As Jerry stared at the woman that looked just like his beloved Lisa, Lord Archibald glanced at Jerry with a smug smile on his face. The lady-in-waiting was his fiancee Janice Willahelm. She is the daughter of a very powerful Duke in the kingdom. His family owns several hundred acres of farm land that they rent out to indentured servants with exorbitantly high taxes. The indentured servants are taxed to the point that they are basically slaves. His family also owns many stores selling alchemist potions, as well as weapons and armor. The Duke's family has a very long history in Alturio dating back even before it was just a fort. His family had used it very large coffers to secretly employ an army that could rival the King's personal guard. Because of this his family was awarded great leisure in the castle. King Hakinem needed the Duke's support to help solidify his rule. He hated owing Duke Willahelm so much but for now he had to force down his resentment, and cater to the Duke's whims. Janice was made the Queen's lady-in-waiting to help elevate his status and as a show piece to let everyone know that the King was in the Duke's pocket.
Lord Archibald's family was nouveau riche. They suddenly appeared overnight in Alturio three decades ago throwing money around as if it grew on trees. They rubbed shoulders with the right people, but more importantly they greased the right palms to earn their position in court. Anyone, King Hakinem included, could see the disdain they cared for the current monarchy. But King Hakinem had to tolerate these nuisances for now. He was still in the process of unifying his right to rule and he was going to use any means necessary even if they made him want to puke just looking at their face. Lord Archibald's father passed away two years earlier and left him as the new head of his household. Before he passed he formed an alliance with Duke Willahelm thru marriage making Lord Archibald the fiancee of Janice.
As the Queen walked passed Lord Archibald he did a perfunctory nodding of his head as a bow. King Hakinem's knuckled could be heard cracking from him clenching his fist, trying his hardest to restrain his anger at this blatant disrespect. Lord Archibald paid no attention to the King as he stood their with his smug smile, still staring at Jerry. Janice's beauty was known far and wide. She was hailed as one of the top beauties in the entire country. Her exotic features came from her mother who no one knew he exact origins. When every anyone questioned him about it Duke Willahelm would tell a different story each time. Everyone came to recognize that this was the Duke's polite way of telling them to mine their own business. So one asked anymore. Unfortunately she passed away giving birth to her second child, a boy named Kenyon. The Duke was extremely heartbroken after losing his wife,but he doted heavily over his kids. If it wasn't for the financial and military benefits of allying with Lord Archibald's family the Duke would never have agree to it.
Lord Archibald held his hand up expecting Janice to grab it as she came down the stairs. He never took his eyes off Jerry, he wanted to see the envy in Jerry's eyes as he saw the object of his adoration being claimed by him. After holding his hand up for a while he noticed that Janice had not taken it yet he looked back to see what her problem was. He was perturbed to see Janice was staring just as boldly at Jerry. They seemed to have entered a trance as soon as their eyes met.
For Janice it was a very surreal and bewildering experience. She was instantly overwhelmed with emotions as soon as she saw Jerry. Then she became frozen in place as a life not her own, but felt like her own, flooded her mind. She saw herself marrying and having children with Jerry. She felt her happiness and contentment they shared together. She felt envious of this life because she was forced by her father to marry a man she utterly loathed from the bottom of her heart. She was raised understanding the importance of sacrifice to help her family become stronger, so she willing followed her father decision. But now that she saw what true happiness was, and being in control of her own life choices, she wanted this new life over her own.
When she could finally move again her body took control and quickly walked to Jerry of its own volition. Jerry didn't know or care if this was his Lisa or not. It felt like her to him in his soul. Their souls resonated with each other on a level that words could never describe. The moment she was in arms reach he scooped her into his embrace and kissed her. Janice passionately returned his kiss, horrified that she didn't know why she was so emotionally driven to love him, but at the same time relieved to feel the same sense of safety he always gave her.
They paused to look into each others eyes. It was at this time that Lord Archibald recovered from his shock. He stormed over and yanked Janice from Jerry's embrace. Jerry was being overly cautious so as not to accidentally hurt her, so he held her very lightly in his arms.
SMACK!!
"HOW DARE YOU REDUCE YOURSELF TO A COMMON STREET WHORE IN FRONT OF ME!!!", Lord Archibald bellowed after slapping Janice across her face.
He raised his arm to strike her again when suddenly he found himself being yanked backwards by his raised arm.
CRUNCH!!
