Prince Fielbert shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Ah, I must have been affected by that plebeian"s words, making me think such nonsense."However, he looked back again and shook his head again.
"This is ridiculous."
Fiel left the spot where his father"s portrait was and walked toward a huge tree painting at the end of the hallway. As his foot hit the painting, it went through, and he walked non-stop all the way to the other side unhindered. At the other side, Fiel was walking in a vast forest under an open sky.
Ahead of him was a magnificent skysc.r.a.per with the Griffin statue stood at the top where winged creatures, young and old alike flying around it. Some younglings settled on top, sleeping.
Beyond the skysc.r.a.per, mountains and snow peaks were seen where trees and vegetation of different sizes and forms could be found. Also, this was where various kinds of creatures lived free.
At his left and right students in blue coats walked in and out of the forest. But the forest was all an illusion. In reality, these were training grounds cloaked in illusional protective barriers.
Inside those barriers were men and women fighting in mock combat using their powers to defeat the other teams. Some areas were enclosed halls where the students could practice shooting moving or non-moving targets using their own abilities or weapons at hand.
There were more but all of these couldn"t be seen unless one would go in.
Fiel stopped on the blue crystal floor in front of the skysc.r.a.per"s door. the crystals lit in seconds and a troll near it said, "Clear. Destination?"
"Delinquent cells," replied Fiel. Then, the floor shone again, and he was swallowed by it.
When the light settled, he was already in a valley where a lighted crystal cave was seen ahead. As he entered it, the guards of more than a dozen stopped in their tracks and made a slight bow and murmured "Your highness." Fiel raised his hand for a dismissive wave and the guards continued to their task at hand.
Inside the cave were small caverns carved from top to bottom on the crystal walls. Inside where humans, beasts, and other beings stayed.
A first-timer in this place could a.s.sume they were not prisoners since there were no bars or doors at the cavern"s mouth. Yet, if they dared to escape, the opening would transform into a horrendous mouth and swallow them and eventually bring them back inside. So, escaping was a vain attempt unless a guard would tell them to go out.
Fiel went to where Deimer was. It was one of the first cells on the ground.
"Hi," said Fiel, looking at Deimer with utter concern as he stood outside the cavern. Inside, Deimer sat on a white crystal bed, still in his mage red coat but no longer frozen in ice.
Deimer stood and bowed.
"At ease. How are you?
"I"m fine, Your Highness."
"Did the guards treat you well?"
"Yes, Sire."
"Do you want to go home now, Dei? I can do it for you. Just answer my questions and I"ll let you go. Or you rather wait for your brothers to do it for you."
"No need to trouble yourself. Prince Lowis will come for me," said Dei, staring on his feet, ashamed to face the other person eye to eye.
With this statement, Fiel thrust his fist on the outer wall. It left a dent on it as crystals fell on the ground.
"d.a.m.n you, Deimer. You were against him but why are you now under him?"
"You can"t understand," said Deimer, sitting sideways, afraid to look at Fiel.
"Understand what? I already told you, I can help you to become a royal mage after you graduate. Why the need to go to him? He will only use you for his own gain."
"I know you can, but he can put me in higher positions right away."
"I can do that too but I want you to start from below, working your worth, so your position at the top will be stable. Not the other way around."
"I need to be up there, so I can do what I need to do as soon as possible."
"What exactly do you need to do?"
"I told you, you can"t understand."
Fiel struck the wall again, gritting his teeth in frustration.
"Why won"t you tell me? I might be able to help you."
"No, you can"t. I"m sure of that." Deimer lay on the bed with his back facing Fiel.
Fiel was very sad to see one of his closest and high-spirited friends who dreamed with him when they entered the academy but.. this friend was more like a stranger to him now.
Fiel left the place with a heavy heart. He went back to his own abode within the castle"s vicinity and indulged himself with the wine he stole from the king"s cellar.
After he left, Prince Lowis arrived with Hue(Hubeite), and they released him from the cell. With the help of a teleportation ability user, they were out from the academy, far from the school"s barrier"s range of attack.
Prince Lowis didn"t bother to look at Deimer but only stood with his back on the mage student. "I took you in expecting you to aid me. What a shame, you"re supposed to be one of the promising mages of the new generation but... too impulsive and exposed my plan to my nephew."
"I"m sorry, Your Highness. I acted without thinking after I saw my cousin covered with flames," explained Deimer.
