"Oh sh*t," I say to Marianne.
"Come on you two, we have no time to lose. Emperor Marcus is waiting in his throne room with the lords to meet you both," she informs, motioning for us to come along.
"This is sudden," Will utters.
I think Will is bothered being summoned out of the blue. I am too. I'm tired, I don't wanna go. I want to take a nap and read at the same time like I planned before. Will turns to his group and Nerva.
"Well guys, it looks like I have to get going. I have no idea how long I'll be gone so you guys can do whatever. We'll meet up again here tomorrow around noon or so to talk about that training I mentioned earlier," Will instructs.
"Sure, no problem. But what about her?" Remi asks, pointing at Nazuko who is still unconscious on the floor.
"Can you carry her back to my room for me?" Will asks.
"Ugh, why me?"
"You're the one who knocked her out. It's the least you could do."
"Yeah but. . . come on, guys, help me out here," Remi appeals, looking at her other party members for support.
They don't--instead they try to look at anything that's not Remi.
"Ugh fine. You're lucky she's light," Remi states, picking up Nazuko and putting her over her shoulders.
Speaking of people knocked out, there's also Adam still passed out on the floor.
"Don't worry, Quincy. I got this bitch right here. I'll take him to his room," Nerva says with a wicked smile on her face.
" I didn't ask. Just don't kill the guy, I guess," I tell Nerva.
I have a feeling Nerva has plans for Adam. She probably hasn't forgotten the things he said when we were in front of the secretary. Maybe he will die. Eh, oh well. I apparently have a meeting to get to so I can't worry about that now.
"Let's go," Marianne orders.
Will and I follow her out of Dragon's Descent into the streets of Colonus. Marianne walks really fast making Will and I have to jog to keep up. How does everyone here move so fast?
"Can't we teleport there?" Will inquire as we jog.
"Aren't you still a portal menace?" I ask in return.
"Hey, I've been working on it. It's gotten a lot better," Will claims.
"I still fall out of the sky though," I retort.
"I said it's gotten better, not that it's completely gone. Trust me, if you knew what I had to do to get it under control you'd understand. Besides, we can make the landing, so let's just go through one," Will proposes.
"Can't do that. Can't risk having you two making a less than stellar entrance. I'll get berated by General Dane if that happens. That's if I'm lucky. . ." Marianne declares with beads of sweat coming down her head.
I don't think the sweat is due to the speed walking. Marianne has this worried expression, the first time I've seen such a thing from her. If she is worried, Will and I should probably be as well.
"So is Dane like your boss or something?" Will asks.
"He's the highest ranking knight in the whole empire. He's in charge of everything related to the knights. He also acts as the emperor's personal bodyguard," Marianne elaborates.
"Speaking of the emperor, where has this guy been the whole time?" I ask.
Presently we are in the castle making our way to the Emperor's location. Marianne is still walking really quickly so it's hard to take in my surroundings.
"He's been at an international conference. Trying to cool tensions with the Elves so they can lower the tariffs they placed on us. They've been talking for months. We're here," she quickly says, stopping in front of two huge highly decorated doors.
I've never been to this part of the castle before. I was expecting us to go to the room where we met the lords the first time. The huge doors have a symbol of a red dragon on them . Will looks like he's surprised as well. I guess neither of us have spent much time exploring this place.
"Ok, you two ready?" Marianne asks.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Will answers.
"Yeah, I guess," I say reluctantly.
I don't know how Will feels but I'm reluctant to meet the emperor. I don't know why; if anything I should be excited. I read about him in one of my books. He was born in Ayana where he grew up in poverty. Through sheer determination he got accepted to a famous college. In order to pay for his schooling he somehow got a then young lord Creon to give him some loans.
The books say something about Creon seeing potential in him. After graduating he went to North Point where he became an imperial knight. Apparently the man loved to fight as he led his troops into battle more times than was necessary during a war with the Elven confederacy that happened 20 years ago.
His military valor made him become renowned throughout the empire. When the emperor at the time died due to sickness, he was elected by the lords to become the current emperor. Usually, I love leaders who came up from nothing, but for some reason I'm wary.
Marianne opens the two doors and we go inside. There's a long hallway with a long red carpet beneath us and on both sides of the hallway are portraits of former emperors. At the end of the hallway sits a fancy gold throne with a huge rectangular table perpendicular to it. The chairs on the sides are elaborately designed but pale in comparison to the throne.
It kinda looks like the set up for a business meeting. Besides Marianne, Will, and I there are only two other people in the room. A man sits on the throne while another stands next to him like a statue. The man in the chair wears a golden suit of armor but with no helm. His face reminds me of Ulysses S. Grant.
