly chuckled, and caressed his familiars head. "I'll be fine Otis', don't worry."
The Archwizard looked at the knight. "So I am to come home, then."
"Yes, my liege. You are the heir of the House of Agis, and the rightful ruler of their lands."
Vedas lightly hummed. "Let me make my preparations, within the week we shall head back."
"Of course, Lord Agis."
Weekly Power Status
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