Hooves announced the presence of people as the villagers got ready to welcome the guests.
Amongst the black and brown steeds, stood out a pure white one with a luscious mane.
Its presence screamed authority and its rider even more so. Ortus hopped down from his horse and patted him.
"Be good Helig. I'll give you a treat later." He said as the leader of the elite scouts came to him.
"Sire, do you wish to rest?" He said and bowed.
"No need, show me the specialities of this place and if there are none. We shall depart right away." Ortus said as the man nodded and went to set up the feast.
While he might have said that, he would depart right away. Who would dare to bet that the lord wasn't hungry?
Soon a fragrance of a specially roasted boar filled the air. Accompanied by dozens of other animals, vegetables and their most precious ale and wine.
The village leader introduced himself to Ortus and led him to the banquet. Along the way, children curiously stared at Ortus as they hid behind their parents.
Some women whispered amongst each other and giggled. But no man dared to even utter a sound.
Be it directed or not. His authority proved to be a fatal weapon for men and a deadly attraction to women.
Ortus nodded at them and walked further. There, a long table stood along with the food.
Ortus didn't wait for them to taste the food and, as a sign of trust, picked a piece of a roasted boar.
"Not bad. For a place like this, it could be called quite decent." He said and sat down. A servant cleaned his hand in a swift motion before he picked up a knife.
No one dared to sit.
"Don't be so stiff, you can sit down and enjoy the feast!" Ortus said and laughed, turning his presence down a few notches.
Ortus tried various foods that caught his eye as others feasted, too. Though no one dared to touch food that Ortus hadn't tried yet.
An hour passed by and Ortus left, quite satisfied.
"You can invest in this place, even if there turns out to be nothing special." He told to one of his servants.
They brought him Helig and soon enough; they departed.
...
"Hmm, does it work like this? Or would this be better? Oh! This might break due to overheating over time. Either a better material or change the whole shtick. Hmmm..." Morpheus said to himself as he scribbled down things.
As much as time he had. Most of the things were just theories in the first round. He had to get it tested to prove whether it was working or he made an error somewhere.
Therefore, it wasn't unusual for him to have dozens or even hundreds of variations ready for Halvar when they used to cooperate.
The more time he had though. He could simulate to some extent the theories and pick out the most likely ones.
He presumed that this ability might improve once he poured an ungodly amount of time into it.
Hundreds, thousands or even more years of whatever lifespan he had would ensure that the ability might enter some transcendent state.
At least for humans. No news about fantasy creatures bummed him out a bit. However, he knew that he wasn't on Earth.
Be it a blessing or a curse. Both had their strengths, with Earth remaining as a bittersweet memory deep inside his 'library'.
The library itself grew every year, with a couple of bookshelves filled. If he just had found a person that didn't abuse their cooperation...
"Ah" He let out an unconscious sound. After quite some time, he felt the presence of other humans.
To his absolute surprise, a most of them possessed at least a minimal level of affinity to establish a connection.
In a few jumps, he got into one of the many doors.
"A3, nothing found. Area around C7 seems to have some kind of tingling sensation reported from a couple of scouts. Poison might be there, so proceed with caution." Said the man Morpheus observed.
'What are they scouting? Could it be that Halvar let his tongue slip?' Morpheus thought to himself.
The scouts walked around as he hopped in between them whenever they were in a close proximity.
After some time, he realised that C7 seemed to refer to the hill his presence was strongest at.
Their search continued before he saw the apparent leader sent out a message. With them not leaving, Morpheus got his hopes up more and more.
'Maybe Halvar did keep his promise?' Morpheus thought for a while before shaking his head.
'They wouldn't scout this place so thoroughly otherwise. Or is it just the so-called genius being paranoid? Seems unlikely.' He pondered before ignoring the outside situation.
Over time, although he hated to work inside his space. He overcame it and it eventually became one of his most favourite activities.
Chess being one of them...
