"ouch!"
When Shugel regained consciousness, his knees being pressed against the ground was the first sensation that came, all other sensation such as sound, smell, sight were being blocked by a thick bag like thing covering his face.
He was not able to see anything. He was not able to smell anything. He was not able to hear anything. Half of his sensory input was cutoff.
Any longer and his mind would start hallucinating.
He had tried to move his hand earlier to remove that thing which was on put on his face, but he realised that his hand had been tied too.
Suddenly, the mask on his face was removed.
"Oh, it's true but still you could have been bit more considerate."
"Your honour, my apologies but seeing the number of assassination that have been happening as of lately I needed to be more careful."
It took some time for his eyes to adjust to the bright surroundings but as soon as his eyes refocused a great grand view of king's court made him gasp for air.
Though, that could also be because his senses were not being suppressed now.
But what his sight saw was grand and beautiful enough that it would not be wrong if one could not help but gasp.
King's throne was at the highest elevated point. No matter where one might look from, the throne seemed to always be at the centre. The structural design was such that Shugel's sight automatically landed on the throne, on which sat the king.
The distance between the king and them was big enough that it made Shugel wonder how king's voice was able to reach them.
So too went for the soldier speaking to the king. How was his voice able to reach him, so clearly and audibly?
What was his name? He remembered, it was something like Ulius, the one responsible for abducting Shugel currently who was speaking to the king.
"Bring him closer then, I wish to confirm his identity." The king ordered.
Ulius signaled the soldiers who were pressing Shugel onto his knees and they released him from their grip.
The sudden letting go made Shugel lose his balance a bit but he took note and balanced himself.
Ulius looked at Shugel and as soon as he had gained balance.
"Stand up we are not going to carry you any further."
*It's not like I asked for this tch.* Shugel murmured in his heart.
There was no point in being offensive right now, Shugel understood this and simply stood up as he was told to.
He waited for Ulius or someone to untie his hands but after no one came to do so he sighed to himself and started walking.
As soon he reached near the stairs, what seemed to be line of knights in armour on both the edge of hall, leading to the stairs, all of a sudden took out their swords.
Shugel stopped for a bit but Ulius nodded and signaled him to keep moving forward.
All this was not good for his heart. He must think of something, something he could use.
"Stop!" a voice interrupted him.
Shugel was pretty sure it belonged to a female, but who? Then he looked toward the source of the voice, the throne or to be exact someone who had been standing near the throne.
But the question was again who because there were six more people beside the king, all of them female except the two knights who's faces were hidden.
Shugel was standing at the bottom of the stairs and the throne was at the top.
He had come close enough to make out the physical features of the people above.
The king looked quite old. He had pretty broad stature considering how old he looked and his position. His voice carried an authoritative feel to it, but it didn't carry much personality making it hard for Shugel to gauge much information about him.
Beside him were two knights, their faces hidden behind the helmet, they looked very strong. The way they both stood directly beside the throne gave of the impression as if they were the pillars of that throne.
Then there was the mist blue haired woman who was being supported by two of the servants. She looked pretty young compared to the king. That women was most definitely the queen, but why would someone so sick be outside? The woman looked quite tired. Probably that voice was her's but he didn't think someone like her could manage to utter words with such strength and gravitas behind them.
That left two other girls, one of them had mist blue hair, which made Shugel deduct that she was probably her daughter. The other was someone... Someone from whom his eyes could no longer move away from, now that he had looked at her.
The last girl had black hair.
The voice belonged to her. "I can't allow you to move beyond, I refuse to risk others life. I will confirm your identity myself."
"Are you sure? We have no objections if you wish to confirm his identity up close at your risk." The king commented.
The mist haired girl lightly clenched the black haired girl's hand. Her eyes asking if the other girl was really sure.
It was that girl, the black hair...
The girl slowly moved downstairs, after coming halfway she stopped.
