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It was one of those rare, slow days…
Taze found himself with some unexpected free time and decided to take a stroll through one of the Palace gardens.
The gentle snowfall around him brought a quiet peace, and as the delicate snowflakes drifted down, he couldn't help but think of Celia.
The clear and cold crisp air felt like her aura, and a soft smile touched his lips as he extended his hand, letting the tiny flakes settle in his palm.
"Your Highness!" A servant's frantic voice shattered the calm. "Aedian is under attack! There's a war in Aedian!"
Taze spun around, his heart jolting. "Under attack? By whom?"
"I-I don't know, Your Highness! I was simply ordered to summon you to the throne room at once!"
'Summon?' Taze's brow furrowed as he dusted off the snowflakes from his hand, his mind already racing.
The king typically 'requested' the presence of his closest advisors and family... It was rarely a 'summoning' for them, and the message usually went, "The King requests your presence!" or "The King requires your presence!"
But for Taze, when it was a 'summon,' it often meant one thing: his father was warning him that his character was under doubt and scrutiny.
And today, that could only mean one thing...
They suspected him of being involved in the attack on Aedian!
Wasting no time, Taze disappeared and appeared right in front of the throne room doors, but paused the instant his foot crossed into the doors.
However, he fully stepped in a split second later, careful to maintain his composure.
The atmosphere inside the throne room was thick with unease.
Nobles and mages lined the walls, their expressions a mix of shock, disbelief, and thinly veiled fear.
A few, however, showed a flicker of support, and Lord Scarlett, Grand Mage Sidian, and the other High mages from their group, all offered him a small, reassuring nod.
Taze bowed deeply. "Your son greets you, Father."
King Vien's expression was solemn as he nodded and waved for Taze to sit.
"Grand Mage Patiel, the Crown Prince is here," King Vien began, his voice even but heavy with tension. "Show us again what happened in Aedian."
Grand Mage Patiel smiled... a broad, almost too-friendly smile that made the hairs on the back of Taze's neck stand on end.
This was what had made him hesitate at the doors. An unsettling aura surrounded the elderly mage. A familiar but wrong aura.
'He's not Grand Mage Patiel!' Taze realized, careful not to give anything away with his expression. One quick glance at Grand Mage Sidian confirmed he was not the only one who had felt it.
The elderly mage waved a hand, and a pictorial orb materialized, similar to the one Arch Grand Mage Soren had used to reveal Taze's life in Elfsworth. But this orb presented a much grimmer sight.
As the visions unfolded, they watched as dark mages descended upon Aedian, wreaking havoc.
Aedian was one of Luxia's central cities, and it was the second richest city, second only to the Capital, Blixia.
It was a bustling trade hub, with a government and military that King Vien personally ensured were always up to par.
And the military was indeed up to par...
As Taze watched, Aedian's Battle Mages appeared and began pushing back the dark mages, almost too easily. But just when victory seemed within reach, a deep, earth-shaking pounding filled the air, and Taze bit back a gasp as ten giant monsters emerged onto the scene.
The creatures varied in appearance. Three were lizard-like, two were snake-like, two were ape-like, and three resembled wolves, but they all had one thing in common…
They were made of wood, with tufts of green leaves and vines wrapped around them, like entire forests come to life.
'Plant Magic!' Taze realized instantly.
And not just any plant magic... This was advanced- beyond advanced, and now he understood why he was being suspected.
In all of Luxia, and even in its recent history of roughly three hundred years, Taze was the most powerful Plant Mage known.
That may not be enough to make him suspect, but combined with a few other facts...
First of all, foreign invaders would attack border regions, but this was an attack on Aedian which was closer to the Capital, than it was to any border, indicating the attackers had inside help.
Secondly Taze's grand accomplishments were a good thing, but anyone could easily twist his intentions into a deliberate attempt to win the hearts of the people.
And finally, he was a Prince. And also the Crown Prince...
That title came with the unspoken motive that he might be impatient and wanted to seize power from his father!
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Miles away, Vitav sat on a small throne, which was built to resemble the Throne of Luxia.
His light blonde hair had grown to shoulder length, and a large dark blue feathery cloak rested on his shoulders, making his frame look more imposing than it was.
The throne room was a grand, but dimly lit hall, and he smiled into the darkness.
"My little brother should have received my gift by now..."
Vitav had indeed been frustrated for a long time...
For some reason all his initial plans had failed.
At first he had raged in endless anger and turmoil, as Taze grew in popularity, and as his spies and hidden soldiers were eliminated every single time!
It always seemed as if someone could read his every move and was always one step ahead of him!