He has this thick but short red beard with slick and short red hair. His eyes are blue and something about them makes me think he's either tired or sad. He's got a thousand yard stare.
A red cape is attached to the back of his armor. The man standing next to the throne also has a golden suit of armor on but has his helmet on. He's got quite a burly build. He's like the physical opposite of Luther. Marianne makes her way to the table then kneels.
"Kneel," Marianne orders in a whisper.
I really don't want to. The American in me wants to ignore the order due to the freedom running through my veins but if I don't kneel--I think Marianne is going to kill me.
Will probably thinks the same thing, immediately kneeling down after she gave the order. I do as well, albeit with some reservation.
"Marianne! You are 3.5 seconds late! Can you not follow orders!? 1500 means 1500, not 1500 plus 3 seconds," the guy with the helmet barks.
"Yes, sir! Wait, I mean no, sir! I'm sorry, sir! It won't happen again, sir!" Marianne yells, still kneeling, sounding quite horrified.
"It better not! I expect more from you! Right now you're a fucking embarrassment!"
I have never seen Marianne berated before. If Luther was here, he'd probably attack the general on the spot.
"Yes, sir, I a-apologize!"
"Ok, Dane. I think she's got the point," the emperor says in a disinterested tone.
The general looked like he wanted to yell some more but he stopped as soon as the emperor spoke.
"You three may rise. You'll have to pardon Dane, he's a bit of a stick in the mud. Aren't you, Dane?" Marcus asks.
"Yes, sir,." Dane replies.
The emperor sighs. He has this constant look like he doesn't want to be here. I can relate. His eyes eventually focus Will.
"So, you're William? It's nice to meet you, my name's Marcus," he greets.
"Ugh, yeah, it's nice to meet you too," Will responds.
"And you must be Quincy," Marcus says disinterestedly.
I'm going to get a 'it's nice to meet you?' I see how it is. My body must have instinctively knew I wasn't going to get along with this guy. I don't care if he's the emperor. I'm not afraid to kick this guy's rude ass.
First he acts like he doesn't want to be here and then he's going to be nicer to Will than me. I'm about to go off but the door opens behind us. The lords shuffle into the room, taking their respective seats. I expected them to start bickering as soon as they sat down but that's not what happened. They're all quiet.
"Let's get this meeting started," Marcus proclaims, sighing afterwards.
"Sir, should I take my leave?" Marianne questions, turning her body towards the door.
"No, stay, knight. We may need you to answer some questions," Marcus commands.
He looks at Will and I once more.
"First thing's first. Do you two know why you're here?" Marcus asks us.
"No clue," Will answers.
"Neither do I.," Marcus admits.
He looks at the lords.
"Why are we here?"
"Creon here has an idea. It's a stupid one but apparently one worthy of assembling all of us here," Jana states.
"I don't see how me wanting these boys to do their jobs is a bad idea, Jana. Have you boys heard about the peasant rebellion going on in my state?" he questions.
I have heard about it. Quite a bit in fact. I still remember seeing that weird guy in all black back when I first met my group mentioning it. Then there was that whole Yero business. Will glances at me to see if I heard about it. I nod.
"Yes, we have," Will declares.
"Good, then that'll make explaining things easier. I want you boys to go to my state of Ayana and help put that rebellion down," Creon orders.
Wait, what?
".Right now?" I ask in disbelief.
"Not right now, but tomorrow, at the very least. The prophecy says the hero will bring peace and tranquility, I think putting down a rebellion would count as that," Creon argues.
"As you can see, a stupid idea. Creon, these boys aren't capable of doing that," Jana disputes.
"We summoned at least one of them for a reason. If this boy is the hero then putting down a rebellion should be a cakewalk, " Creon shoots back.
"I don't know, The first hero could get hurt, worst case scenario he and his whole party will die in the process," Borin contends.
"You've gotten attached to the boy, have you? Well in case you haven't noticed, Borin, the boy is here to fight," Creon angrily points out.
So no one cares if I get hurt. This place sucks.
"Creon, I'm simply stating the fact that if he dies because you arrogantly made him fight before he was ready--then we're all doomed," Borin reproachfully argues.
"I-I-I agree" Bobbie adds.
"What!? You idiots are the one who made us do the damn rituals and now you don't want the boy to carry out his duties? You all must have gone insane!" Creon admonishes.
There's the bickering that I expected. Everyone starts to yell at each other and it's hard to tell who's saying what. Now might be a good time to ask Will how he feels about all this.
"Hey Will, you good?" I ask in a hushed voice.