"Hue, where is his cousin now?"
"He is in his house. I brought a doctor to look after him."
Prince Lowis only nodded, still didn"t face the students.
"Because of your incompetence, I suggest you go back to that nephew of mine and I"ll continue to pay for your cousin"s healing as compensation."
Deimer"s eyes widened and knelt without a second thought. "Please, Your Highness. Give me another chance. This time I won"t fail."
"Do you still trust this one, Hue?"
Hue took a knee. "I think he deserves a second chance, my Prince."
"Fine, since Hue trusts you, I"ll give you another chance. Bring that boy Freidrech to me and I"ll forgive you."
"Thank you, Prince Lowis. Don"t worry, I"ll succeed this time."
"I"m not worried. Worry for yourself," said Prince Lowis with plain nonchalance.
Deimer gulped his last ounce of pride. "Thank you for giving me another chance, Sire."
Prince Lowis lifted his hand and blackness surrounded them. In a blink of an eye, they vanished.
Deimer was left on his own. He sat on a rock and heaved a deep sigh.
He almost lost his chance.
Deimer was an orphan and lived with his uncle and cousin in the village under the rule of the Earl of Beeleizal. After being hailed as a champion in a city-wide mage tournament in Beeleizal, the Earl took a liking of him and adopted him as his third son.
Later, because of his strong ability, he entered his second year in the academy in flying colors. From then on, he desired nothing else but to be a royal mage.
But, one fateful day, his biological uncle acquired an illness that not even the royal physicians could heal. Later on, even his adoptive father was also affected by the disease.
Deimer became desperate. Two of the most important persons of his life lay on their beds and deteriorating daily.
The other two sons blamed him for letting the sickness touched the Earl. They threatened him if he let the Earl die.
Months later, a certain man came and claimed he could heal them if he could get hold of the only blue Persimmon fruit in the kingdom.
The hardest thing was only a high ranking mage can open the portal to enter the dimension where this fruit could be found.
Therefore, he couldn"t wait to sit on that position after graduating months from now and have that key in his grasp to enter the mystical place beyond that portal. But, he couldn"t tell Fiel about this since the man let him promise not to tell anyone for many men were hunting the fruit and could cost their lives. Besides, a perceptive and as sensitive person as Fiel might call that man a fraud and wouldn"t let him try.
"I"m sorry, Fiel." Deimer was also disappointed with himself for acting so low but he had to do this, for his loved one"s sake.
"What must I do to bring this Amberdrift to Prince Lowis?"
------ o ------
As for the Fred and gang, they sent him home and went their separate ways.
That night Sir Ave and company stayed in the mansion again while Fred was unaware, but nothing happened.
Also, the garden didn"t open that night because the Griftein Knights were watching Fred"s room using Pheya"s magic ball. So, the burly fairy couldn"t carelessly open for Fred, to his disappointment.
But the knights had another amus.e.m.e.nt. Fred began writing on his room walls.
"What"s he writing?" asked Tet, leaning closer to the ball.
"Don"t put your face on the ball. We can"t see," Ave complained. Tet gave way.
"Pheya, make it closer," Dayin said.
With the help of a replica of the ball in Fred"s room, Pheya managed to focus the image on the ball on Fred"s writings. And they couldn"t believe what they saw.
"These are all formulas for medicines," said Pheya.
The image moved to another angle. "Eh? Are these drawings for contraptions. What is he making?"
"I think it"s a kite," said Tet.
"If it"s only a kite, why did he draw a man under it?" asked Dayin.
"That could be a very big kite that can carry a man," said Tet, concluding by himself.
The knights were debating with the odd things Fred drew for the notes with it were quite vague. Pheya too wondered why Fred was writing there. There were scrolls and inks on his table but why write them on the walls?
Late in the evening, the other watchers went to sleep, aside from Sir Ave and Pheya. These two were deeply intrigued by the last picture Fred drew. It was a fruit and he added some notes underneath, "A blue persimmon fruit that is not a fruit but can only be acquired through dreams, said Lady Aenor, the best healer of Wrilon, my mother."
After writing that last one, Fred stood and stretched his body. Looking at the wall full of words and drawings, he smiled in satisfaction. "This is better. I can easily find them when I need them than scanning piles of papers. The last thing to do is make Pheya masked this with an invincible spell."