Chapter 4: A burning desire

In the morning, what remained of his dream woke up the prince in a jolt.

"That's it!" He shouted.

He rushed to the tainted glass and carefully pulled the loose tile, the one he used to peek at the city. He jumped in surprise at the sight.

'Ridiculous! Simply ridiculous!' His maniacal laugh resounded once more in the palace.

He was looking at the farthest mountains, the ones that scratched the sky and tore clouds in two. It was so high more than three-quarters were covered in snow. Every peak was snowless and made of black rock, they were colored by one shade of blue because of the distance that separated it from the prince. The giants that decorated the landscape turned out to match what Arthur had seen on the scale.

Even his dreams pushed him to think about the strange shape carved in the organic matter.

He looked away from the window for a second and thought with a worried frown. 'Uh-oh. I've never been this busy before!'

The mountain range was called the Titan's Claws. Four summits emerged from the flat landscape, they all protected the capital of the kingdom from being destroyed by the terrible winds coming from the sea.

Arthur stared at the hanging sword, he noticed that, by looking at it from the edge, it was nearly impossible to see, only a thin, straight line messed up with his sight. The boy took a piece of paper to compare the thickness of the materials, it turned out the sword was much thinner.

Looking at it made his brain increase his dopamine level by leaps and bounds.

Now looking at his library, he scratched his head in frustration.

'It's almost time! Just a little bit more and I'll be able to test my theory! What if women are less sensitive than men to emotional reactions? Nonsense! Lancelot has been exposed to me for years, his impassive shield must've been cracked with time! That's thanks to my strongest ability, my everlasting failures!'

His mind was now involuntarily divided in two, he couldn't discard the call for adventure anymore, but he had no way to escape the castle.

'Never did I ride those damned horses, I don't even know how to use a carriage. This sure impedes any attempt to run away...'

His train of thought was interrupted by three people passing in the corridor while laughing loudly. It was early in the morning and only half of the staff was awake. The boy silently opened his door to follow the loud people.

They were the royal cooks, casually talking about short stories that happened in the past few days, Arthur managed to hear a little of it. Spying on his staff was a natural hobby, as none would talk to him as freely as Lancelot did, he once so often listened to the most meaningless conversations they had.

"The other day mind you, I found a purple rat!"

"Purple?"

"Yes exactly! It was the same type as the usual blue-skinned ones, but this one looked odd!"

The rodents living in the castle were nothing abnormal, but the strange color did pique the prince's attention.

'It was bleeding.' He thought, but the cook said otherwise.

"What made me understand why he looked like this is when it sneezed! The poor lad fed on the spice bag and was covered in red powder, giving off the illusion he was different! Since I was washing the tableware, I splashed it, I turned out to be right!"

The two men walking next to the first burst out laughing and resumed their work, they managed to light a faint smile on Arthur's face. 'What a wonderful world they're living in.' He mind-commented.

Unlike them, being trapped in the palace didn't seem to protect him from the outside world but only kept him from seeing it. He could see the mask the household staff would put on each time he was nearby, and with time, he ended up considering them as actors rather than simple people.

He went back to his room and took as many books as he could, he needed to browse through a bunch at the same time to properly study his subject. From the corner of his eye, he could see a dark red stain under his bed, it came from his wound, the sight of it shocked him but he could focus on his objectives and disregard the anomaly in his room until another mage entered it.

This one did not utter a word to her arrival, she simply walked to the prince and extended her hands to hold his face. She was much taller than him, her build had heavy muscles that could be seen through the curves of the few pieces of tissue covering her body. A second followed behind, the two looked alike.

"Stop...?" He said hesitantly.

But he was ignored as a hand quickly moved toward his crotch.

The prince's breath accelerated, he wasn't ready to be assaulted at all, alas, the woman shook her head slowly and continued her bold move with a dazzling smile. Arthur stepped back until he was cornered, his last-chance reflex was to kick the woman's chest to get her away.

He asked the woman the question that was burning his lips. "The hell you think you're doing?"

And she replied with a stone mask. "My mission."

The other gorgeous mage came closer. Same size, same ill intent emanating from her face.

Arthur gulped down his saliva. 'Did my last act of carelessness lead to this?'

He took the sword next to his bed and swung it in front of him. The friction created by the move was cut by the sharpness of the sword, canceling the loudest vibrations but not the high-pitched ones, the sharp whistling echoed during a short silence.

"Don't you dare approach me!" He shouted, sweating bullets.

'It's all going wrong! How am I supposed to deal with this? Think Arthur! Think!'

"My prince, using a weapon against a mage is futile. Plus, we've pledged to a better future, let us give the kingdom a chance, let us pass the boundaries you've settled with your many guests." Said the woman, playing with her hair as the other opened her tight corset to oxygen her two fat bags.

