With each step he came closer to his destination, it was a rare event for anyone to individually go to the throne room unless it was to hear the displeasure of the King in something they had failed to accomplish.
And usually, those meetings would be your last with him.
However, with the current war raging on, the King had been away in a campaign for three years already, always leading his troops personally, first to charge and last to retreat.
He knew that he had nothing to fear, the King was yet to assign him any task so he couldn't have possibly failed at something, right?
These thoughts crossed his mind like a ravaging storm, sending thunder down his spine. Soon, he was whipping off the cold sweat from his brow.
"Don't think" He whispered, it was almost a daily reminder, the more he thought about things that troubled him, the more he could feel his grasp of magic growing weaker and an accident looming closer.
Suddenly, a sharp pain on his shoulder made him yell in pain, glancing at his right shoulder Drachen's head popped up with a mischievous grin, showing off the sharp row of teeth to blame for the pain.
"What is your problem?!" Das shouted as silently as he could, quickly looking around him to see if anyone had seen him scream.
And indeed, one of the guards stood idly near one of the doors, spear in hand, his closed helmet may cover any expression, but Das knew it was staring at him intensely.
"You are terrified, boy! Your heartbeats are breaking into my head" She placed both hands on her temples and made a pained expression, letting her long tongue fall.
"Can you blame me?" He whispered, quickly escaping from the guard's judgemental stare "You know why I dread meeting with that man"
Drachen nodded in understanding.
"Yeah, yeah. But right now there is nothing to worry about, you are no longer a little child and what's more..." She proudly puffed her chest "Now I'm here"
"What are you gonna do, nibble his talons until he dies of boredom?" Das shook his head side to side.
"Hey! I can grow up to human-sized Drachen and beat his elderly ass!" She angrily began nibbling his shoulder.
"Ouch! alright, you win! stop it with the aggression will you?" Das laughed cheerfully.
Looking satisfied, Drachen returned to her nest and disappeared once again inside his hair.
His thoughts were now calmer than before, so he resumed his path. The number of guards always watching the servants and walking along the corridors was always impressive, it felt like an entire army rested within the walls of this palace.
His smile was erased once he reached an ornate iron door. It had a pair of guards that towered above him in height, their eyes fixated on the archmage in front of them.
He waited until they looked away and nodded, the nonverbal signal that he was allowed to pass.
Opening the door he found himself inside the main corridor of the palace. Closing the door behind him he looked left and saw the ten meters tall wooden gates that were the main entrance to the palace and then to his right, the long and wide corridor leading to the throne room.
The floor had no carpets and there were no windows. Somehow it looked more like a dungeon than a palace now. gone were the expensive paintings and plants. Replaced now by torches and guards every ten meters.
At the same distance, pillars with lions roaring welcomed the eyes and the banner of the kingdom hung from each arch that connected them.
Each step he took made a sound that traveled along the entire corridor, he would occasionally steal glances at the guards, who stood idly like statues. Alert as always.
The path to the throne room felt endless as if the corridor itself grew a meter in length by each step he took. but the reality was another, the imposing gates of the throne room looked closer and closer and with it the still-fresh memory of the few times he had stood in front of the King. None of them pleasant.
Especially the first one.
His staff made a loud noise as he hit the floor with its end, now standing still in front of the gates, he instinctively squeezed the weapon in his hand. Despite the earlier distraction provided by Drachen...he was terrified.
Terrified of the man that could be sitting on the throne ahead of him, or soon to arrive. The king.
But he knew better than wait for the King to suddenly appear behind him and discover the new archmage was not in time before he had arrived.
"I am the archmage, let me in" He announced loudly with an uneven voice, even if he had tried to calm the trembling of his body.
"It's alright," he thought "You are on time, if there is anything father taught me well was how to wait for the King if I ever got called to stand in front of him..."
His father. It was a thought that rarely ever appeared in his mind, ever since he did the discovery of what his father had done, something so horrendous and outright heinous that forever tainted in his eyes the image of the great archmage before him.
Then the realization hit him. as if he wasn't panicked enough his eyes looked up at the gates. The gates were still closed.
He hurried and with a motion of his hand white particles that looked like bubbles of light appeared from the palm of his open hand. the next second they vanished and in its place rested a pocket watch made out of iron and bronze.