But not anymore.
Recently, he had realized why Taze had survived the illness, and how they always guessed his plans beforehand...
Thanks to one of the spells he had copied from the dark magic book, he now remembered his previous lives!
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Back in Blixia's throne room, Taze glanced at his father and could tell from his grim expression that the Battle Mages hadn't managed to subdue the plant monsters. Yet, Taze couldn't stop himself from watching as they destroyed most of Aedian, forcing its citizens to flee underground.
The Battle Mages fought valiantly, attacking the creatures with everything they had, but the monsters were largely impervious to magic, and the spells simply bounced off, further enraging the creatures.
After two grueling days, the mages had managed to defeat just two of the creatures while rescuing a significant number of people and moving them to the fortified holds underground, hidden beneath the canals.
The dust had settled, and the once vibrant city now lay in ruins, shrouded in smoke...
"Your Majesty," Grand Mage Patiel began, as the pictorial orb vanished. "Tell me, apart from our dear Crown Prince, who else can pull off such a complex Nature Spell?"
He gestured dramatically as he spoke. "Even the monsters' ability to resist magic... isn't it strikingly similar to the spell Crown Prince Tazeus recently used at the southern borders? Against the Darnian invaders?"
He sneered at Taze. "And what about the sheer coincidence? The attack on Aedian occurred two days ago, on a day when you were conspicuously absent… I suspected you, so I went around to ask. Not a single eyewitness has said they spotted you that day, and even your East Wing servants know nothing!"
'Of course they don't.' Taze thought. The group had met at House Scarlett that day.
"Can you tell us where you were on that day?" Grand Mage Patiel asked. "Is there proof that you weren't in Aedian?!"
Mutters filled the air, and Taze could almost taste the doubt and unease thickening in the throne room. But he didn't rise to Grand Mage Patiel's provocations. Instead, he turned to his father.
"Father, the attacks on Aedian are severe, and what we've seen here tells us precious little. Please, permit me to go and investigate further. I can also provide disaster relief to the people."
"Nonsense! Who would trust a thief to guard their pantry?" Grand Mage Patiel's smile hadn't faded. In fact, it had widened, giving him an eerie look. "Crown Prince Tazeus, perhaps you've not realized why you were summoned? You're the chief suspect, and you haven't answered... How then can we place Aedian in your hands?"
"Father," Taze continued as if there had been no interruption, "I will go with a few Elves you trust."
"Preposterous!" Grand Mage Patiel's smile finally vanished, replaced with a dark scowl. "The nerve of you to ignore-!"
"Enough!" King Vien thundered, and the room rumbled with his voice.
Silence descended like a blanket over the room.
"Crown Prince Tazeus will go to Aedian."
"But Your Majest-!"
"You will follow him, and so will Grand Mage Pariel. Arch Grand Mage Soren will lead the Council in your absence. My word is final."
The room gave an extra rumble for good measure, and they all bowed.
"We've received your words, oh King!"
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Two weeks later, Taze, Grand Mages Patiel and Pariel, five hundred combat mages, and a thousand regular soldiers from Blixia arrived in Aedian.
They were met by the Head Mage in charge of Aedian, who, after settling the combat mages and regular soldiers in battle tents, invited Taze and the twin Grand Mages to the War tent.
The entire barracks was fortified by a solid magical dome, which kept the creatures out. Consequently, quite a few displaced elves, unable to reach the underground holds, had taken refuge in the barracks as well.
The War tent sat at the very center of the large, makeshift barracks. It was larger than any of the others, and the interior was dimly lit, save for a large round table in the center. Above the table, a massive pictorial orb hovered, softly whirring in the silence.
The orb displayed several visions, alternating between a full view of Aedian before and after the destruction, and of specific locations that had suffered the most damage.
The Head Mage led Taze and the Grand Mages to a few seats near the pictorial orb, but they had barely sat when a servant rushed in to inform the Head Mage of an emergency.
"Please, make yourselves at home," High Mage Daius, the Aedian Head Mage, said with a quick bow. "I must excuse myself. We will discuss everything when I return."
With that, he hurried out of the tent, leaving them in the silence, broken only by the soft magical whir of the hovering orb.
As they watched, one of the monsters rampaged near the magic seal of the furthest underground hold.
"Those people are in danger!" Grand Mage Pariel observed.
But Taze realized something more.
"That particular hold is surrounded by an invisible boundary... It would activate the moment High Mage Daius and his battle mages cross its edge!" he noted.
"The people in the hold aren't the ones in danger!
"It's a trap!"
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