Balthazaar looked at the royal physician impatiently in the Iridium chamber. His brows were furrowed and his face looked distressed as master Nubeous was still lying unconscious and his pulse was quite low.
The royal physician gave him the best of the supplements combined with precious herbs which he had procured from different kingdoms, but nothing was working out. In the end, he prepared a concoction of ginseng combined with saffron and turmeric and applied it all over his body to soothe him.
As his restlessness peaked, Balthazaar bent down and placed his two fingers on the side of his master's neck and tried to feel his pulse.
"Why his pulse is still so low? What is wrong with him?" he asked with an anxious tone.
"I do not know sire. It just suddenly dropped low. His keeper called me and told me that the master was in pain. And when I came here, I found him unconscious. I don't know what could have caused him to be in this state. I had checked his food which he was supposed to take for supper. There is no chance of any poisoning. I had pricked him earlier and had checked his blood flow as well. It was totally fine. The color of his tongue also looks normal."
"If everything is normal then why is he not waking up?"
Balthazaar roared and then bracing his right arm with his left, he started pacing inside the room to calm his troubled soul. It had been more than thirty minutes and Nubeous should have woken up by now.
"Sire, should we remove the soul ring from his hand? Is his body giving up under the pressure of excessive power that is getting amassed within him?"
"No... Do not dare to remove the ring from his hand under any circumstances," said Balthazaar and sat next to Nubeous. Although he had somehow managed to bring back his master from the mouth of death, he knew the repercussions of his actions. He himself possessed the strength to take the impact of going back in time, as this was not his first time doing so but it was the first for his master.
His mind raced through the fight that had just happened a few seconds back. He had still not recovered from that ghastly scene where the lifeless body of his master lied still on the ground, shrouded in the cold embrace of death. Neither had he forgotten how that blunt sword of Morpheous gleamed with the taste of blood. That grotesque scene was vividly imprinted in his memory. A scene which he knew would haunt him forever, a scene whose sole witness was him.
He had failed to keep his promise, he had failed to protect him from the hands of Morpheous because just like others, he had assumed him to be a mere mortal. So he didn't hesitate to turn back time to bring his master alive.
All this time he had thought of Nubeous as the chosen one. His body shivered and his throat ran dry as he recollected the prophecy that spoke about the invincible one.
.
'The bolt of death,
will perch up in the sky.
Oh, the suitor of death,
the throne you would decry.
The son of God will Rise,
cross your heart for you shall die.'
The prophecy had been long forgotten over the centuries for they all believed that master Nubeous was himself God's child.
He closed his eyes and remembered the last promise that he had made to his father, a promise to keep master Nubeous safe no matter what. A promise that his entire lineage had been keeping for they were the guardians of the throne keeper. He had been a mock spectator of the atrocities of master Nubeous, but as he was considered the son of God he never dared to go against him.
Loyalty ran deep in his veins for master Nubeous because he was indeed no mortal. That man was as old as sixteen generations and possessed immense power and to top it up he had the command over the soul ring which people considered as the ring of God.
But the price that Balthazaar paid to keep the promise was heavy for he dared to play with the sanctity of time. He lifted the sleeve of his cloak a bit, and he could see that the necrosis on his arm had inched further. Without saying a word he sat silently enduring the pain.
He didn't know if his act was a misuse of his powers which had been passed on to him by his forefathers. He didn't know if what he did was right, but all he knew that he kept the promise that he had made to his father.
He did everything in his capacity in a rush as he had no time to think. He brought his master back to the night before the fight, assuming that it was enough to save his life. But little did he know that there was another eye-witness who would remember everything and would cause ineffable mayhem in the time to come.
He was lost deep in his thoughts when suddenly he heard the doorkeeper's voice.
"Sire, the minister is seeking your permission to enter. He has some news for master Nubeous."
"Allow him in," said Balthazaar and pinched the crease between his eyebrows.
"What happened?", he asked looking in the direction of the minister.
"Nothing sire just wanted to give the good news to master."
"What news?"
Balthazaar asked, still clutching his right arm, trying hard not to wince in pain. But before the minister could reply anything, suddenly erupted a voice amidst the conversation.
"What is this chaos?"
"Master !!!"
"How do you feel master?" asked the royal physician and then started wiping the beads of sweat from the forehead of master Nubeous who had just woken up.
"I feel fine, but what is going on? What are you all doing here? Balthazaar !!! What is going on?"
"Nothing master, your temperature was a bit up, so I had called the Royal Physician to check upon you."
"But I feel fine," saying that Balthazaar touched his forehead, unable to understand what he was sweating profusely.
"But sire your doorkeeper called and told me that..."
"Well if the master is feeling fine then please excuse him and let him complete his sleep," said Balthazaar as he cut through the conversation, giving a stern look to the royal physician to keep quiet. He flipped his hand slightly asking the minister to leave the room as well, but before he could leave master Nubeous asked.
"What brings you here at such an ungodly hour?"
"Master I came to update you about the completion of the task that you had given."
"Ah, yes... So is it done? Did the people protest?"
"Yes master, the people were reluctant to give us their fields."
"So did you do what was needed to be done?"
"Yes, master. We have set the entire village on fire."
Satisfied with the answer of the minister, master Nubeous said,
"He has learned well under my shadow, hasn't he Balthazaar? Remind me to reward him well."
"Thank you, master."
Saying that the minister took his leave.
A smug and vicious smile spread on the face of Nubeous, and he muttered,
"The land is all mine. What lies underneath that land is also mine!!!"