"AAAAHHHHHH!!!", Lord Archibald let out a blood curling scream as the bones in his hand, wrist, and forearm were being crushed into powder. He tried as hard as he could to get the giant of a man holding him to let go, but it was to no avail.
SMACK!!
Jerry slapped Lord Archibald so hard he spit out half of his teeth. He face instantly swelled to a pig's head. He no longer had the energy to fight back and just hung there limply. Some even thought he may had perished right there from the force of that slap.
Jerry lifted Lord Archibald so that they were eye to eye and menacingly said," If you ever lay a finger on her again it will be the last thing you ever do in life."
He dropped Lord Archibald who crumbled like a heap on the floor. The castle guards finally recovered from their shock and ran over to apprehend Jerry. As they surrounded him he completely ignored their existence and walked over to Janice help her up from where she had been knocked to the floor. His heart stung when she saw the red palm print on her face. Her cheek had started swelling, and her eyes were watering from the pain.
As Jerry reached out his hand a soft white glow surrounded it. At first Janice flinched away which raised Jerry anger at Lord Archibald once again. When Janice looked up and saw that it was Jerry standing over her, she lowered her hands and no longer resisted his help. As soon as the light touch her face she felt a warm energy immediately relieve the pain she was in. In no time at all the swelling was gone and she looked as good as new. Jerry gently caressed the side of her face as he smiled at her.
"P-p-please step away from Lady Willahelm and follow us to the d-d-dungeon without resistance.", the lieutenant in charge of the castle guards said with a shaky voice.
One of Lord Archibald's trusted aides ran to get the old priest that was with Lord Archibald in the throne room. He was scared that Lord Archibald was already dead or at least on his last leg and if he really died he would have nothing left, all his power would disappear in an instant. He ran non-stop from the castle all the way to the cathedral in the center of the city. When he got there he was completely out of breath. The attendants saw him entering and ran to help him.
"L-l-l-l-lord Ar-ar-ar-Archibald he-he-he-he..... He's DEAD!"
The attendant lead the aide over to a pew to have a seat while he sent someone else to inform thr priest.
"Please calm down and explain everything more clearly so I can understand.", the attendant patiently asked the aide.
The aide slowly regained his breathe and explained everything that happened back at the castle. At this time the acolyte who was sent to inform the priest arrived outside his door. He knocked urgently and immediately barged in feeling this was important enough to warrant such action. The priest was standing in front of a mirror that went from the floor to the vaulted ceiling. The acolyte froze when he saw this scene, because there was a swirling black energy inside of the mirror and in the middle of this swirl of energy was a pair of demonic red eyes. One look and this pair of eyes could easily steal your soul right out of your body. And that is exactly what happened to this acolyte. After freezing in place for a moment he collapsed to the floor lifeless.
"I'm truly sorry for the interruption my Lord.... I never expected anyone to have the audacity to barge into my private chambers. Please show leniency....", the priest bowed to the mirror with his heart beating frantically. There was a pregnant pause before the voice from the mirror responded.
"As I was saying there is a being that can rival me in power that has appeared near your location. They are a new god who hasn't learned to use their abilities yet. This is a perfect opportunity. You must find them and place a collar on them before they have a chance to grow more powerful. If I can have there strength added to mine I can finally break free from this damn Abyssal prison.", The voice paused and it seemed as if it was listening to something, "There seems to be a problem with your backer in the royal court. This ant was coming to inform you that he has been attacked and is presumed to be dead. You must handle this properly. I need the resources from this kingdom to continue to filter into my realm. But more importantly I need the power of that god. Do not fail me or you will share the same fate as that ant."
"I will leave immediately my lord, but what should I do about this new problem?", the priest asked looking at the dead body on his bedroom floor.
"This is actually a blessing in disguise. I will send one of my trusted subordinates to make sure you complete your mission successfully."
After saying that a black glowing orb of energy detached itself from the mirror. It floated over and entered the body of the dead acolyte. The body convulsed and semi-levitated off the floor. It opened its eyes and mouth in a silent scream as light came pouring out instead of sound. Immediately afterward the body collapsed back down to the ground. the body then slowly stood up. The new being moved its limbs around and repeatedly clenched its fist trying to grow accustomed to its new body.
It looked at the priest and said, "This persons name was Stephan. You will continue to call me this, but from now I will follow you were every you go. The master has placed great importance on your new task and continued success. I am merely here to make sure things stay on track and you imprison that god as soon as possible. Now let's go save this Lord.", Stephan said while opening the door to leave.