"I'm not upset or anything. I planned on going to Ayana anyway. During my last adventure, I saw some things. Those rebels are capturing demons and plan on destroying the government. So, I plan on helping. I'm not excited about you coming with me. I already know that if you come with me you'll rant about history, and I'd rather avoid that," Will briefs.
"True. But hey weird question, but did you also see a weird guy in black with a smooth voice doing evil stuff?"
"Yeah, I did. Wait, how do you know about him?" Will asks, bewildered.
"Remember that time you were an a-hole and sent me on my horrible slaving adventure? I saw him during that. He was buying slaves," I reveal.
"I saw him with slaves too on my quest. Must be the same guy. Wait, that means you saw him way before I did. Why didn't you say anything?"
"Reading books was more important."
"Quincy, you reading books might literally be a national security risk. . ." Will says half jokingly.
"You're probably right," I admit.
With our conversation over, Will starts to cough loudly in order to get the lords' attention.
"You guys can stop fighting, I'll do it," Will announces.
"William, do not let Creon ordering you be the reason you go," Jana advises.
"No it's not that. On my last adventure I learned that the rebels plan on taking over Ayana and I saw with my own eyes that they are capturing demons from dungeons to do so. I also saw a man in black with an eyepatch who I sensed was more powerful than anyone I've seen since I came here. A man that dangerous needs to be stopped," Will enunciates.
Look at Will having a sense of responsibility. Not used to that; maybe he's starting to accept this hero role. After he said that the room became quiet, I bet if a pin dropped you could hear it.
I look at Marianne and she's even more nervous than before. Scratch that, not only her but almost everyone in the room except the emperor has a concerned expression.
"Could it really be…?" Tristam asks but trails off.
"William. What exactly did this man in black with an eyepatch look like?" Jana finally asks.
"Well he had a big, silky voice, slick black hair, a scar on his face over his eye, and pointy looking black armor," Will describes nonchalantly.
"That settles it. He's not going. He'd get killed if he fights him," Jana concludes.
"God dammit, the woman's right for once. There's no way you can take him," Creon relents.
"Wait, hold on, who is this guy?" I ask.
"He used to be a knight. The best. He was almost chosen to become emperor after the war with the elves. But it was revealed he was responsible for countless war crimes. He's responsible for the slaughter of innocent elven women and children. Emperor Marcus put out a death warrant as soon as he became emperor but he, and his entire legion of soldiers deserted. His name is Lucius Speer, nicknamed: the Man of Stone." Tristam explains.
"We all thought he died a long time ago," Creon adds.
I glance at Will expecting him to change his mind or look fearful but I only see the look of anger.
"I'm still going. You're right I can't fight him yet, I knew that the moment I saw him, but I will get stronger. A man that evil doesn't deserve to succeed. Just give me more time to train," Will argues.
"Boy, you're going to need years of training if you want to compete with Lucius," Creon argues.
"Give me a few more months of training. Then you can test me or whatever you need to do. I need to go," Will pleads.
Wow, Will really is adamant about this. Even I feel like helping, and that's strange. It's like I want to rally around him.
"Knight, how strong is the hero currently? I've been told you were partially responsible for his training?" Marcus asks Marianne, slightly turning his face to her.
"Yes, sir. I have. To be completely honest, he's stronger than most people would be given the amount of training he's had. I've seen it with my own eyes. Both he and the second hero have gone on adventures already and have both been in combat. He's already unlocked his specialization. The second hero hasn't yet, but he's close," Marianne informs.
"Oh you've already fought?" Marcus asks, looking interested for the first time this whole meeting.
When I read that he likes fighting, the author wasn't kidding.
"Yes, I have. Already killed a demon as well," Will states.
"Oh, have you now? I'm getting excited now. Just imagine how much stronger you'll be after more training. I've decided. I'll give both of you two months to train. You'll fight me and I'll decide if you're strong enough to go to Ayana," Marcus says with a wicked smile.
I don't like excited Marcus. I want him to be disinterested again because now I'm scared. His orange aura is slowly starting to emerge from his body.
This must also be what my gut feeling was warning me about. Looks like I'm being ordered to go with Will, given that the emperor said 'both of you'. Oh God, that means more exercising.
"That's fine with me," Will says in agreement.
Is no one going to ask me for my opinion? Really?
"It's official. I'll test you two personally myself in two month's time, and if you two are strong enough you'll both go to Ayana. I'm so excited to fight again. Meeting adjourned," Marcus says happily.
With the meeting adjourned all of the lords leave the room. Marianne leaves as well motioning for us to follow. Well that was interesting, which I don't like. Whatever, I'll try to get my way out of going to Ayana later, for now I'm going to become one with my books.