At this point they could clearly see the facial features of each other. The black haired girl with glowing red eyes looked straight at him.
—A human?...
Her ears were not long.
Shugel was dumbfounded, the sight of a human. how was he supposed to feel?he did not know.
Should he feel relieved or should he feel anxious.
Relieved, that there was a human in front of him, or anxious that his act could be busted.
After a moment she spoke, "Speak your full name."
Who was she? was she really a human? If so then what was a human doing in this place. No, he was the one who had no idea about this world so he couldn't comment on what was normal and what not, but it still made him feel more cornered.
"Wait!" All of a sudden another feminine voice. This time shugel didn't had to think about who's voice it was, everyone was surprisingly looking the owner of the voice.
The mist hair women spoke, her voice was dim but carried a certain resonance that was pleasing to the ears—almost motherly.
"It's better if we put a temporary truth seal on him so that he cannot lie. We have promised your safety to your parents."
"Darling, please take care, I have allowed you to come here after your request but I will not allow to you to push yourself."
"Dad is right mom, Truth Seal takes lot of mana from you. Don't push yourself."
The king and her daughter looked very concerned when she mentioned using the Truth Seal.
Shugel could pretty much grasp what that seals purpose was, and it was not not good for him at all.
The queen chuckled at their overprotective comments.
"You two worry too much. I know when my time will come. Also, I owe something to the princess's mother. Though she is no longer in this world but I can still pay it by taking care of her daughter."
"But mom" "but..."
"Enough, I said now. You two stand back." The queen started chanting something, and then suddenly a green light radiated from her.
From midair green vines started to manifest. The queen opened her eyes and the green vines started to disintegrate and lightly fell on the ground, then what was left was a floating long vine manifested out of pure mana, glowing green.
The glowing vine was propelled towards Shugel at insanely high speed by some unknown forces which his eyes could not see. As if magic.
Everyone was astonished by how beautiful the queen looked surrounded by all the green vines and radiance.
The vine went right past the Shugel's heart. A great shock was felt as Shugel tried to grasp how fast it was.
When he opened his eyes, which he had reflexively closed on seeing how fast that light had been propelled towards him, there was nothing.
There was no hole in his chest. All he saw was mana or light which had pierced him just now disappear.
It was done. The queen let out a breath out of pure exhaustion.
The black haired girl looked bit concerned when all this was going on, but after seeing that the queen was okay she let out a sigh.
The king and daughter reflexively got worried about the queen.
The girl in front of Shugel shifted her focus back on him.
There was a green light glowing in his throat. Shugel gulped audibly, after he noticed it.
"Now back to the topic, tell me your name." The way she asked was straight and cold.
That's when Shugel noticed one more thing, around her neck too was the same glowing light.
What does that mean?
Shugel looked back to where the king and queen were, everyone had gotten back to their places and were now waiting as they observed them. What Shugel was looking for was not them but a green glowing light, and he found non.
It was not a right place for him to make assumptions considering the seal which had been put on him, one wrong word and who knew what consequences would be. For all he knew he could get an extremely painfull and intolerable shock.
Shugel mustered up tiny courage which he was almost running empty on.
"Before I answer, tell me, what will happen it I don't speak the truth?"
"Your throat will rupture and you will die instantly if you are lucky. And if you don't answer at all after few tries you will die by vomiting blood." The black hair girl replied with a blunt expression and tone, almost cold as if trying to say it didn't matter anyway.
"Too Harsh!! Do you want kill me!?"
"It solely upto you, answer me with your full name."
Can he play around? No he can't risk it.
Should he try it? He was going to die anyway...
"I will answer you my full name, but don't you think it's unfair and quite disrespectful just asking my name."
It didn't Activate! The seal didn't got triggered. He could almost hear his heart.
The girl narrowed her eyes,"How cunning"
"My name is Celena Hesper. The second daughter of the royal family of Sapia. I am a sapian just like you."