"Lancelot!" He called, but a heavy silence followed.

Arthur clenched his jaw and pointed his sword at the women to keep a safe distance, at least enough for him to breathe.

"I said no! Last warning!"

Alas, it wasn't enough to stop the mages, who made another step forward.

His fingers wrapped around the handle, he clenched Smite so hard his shaking stopped, and he randomly slashed horizontally at them in a swift gesture. Only the sound of the sizzled air could be heard.

Three seconds later, Arthur opened his eyes, the two mages were completely immobile, frozen mid-air. He jumped over them after throwing his sword aside, he called for help once outside of his room, scared.

"Lancelot! Guards!"

The omnimancer was nearby when he saw the boy's face, he knew he was late. He peeked at the inside of the royal bedroom and slammed the door shut the next instant.

He paused for a few seconds before turning toward Arthur. Unlike the prince, he was speechless.

"They attacked me! Where were you?" Now that he was looking at the powerful mage, anger substituted his fear.

The man bowed in apology, his head touched the ground as he spoke. "I won't be late ever again, I promise."

For the first time, Arthur heard his mentor's voice shake. He instantly looked for a plausible reason.

'He's not singing, right? Dehydrated? Pained maybe?' He couldn't believe his ears before he lifted Lancelot's face from his low position.

His finger touched an unexpected texture, for a split-second, his mind tainted the inside of his hand red, but there was no color, only a wet sensation that stuck to his finger.

He saw light reflecting on his bodyguard's cheek and his words died in his throat.

"I will ask the maid to prepare another room. Don't touch the handle, it's still hot. Excuse me." Lancelot said before suddenly standing up. He walked away as if nothing had happened, and when the boy turned toward the door of his bedroom, he saw black circles around the white-heated knob. The metal and the mechanism inside were molten, and destroyed, it was impossible to use the door.

'He must've burnt his hand! That's it... It's impossible to succeed in this everlasting project now, inconceivable!' Arthur thought, leaning against the wall. All he could hear was the creaking wood near the hot steel structure, it was smoking, so he called one of the mage guards to conjure water and cool down the surface just in case.

He entered the rear part of the kitchens, the reserve. The place was underground, they stocked many beverages and dried meat in it, the place was cold and the air was dry, the constant scent of food was relaxing and allowed the prince to take a break.

His nails scratched the surface of his scalp.

'Milda almighty! Sixteen years! It took me sixteen years to achieve this much with so few! They are not emotionless people! Not mindless monsters! Those mages are nothing far from living beings and I've got it wrong all along!'

He shoved untouched pastries and pickled vegetables in his mouth as he understood the extent of his foolishness.

'They're not following the magical curriculum to get rid of their common sense, so why? Why would they repress what's good and bad for living beings? Why are they suppressing the very essence of our long-lived existences?'

Arthur's eyes went dizzy all of a sudden. A brutal shock wave spread through the entire palace, sending him flying and crashing brutally against a stone beam. The colossal detonation deafened the entire city for a minute.

The prince woke up a few meters away from the place he was an instant ago. He was hanging upside-down, his chest was compressed by a barrel of alcohol and his left arm was stuck under a pile of heavy unidentifiable objects.

He spat in front of him and looked at his saliva to have an idea of where the sky and the ground were and tried to escape the heavy mess, he called for help until he could hear his screams.

He was uncontrollably spitting the contents of his stomach when a guard forced his way through the debris and pulled him out of his uncomfortable position.

"My prince! I'm glad you survived! It's all finished. We should head to the main hall, can you walk?"

After moving his numb fingers, he managed to take a deep breath and followed the guard, though the man's words sounded distant and inconsistent. The walls were cracked, the tapestry was burnt, the furniture was broken down and the tainted glass was no more.

He couldn't hear any chirp, instead, the panicked screams of the citizens outside made his heart race. The double door that linked the large corridor to the main hall was blasted open, its hinges were still fuming and burning a piece of the carpet halfway to their destination.

He knew his wrist was broken, but he was fine since he was still alive. The few people he saw in the corridor weren't as lucky as him. Drops of warm and thick liquid fell from his nose as a headache crawled from his neck to the back of his head.

A gigantic wall of ice stood between the arriving group and the thrones, it was so tall it blocked the chandeliers from falling.

Once they got around, every one of Arthur's muscles relaxed.

Every piece of gold that once decorated the place was concealed under a thick layer of cinder and embers still burning.

Uther was seriously injured but standing, a part of his ear was missing and the king's crown had partially fused with his face. The five flowers were holding down the very source of the blast, the omnimancer Lancelot.

The prince's head hit the ground with an echoing 'thud' in front of the few witnesses.

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