Horror invaded his face as he realized it was a minute until 9 Am, the hour he was supposed to be already waiting for the King inside the throne room.
"H-how?! Was it my time with Lioth?! I-" He turned around as the sound of a big bell invaded his eardrums, the signal for the gates of the palace walls to open.
"He is here" He whispered out loud.
Frantically he beat the gates with his left fist.
"Let me in!" He yelled in desperation.
The gates to the throne room, compared to any other in the palace, could only be opened from the inside. So the royal guard stood inside waiting for those that had an audience with the King. They were always informed of such events and were tasked with staying in the same place for almost twelve hours a day no matter what.
So where were they now?
Desperation finally took over and he held the staff with both hands, trying his best to force the gates open or teleport himself to the other side, but it was useless as almost the entirety of the palace was crafted with runes that prevented the usage of magic in medium to higher quantities.
Teleporting a pocket watch was much different from a human being, so no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do it.
"H-hey! Please! I beg you, open the gates!" He smashed the gates in front of him with all his strength.
Drachen popped up on his shoulder, staring at him with a pained expression as he beat his hand on the gates, to the point that he was starting to get hurt.
"Das! you are hurting yourself!" She exclaimed flying up to his harm and holding it in place, despite her size, her strength was greater than his.
"They won't open!" Das desperately pushed the gates with all his might, trying to open them to no avail.
A loud sound coming from behind him made him froze in place, the distinctive sound of massive gates closing. The King was now within the palace grounds and he had but a few seconds until the carriage arrives at the main entrance.
A thousand outcomes appeared in his mind at the same time, the throne room had but one door, the one in front of him. He wouldn't be there in time.
Soon he came to accept it, rationalize it. Maybe if he begged enough, or if he asked him to punish him in a specific way the King would be merciful. A foot? A hand? he begged it would be just one of the two.
Unlike his father.
The deafening screams of his father came back to mind all those years ago. A memory he had tried to bury deep within his thoughts.
"You get what you deserve, filth" The deep, thundering voice of the King replaced the pained groans of his father.
Who twisted in pain on the ground of the throne. left arm and leg laid on the floor, recently detached.
"A member for each crime you committed" The heavy plate of his boot made a loud metallic noise with each step he took, walking directly to the young Das "But you will get them back soon enough, I have no use for a crippled"
"I only lied! forgive me! do not harm my son!" The father begged, his head still stuck to the ground thanks to the agonizing pain, yet his eyes looked directly to his offspring a few meters behind him.
"You did and that cost you an arm" The longsword of the king was livid red, like fresh out of a blacksmith, some kind of runes on its blade glowed brighter than the hot steel "The second crime sits in front of me..."
Das looked up in horror, unable to move.
"...And the third crime is that he too is a mage"
The gates opened slightly and Das snapped back to the present, he ran inside the throne room at full speed and once he was at the first steps of the throne he kneeled looking at the floor.
The gates closed behind him, but they weren't the ones of the throne room, it came from far back. The main gates.
He could hear his heartbeat in his ears accompanied by the metallic and heavy footsteps of someone clad in plate armor. Coming from the corridor behind him.
As the person passed in front of each guard in the corridor they slammed the end of their spears on the ground, each loud noise, made Das jump in his place.
It felt like an eternity. All while questions stormed his mind.
"Did he saw me?" "Does he know?" His thoughts tortured him with doubt.
Drachen looked just as nervous as him, she hoovered near his face. But then, as if something had struck her, she frowned and the orange of her eyes soon turned red, just like her hair. Rage began infecting her.
"Why am I so scared?"
The faint glow from the orb of his staff dimmed until it was no more.
"I'm no longer weak"
His black nails began to slowly grow.
"I'm stronger, I can kill him"
Inside the orb, a red mist began to appear.
The footsteps stopped. Right behind him.
The anger and determination inside him dissipated like a drop of water in the sand. Drachen shook her head and she was back to normal, quickly hiding back in her nest.
The door of the throne room closed and only silence followed. He wanted to beg forgiveness but knew, no one talks without permission in front of the King.
"Stand up, filth" The voice ordered.