Celena Hesper, the black-haired beauty who had jewel like red eyes, which were piercing right at Shugel at the moment, was the princess of Sapian kingdom, who had secretly been sent to Elvian kingdom for her safety by her father.
This was something world had no knowledge about. No one knew of her whereabouts expect very few.
Offcourse, Shugel who had just been dropped to this world all of a sudden had not idea. For now all he could think was about his situation and how to get out of this alive.
He had not found any piece of knowledge till now which he could leverage on. Except the version of delay and condition tactics he had used for the truth seal just now.
He didn't know if that tactic would work for more time. He had no courage left to even try risking it.
For now he had no choise left but say his name, if push came to shove he would need to beg for his life.
"Shugel Kasane. My name is Shugel Kasane. Beyond that I—"
All of a sudden Shugel stopped. The reason was the sudden change in the cold princess' expression.
Celena's eyes were wide open and her expression as if she could not believe her ears.
Had he spoken something forbidden?
No that didn't seemed to be case he had only told his name so why was there such stun expression on her face.
But it was only for a moment, no one who was not close enough to her, not aware enough of their own death would have noticed it.
Soon Celena's cold expression returned but this time it felt forced.
"You..." She seemed lost on what to say, "I will ask you one more time, are you really speaking the truth?"
There was certainly something wrong!
"You are the one who put this thing on me, what the hell am I supposed to say except the truth!"
Celena went silent.
At back the king looked bit intrigued by where this all was leading to. He had certainly not heard of "Kasane" bloodline, or lineage. But seeing Celena Hesper's reaction it was safe to say at least it was something she knew about. But why the silence?
His daughter looked bit concerned about her but that was what friends do, he thought. He could not see his wife's expression as she was on his blind side, but he seemed be fine with not looking at her for now.
The queen—
Celena looked at Shugel, his eyes, his face, his hair, his body... What was she thinking?
Shugel was looking anxiously at her.
What could her reply be he wondered.
Many answer could come; I don't know him, he is not from any family,
he is a fraud, kill him.
Then her lips opened, letting breath fill her lungs, then from those lips her words escape.
The silence which was becoming heavier and heavier broke, "He doesn't belong to any royal family that is known to public."
He knew it.
Celena emphasized, clearly and boldly.
"But this man is someone that needs to return to the kingdom of Sapia with me. And till then he must not be harmed."
The king seemed taken aback by her quick and bold request.
This Shugel named person was someone definitely not from any known lineage, but at same time, black hair was not something possessed by any other human family except the royal.
Elvian kindom had many secrets world didn't know about. The same also went with other kingdoms. All the Kingdoms had secrets that remain within the boundaries of specific individuals in specific kingdoms.
If the request was made with such confidence, and that too by Celena, who he had always been considered a political and mage prodigy, then he must not pry more than necessary.
"So how do you wish we treat him?" The king asked in amusement.
"You have been gracious enough by accepting my request, as long as he is not harmed and given proper food and water it should be enough."
All the while, Shugel was purely stun, dumbfounded, mouth wide open... What was happening? he was was completely lost, but at same time his life... If he got a chance to relax and breath for second his tears would certainly flow out of his eyes.
"Alright then If you wish so, we will treat him as a guest. Unfortunately we have to put restrictions on him and certainly we need to assign someone to keep an eyes on him at all the time."
The king clapped, and all the knights simultaneously put their swords back in the seath, "I EDGARM ERSA ORDER THEE! TO FOLLOW ALL THAT HAS BEEN DISCUSSED HERE."
The kings voice roared like a camphony. Ulius and every other knight bowed.
"THE COURT HAS—"
"Darling wait!"
The queen suddenly intrupted the king, everyone stopped at their place...
The Knights taking Shugel with them stopped, the king, the daughter, the princess, all stoped.
Shugel wondered what was it now.
"I understand your heart as a king but don't you think you are being pretty soft now. You need to consider the risk of what has been going in the kingdom. We must keep him in very strict surveillance untill tomorrow evening atleast."
