"W-where am I?" Ace asked.
"You're in the royal infirmary," The girl said.
"W-whats a royal inirmary?" Ace asked.
"It's a hospital," The girl said.
"What's a... never mind," Ace said.
Ace looked down. The girl noticed his shy demeanor.
"What's your name anyways?" The girls asked.
"A-Ace," Ace said.
The girl smiled at him.
"I'm Julia, but Juli for short," Julia said.
A slight smile stretched across his face, but he quickly hid it as quickly as it appeared.
"Why am I here?" Ace asked.
Julia looked at Ace.
"You don't know what happened?" Julia asked.
"No," Ace said.
"People in the surrounding villages and the knights at the east wall saw a huge surge of essence in the sky coming from your village. When the knights arrived they saw you unconscious on the ground surrounded by blood and the dead body of a man. You had cuts and bruises and some broken bones," Julia said.
"Oh," Ace said.
"When they searched your house they found your parent's bo-"
Julia hesitated for a moment.
"They found your parents in their bed."
Ace looked down. He had killed the man and let a demon possess him.
"That's all we know about it so far, but the King wants to meet with you and get the full story," Julia said.
"T-the king wants an audience with me?" Ace asked.
"Yeah," Julia said.
Suddenly the door to the infirmary burst open revealing two knights. Their metallic armor reflected the sunlight around the room. They had the kingdom flag attached to the end of their halberds and short swords strapped to their hips.
"We are here to bring Sir Ace to the throne room," One of the knights said.
Ace slowly pulled the blanket back to reveal scars across his stomach. Ace pulled his legs out from the blanket and stood. Ace started to move one foot at a time. His movements were choppy and rigid. A limp was apparent in Ace's walking as pain shot through a leg that must have been broken by the man.
As Ace followed the knights out of the infirmary, he noticed the Victorian esk-style paintings lining the walls of corridors. Each was a portrait of the royals from each generation. The corridor also had quartz pillars about 60 feet (18 meters) tall. They were intricately chiseled but became more simplistic at the base and head of the pillars. The floor was made of marble with streaks of black etched into it.
As Ace made his way into the throne room, he noticed the throne room was not a disappointment either. The room was long and narrow with quartz pillars as support. The floor was made of marble as well but had a long red carpet leading up to the thrones. The thrones were even more majestic with gold lining the walnut wooden frame with two red velvet padding for comfort.
"Your majesty, this is Sir Ace. The one from the incident that happens a few days ago," One of the knights said bowing.
Ace stared at the knights confused at their stiff manor.
"Kid bow or it'll be off with your head!" One of the knights whispered.
Ace started to bend down but something blocked him. He couldn't bend his leg. He stood there trying to lower but his leg wouldn't give way.
"Bow now!" The knight said.
"I-I can't" Ace replied.
"Bow now!" The knight continued.
"I said I can't!" Ace said, aggression entering his voice.
"Ace," The king said.
Ace's head shot up towards the king.
"Why do you not bow in my presence?" He asked.
**Off with your head!** rang out in Ace's mind. His heart started to beat at a thousand miles an hour.
"Ace?" The king said.
"I-I-I," Ace said starting to panic.
"Off with his head, I tell you!" Someone said.
"He is disrespecting the king!" Another said.
"Wait just a moment-"
"He should be cut down where he stands!" Someone else said.
Ace felt like he would faint. The fear of death shot through him.
"I-I-I!" Ace tried to say.
"Silents!" The king said.
The room became deathly silent.
"There will be no beheadings!" The king continued. "As for Ace."
Ace stared at the king petrified.
"What is the problem, Ace?" The king asked.
"I-I c-can't bend m-my knee," Ace said.
The king glared at everyone in the room except Ace.
"You all would have me execute a child for not bowing because he was injured?" The king said, anger rising. "You all disgust me."
The king's expression shifted as his gaze fell on Ace.
"So before we were, rudely, interrupted. This audience was to discuss what happened to Ace." The king said.
Ace assumed a posture comfortable for himself.
"What happened, Ace?" The king asked.
After the first word, the story began to spill out. Ace went over everything. The bad water, his dead parents, the man that brutally beat him, the demon, the old man who gave him his power, everything. The king's expression changed from grim to surprised to disgusted and back to surprised.
"Wait- this old man. Do you know his name?" The king asked.
"No. He didn't tell me," Ace said.
The king called over a man and they began to converse over something. After a moment, the king finally spoke.
"Guards, please alert the maids to set up Ace's room. He will be staying with us for a while."
The guards stood and motioned for Ace to follow. After the audience all Ace could think about was the old man. Even once Ace was settled in his room, Ace tried to find the identity of the man, even going out of his way to ask the maids and guards. Still, the man's identity stayed unknown.
After a few days of Ace settling in, he was alerted that the king would make an announcement. Ace quickly ventured to a balcony overlooking the king. There Ace would find Julia.
"Oh, hi Ace," Julia said.
"Hi, Juli," Ace said.
Julia was wearing a silk dress with ripples of cloth around her wrists and waist.
"What is the big announcement?" Ace asked.
"I don't know but it's supposed to be a big deal," Julia replied.
The king stepped out before the crowd. His demeanor demanded attention as he stood before the people.
"As many of you know, a boy was located near the sighting of that energy blast," The king said.
Ace looked at the king knowing who the announcement was about.
"It will be a couple more weeks to be certain, but we believe the boy to be the next Necro King," The king said.
As the name left the king's lips, a sudden urge to pass out came over Ace. The crowd roared with questions. Julia turned to Ace. Ace did the same before falling off his feet and passing out.