THE THIRD MAGE

They were both put in the same room, together with King Vasillia, Crown Prince Amon, General Luther and Captain Gilbert. A worker in the Truth Court, a truth examiner, also was inside the room to oversee the investigation. He was there to determine if the one interrogated was telling the truth.

The King addressed his son, "You can start now son."

Crown Prince Amon stood up and faced the n.o.ble. "I"d like to ask Lord Lochan first."

The n.o.ble trembled, but still answered the Crown Prince. "As you wish, Your Highness."

"Tell me everything about what happened earlier."

The n.o.ble swallowed and then began telling his side of the story.

"It was right after lunch, I called her to bring me food and - "

"Lie," the examiner said.

Crown Prince Amon face darkened. "Repeat; don"t let the examiner control you."

Lord Lochan gulped down a mouthful of his saliva. "I-I called her to bring me tea, my stomach was feeling upset again. When she arrived, I-I had the u-urge to... I wanted to touch her."

Everyone in the room cringed. This was the very act all of Oniro abhorred of.

"I just saw her white neck, that I -"

"Lie," the examiner said yet again.

Crown Prince punched his hand on the table. "One more lie you piece of s.h.i.t, and I will let him take the reins of your mind."

Lord Lochan was sweating profusely now. "Your Highness, please have mercy on me. I really didn"t mean to think of her in that way -"

"Lie," the examiner interrupted.

Crown Prince Amon slowly sat down, with a leisurely demeanor - his arm draped on back of the chair; the other was placed on top of the arm rest, the fingers of which were holding his chin.

"Dear Truth Examiner," Crown Prince Amon said with glee. "It seems our friend here does not want to tell the truth. I do think he prefers your methods. So please, make it so."

The examiner bowed and said, "Of course, Your Highness."

He looked at the n.o.ble, who began shouting in pain and clutching his head. He struggled for a bit and then went slack. His eyes lost focus, his arms swayed in his sides.

"Lord Lochan," the examiner said in an eerie, sing-song voice. "Do you hear me?"

The n.o.ble mumbled a yes.

"Okay, now tell us what happened that afternoon."

Lord Lochan everything in a trance.

"I called the girl to fetch me some tea. I was thinking perverse thoughts that time and I thought that I have a girl in my midst, so why not. As soon as she entered, I let her place the tea in the table in front of me. I then grabbed her waist and started licking her chest. I was trying to open her upper clothes but she resisted too much that I slapped her cheeks. It was then that she shouted and she began to shine.

"I was so afraid that I threw her across the room and then ran out crying. Until then, I encountered the Knights and Captain Gilbert along the way."

The men in the room were resisting their urge to kill the n.o.ble in front of them.

The King, unable to hold back his anger, slapped the unknowing n.o.ble. "Pah! A disgrace. Imbecile! Coward! Evil!"

"Papa, calm down," Crown Prince Amon held his father. "I know he is, but if you inflict more damage to him, the international court shall question you."

The King replied scornfully, "International court my a.s.s. They"re all fighting for territory, nothing"s going to be good in that court."

General Luther laughed. "That"s true Your Majesty. But please restrain yourself. We have our own laws to address in this kind of matter." He then looked at the Truth examiner. "So examiner, was that a satisfactory answer?"

"Yes it is," the examiner answered curtly. "He shall be taken to Corrections Department to atone for his sin and violation to the law."

He went out for a short time and brought the Truth Court guards to escort the n.o.ble out. The n.o.ble was still in a trance.

Crown Prince"s curiosity piqued. "Uhm, examiner, how do you the mind-control thing?"

"It"s, well, as I understand it, it uses a mix of the magical attributes. But I"m not really sure which is responsible for a certain action. We are middle-cla.s.s after.

"So, I construct a certain melody in my words that can enter a person"s one mind. I control his blood flow, that"s why they would feel a ringing sensation in their heads. As soon as their mind"s defenses crumble, we urge the blood to look for the memory and let it out. And so, that"s it."

"Hmmm, that power is so interesting. It only applies to a few musician, I suppose?"

"Yes, Your Highness. In all of Oniro, only three of us could do mind-control; since there are only a few of us who are musicians. So that"s why, sometimes, we use less harsher methods such as hypnosis. It doesn"t involve getting into one"s mind and control it."

"Yes, as I remember, a friend of mine, Dior, uses hypnosis. He said hypnosis relaxes the tense mind, slowly lowering the person"s defenses. As it lowers, the mind focuses on the voice of the one who made it relax since our brains seeks its well-earned rest."

The examiner laughed. "As you know, Your Highness, Dior is my younger brother. I"m Damien."

"Damien! Oh how could I forget! You were in the mansion for just once, no wonder I forgot how you look like. So you"re Denaire"s brother!"

Lyra, in the corner, finally spoke up. "Denaire? Denaire? What happened to her? Is she alright?"

The men finally remembered her existence.

The examiner finally focused on her. "You are Lyra, am I correct?"

"Y-yes. Is Denaire alright?"

"Of course. I would not want anything to happen to my sister."

Lyra heaved a sigh. "I thought something happened to her because you were talking about her here."

"Don"t worry. She"s alright."

The Crown Prince looked at her and then asked, "What happened earlier?"

Lyra took a deep breath and then recounted the events.

"Lord Lochan called me to prepare tea for him. I went to his room as soon as it was done and placed the tea tray on the table in front of him."

Lyra started trembling. "And then, he started to grab me and, and- and he-he.." She stopped, sobs uncontrollably getting out of her system.

Damien went out and shouted, "Get a charmer over here!"

The Crown Prince raised his brows, "A charmer?"

"Someone who can charm-speak," Damien answered. "They could create illusions in a person"s mind."

As soon as the charmer came in, she started singing with a soothing voice to Lyra. Lyra immediately relaxed and stopped sobbing.

"Lyra?" Damien asked.

"Yes?"

"Could you continue what you were saying?"

So Lyra continued but now in a relaxed manner. "He started licking my chest and I felt so disgusted I struggled and struggled. And then I felt that my clothes were about to be ripped off, so I did what I thought I could only do in that moment.

"I shouted. I shouted so loud. And I noticed a strange bright light. I looked down and there I noticed it came from. I was so lost, I didn"t know what was happening. But I thought, if this light would save me, then better make use of it. So I shouted even more.

"I only then felt I was floating in air and I b.u.mped my head in a wall. I then lost consciousness."

Damien said after a beat, "Truth."