Days later, after they sent their message. Morpheus felt a tingle throughout his entire body. Another oddity of similar affinity to Halvar, or perhaps higher, had appeared.
Morpheus watched as the bond connection grew each second. In a few moments, he could roll over and he wouldn't be in the danger of falling at all.
Ortus, the moment he stepped inside the forest, felt some kind of weird magnetic attraction.
A foreign feeling. He didn't hate it, though. The moment he stepped near the half destroyed chessboard, he heard a very deep voice.
"Who are you?" The deep voice said.
Ortus didn't feel intimidated and introduced himself.
"Ortus Barford, the current leader of the Barford family and its dukedom. Who might you be?" He said.
"Spirit Morpheus. What do you want?" Morpheus said.
Ortus smiled and said. "I am here to offer you a deal. Are you the one who granted Halvar such divine knowledge or do you know about the place that did, o noble spirit?"
Morpheus snorted and said.
"And why should I grant you any knowledge at all? The fool before you dared to play tricks on me!"
Morpheus waited for the answer Ortus had and, unbeknownst to him, was closely watching any emotional changes within him.
"I see... What Halvar did was nothing short of a greed. If you wish so, I can offer you his head within 3 days." Ortus said without any great emotional fluctuations.
'He's a ruthless one alright.' Morpheus thought.
"Well, I wish to see him kneel before me in 2 days and I might entertain your thoughts." Morpheus said in a booming voice.
'Anger' filled echo dizzied Ortus for a moment, forcing him to take a step back. He smiled and said.
"Consider it done, after which I hope to have a beautiful cooperation."
Ortus showed a minimal amount of courtesy without lowering his own presence. Morpheus observed him for a while before leaving.
As Ortus felt the spirit 'leave', he ordered his men to catch him with the entire manpower of the Balford family.
Soon, no less than a dozen pigeons flew in different directions. As long as Halvar stayed in the Barford territory.
He wouldn't be able to escape. Although the spirit seemed to be old, he felt a tinge of pride in that voice.
As long as he didn't overstep his bounds for no reason, and kept an amiable relationship with it.
He would perhaps turn into the greatest in all of mankind's history. To throw it away for momentary fame would be foolish.
Though 2 days would be almost the limit. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility and with enough manpower, the 'gift' for the spirit could travel day in night.
And if the spirit lied? Ortus didn't mind making it suffer in every kind of possible way imaginable.
Even if he couldn't touch the spirit. Destroying its environment, spreading all kinds of filth around might be one of the possible ways he thought of right away.
The spirit itself was stuck. Otherwise, why would it stay in such a desolate place for no reason?
Presence of supernatural didn't scare him. Especially not the one that couldn't move with his only attack being an annoying booming sound...
In just a day, the Barford military got to work. Like an angered beehive, they located Halvar's location in hours before the most elite guards rushed in.
The normal guards blockaded the city and created a circle in case he escaped. Unless he turned into a spirit like Morpheus.
It was the end of the road for him.
Halvar himself had no idea what was happening. He was busy with gathering info on talents all across the world in order to 'obtain' them.
Unknown to many, the reason he could produce sudden breakthroughs wasn't through Morpheus alone.
Underneath his house, he hid a basement full of geniuses. In exchange for a protective umbrella, a criminal organization kept them in check so they wouldn't escape.
Just as he was about to 'ask' another recently obtained genius to cooperate. The floor above his head trembled.
Hearing the shouts of trained men. Halvar's skin crawled as he rushed out into a secret exit.
"What are you doing?! We have to escape, otherwise both you and I are going to sink. Don't think that you'll get out scot free if I am to be captured!" He said in anger as one of the most elite members of the crime organisation blocked his way.
"I apologise, but lord Ortus no longer wishes to play games with you. Please cooperate, otherwise you might lose a limb or two in an inevitable process." The man said as he took out a slick sword.
By the time he realised what was going on. His world turned dark...