"You mean the Manaless chamber!? Darling that is absurd I can't treat someone whom I have considered a guest like that, even for a moment." The king was flabbergasted by her wife's request.
The Manaless chamber was a special prison cell made for mages. It is said that it will not open unless all of mana from a person is expelled. It includes the mana reserve inside the human, the mana of any current spell or anything related to mana.
One cannot exit unless all the mana has not been expelled. The prison cell will completely suck all the mana and the lost mana cannot be recovered unless forty eight hours have passed after exiting.
Celena spoke "I have no objection, for any concerns you are free to treat him however you like, just not harm or kill him. That is the only word I want from your honour."
"But still." The king was not convinced.
But looking at his wife's concern and Celena's opinion. He decided to break his honour as a king.
"Fine, if Manaless chamber can get you rid of your worries, and if Celena has no objections then," the king sighed " TAKE THEE BOY TO THE MANALESS CHAMBER AND DO NOT TRY TO HARM THE BOY IN ANYWAY. HE IS OUR GUEST STILL!"
—And so the boy, Shugel Kasane was thrown in a dark prison cell.
He had no idea what paths it took to reach here, both physically and metaphysically.
All he knew was he was in an underground prison. The dark hallways and stairs that were taken before he was thrown here had all meshed up in his memories.
They called it the Manaless prison or something, now that he tried to remember.
He didn't feel anything strange.
*The Manaless chamber... It sure sounded terrifying.*
More than that, in this complete darkness, now that he was alone... He had finally sometime to relax and organise his thoughts.
The situation still did not allow him to relax on a level he wanted to but still it was better than the perpetual barrage of information.
He could use this time to think and organise all which he understood about the situation.
He had been transported to another world. If he had any lingering doubts then king's palace and outside world didn't leave him any room for them anymore.
As for why he was is this new world all of a sudden, he had no idea why. He had left Bobby and Sia and disappeared without letting anyone know, he couldn't even begin to imagine how much distress they would be in now.
The more he thought about what he had left behind, the more regret and sadness consumed him. How would his mother feel after her son too has disappeared like her first daughter.
His chest felt heavy, what was this feeling, it was almost eating away at his soul he didn't understand what to do.
He had no way to return, nothing. Drowning.
—Mom...
There was a slap. An intense slap almost numbing. Shugel slapped himself with both his hands as he tried to force himself to come to present.
There was nothing he could do in past, whatever has happened has happened there was nothing he could do to change that.
*There are many questions but for now let's not question why, but rather how.*
How to survive, how find a place in this world, how to live in this world.
Atleast thanks to Princess Celena's request he won't be killed. This was the one thing he was sure of, the king's words and overall how it went, made him believe.
That was good for his heart, but, there was no evident proof that all would go accordingly.
Shugel needed to question somethings, specially, why did he got such strong reaction from the princess?, Or why did she vouch for him? What did she knew which he didn't? What does she want from him?
There were many other questions but these were few of them which took priority over others.
Then there was the queen,
"I suppose there is nothing wrong with her but, why do I sense something weird ever since that green vine like light pierced me." He murmured to himself.
***
How many hours had passed, he had no idea... He could feel he was getting sleepy. Today had been such and intense day, even though it had only begun. The darkness and silence gave strange comfort...
Was he hearing footsteps... Was he dreaming. Footsteps why would he dream footsteps, then suddenly his sleep broke.
His ear picked the same noise of footsteps echoing in the hall, getting closer and closer...
He saw an orange light, slowly the light got closer and closer, untill the light got close enough to cell to reveal the silhouette of person holding it.
Her red eyes were as if nectar, they were gazing at him.
Celena Hesper stood in front of Shugel Kasane. Seperated by the bars of the cell, the dim orange light revealing only the eyes of each other as they looked at each other.
—For a moment or eternity that was something no one could tell.