Tome II

XL

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Thunders. Oh! The Thunders! Warnings from the heavens. Preludes of the final storm. They announce days of storms and great darkness. They are messengers of times yet to come. Times filled with tears, blood and regret. With wars and the end of the deities. With the message from the thunder, that will deliver the song about The End of Everything.

Hjalmar Tr’ndu – The End of Everything

Compilations – 2nd Edition – Armenvald of Fibo

*

A big lizard stands at the edge of a stream inside Fiandel’s territory. Its scaly, green body moves slowly under the scorching sun, calmly analyzing the surrounding environments, looking for prey.

And, between movements, its body is pierced by the tip of a spear, thrown from meters away, guided by magic. The animal tries to move towards the river, but the body does not obey.

Before the lizard can even understand what hit him, the conscience fades and, next to it, the body of a boy with dark complexion and gentle eyes grabs the long spear attached to the body, with a wolf and a vampire closely following him.

-Your spear handling is decent. – Galaaz murmurs to Arthur, watching the deadly wound on the lizard’s body.

-He still depends too much on magic to correct the direction. – Yvanna’s delicate voice has hints of a rebuke. She looks at Arthur’s arm. – You are still too thin to be able to use the weapon properly. Humans need to pay attention to that.

-But I did it, didn’t I? – The boy seeks approval. The vampire instructor does not give in to the temptation to praise her student.

-You can’t depend on magic alone. You have a great supplement to absorb the energy from the world, but that doesn’t mean your body can handle too much of that. – She notices the tremor in the muscle of his arm, nudging it with her finger, making it retract at her touch. – Today you will train your physique. Again.

-Yes, you’ll do that. After lunch. – Galaaz surrounds the lizard, smelling it.

-You’re right. I am also hungry. – The vampire giver a small dagger to Arthur. – Go on. Show me that you have learned how to skin your prey.

*

The two-story house, located in the suburb of Fiandel, receives Arthur as the sun disappears on the horizon, behind the walls of the citadel. From where he is, Arthur has a faint idea about the size of the main city. After all, from his perspective, the walls look enormous and the towers of the castle seem to have the size of skyscrapers.

As far as he was informed, the inner part of the citadel is mainly composed of military quarters and emergency allocations. Yvanna also told him that the central part is occupied by the castle and its adjacent buildings, large enough to shelter all the nobles and guests of the court.

Arthur was not a guest of the court. Nor was Galaaz. Both had to stay on a property where Yvanna lived when she first moved to Fiandel. Currently the place was unoccupied, which was convenient for the boy and the wolf. Thiago was the only one who had to separate from the group, sent to the military quarters within the walls after a short period of time.

Upon going to his room, Arthur adds another day to his mental calendar. It has been 15 days since the small entourage arrived in Fiandel. From the first day, Rinlia made him wait patiently for the moment that it would be possible to meet King Njalmar. Contrary to what had happened in Vivre and even in the Great Forest, the king did not seem ready to meet Arthur immediately.

-You seem worried.

The phrase is said at the same time his shadow, hitherto glued to his feet, extends towards the bed, quickly acquiring a three-dimensional shape.

Akemi is now more than used to breaking free after arriving at Arthur’s room. Whenever he went out to train, she made a point of accompanying him, worried that the training could represent a real danger to her ally. During other activities the girl would stay alone in the house, relaxing a little – but ready to turn into shadows in case any unexpected visitor came by.

-Don’t you think it’s taking too long for the king to meet me? – The boy sits at the bed, avoiding eye contact. The sight of the girl lying on the bed would distract him from the thoughts he would like to focus right now.

-He is a king. He will always have urgent matters to deal with and you may not be one of them.

-But-

He suppresses the sentence that is about to get out of his lips, but Akemi has already figured it out what he would say. She sits on the bed, smiling.

-Were you about to say that you are somewhat important? Just because some people paid attention to you, is fame reaching your head?

Embarrassed, the boy stares at his hands, feeling his face go red.

-That is not it. I was just surprised. I thought that-

-That the king would run to see you? Oh, that is hilarious! If you could see your face right now!

He shakes his head, trying to regain control over the conversation, but he knows it wouldn’t be possible. After all, he himself was surprised by his own thoughts.

-He will meet with you. – Akemi says, looking towards the window. – And I can feel that Rinlia is coming.

-Rinlia?

The incorporeal shakes her head.

-Now that I have been close to her for some time, it is easy to feel her presence. The elf is walking slowly, but she’ll be here soon.

Rinlia does not usually come to him without very specific reasons. In addition to training his magic – what was not going to happen today – she only came to the residence to inform about the conversations she had with the king about him.

By now, the monarch knew everything there was to know about Arthur and even some speculations that Rinlia would have liked to keep to herself.

-I’m not going to the castle. – Akemi announces, twitching some of her black hair around the index finger.

-Do you think there will be some powerful mage there?

-There will certainly be some powerful mage there. – She waves. – If she takes you to the castle, I’ll find a way to enter the city later and find the place where you’ll be.

-Is it that easy for you to find me?

-After all this time? – She smiles. – It’s almost easier than finding myself.

*

When Rinlia arrived at the house, Arthur was the first one to react. Although Galaaz has better senses, Arthur is the first to appear at the top of the stairs on the second floor and see the two visitors at the door.

-Arthur!

The child’s voice comes from a girl placed next to the elf. The girl has a pale face and an open smile, with straw-colored hair tied in a ponytail runs towards the boy, who welcomes her at the top of the stairs, closing a tight hug around her body.

-Valkyrie!

The girl laughs, and he welcomes her the same way he had done all times Rinlia had come to visit. From the first day the little girl insisted on coming to hear Arthur’s stories.

-Today I want you to talk about the rays! And about the hot wind monster!

Arthur does not hide his smile while walking down the steps with the girl in his arms. From the first day he told her absurd stories, based on technologies from Earth. He transformed electrical wires into rays used as whips; dryers became bows that soot burning arrows; cellphones were transformed into voice teleportation spells.

And even if the magic of this world is impressive, the simple fact that his stories are different from things she heard before made Valkyrie more impressed with each story Arthur tells her. That is why she always insists on accompanying her mother to all of his training sessions – since he couldn’t go to her house, inside the walls.

-You know that today is not a day for stories. – Rinlia’s voice, although scolding, is soft. The elf is calm and greets Galaaz from a distance while the wolf steps down to get closer to Arthur.

-It isn’t? – Arthur turns his eyes to the elf.

-No. Today is the day to pack your things. Valkyrie came to help.

-It is time, then. – Galaaz voice has hints of excitement.

-Yes. Tomorrow morning, the king will formally receive Arthur at the castle.

*

Thiago’s brown hair is moistened by the sweat produced by the enormous effort he makes. Although externally there is no big signs of the effort made by the boy, the volume of concentration required in that training is evident in his expression.

It had been like that during the entire trip between the Great Forest and Fiandel, as well as it had been like that every day since his arrival. At Rinlia’s orders, instead of presenting himself to headquarters as his rank required, the soldier only presented a letter from the commander and was relocated to more comfortable quarters, close to the city center. There, his room was not shared with anyone, and he was visited daily by the elf, who pointed his mistakes and answered the soldier’s numerous questions about the process of channeling magic.

He needed to make progress. Arthur’s presence as someone who also started training recently made the pressure on Thiago even greater. After all, the traveler from another world, in just a few days, was able to not only channel the world’s energy inside his own body, but also to direct it to weapons and use it to strengthen his body. The few times Thiago left the city since the return from the Great Forest were enough to see, with his own eyes, the improvement in the skills of the other.

-You are distracted. – Rinlia scolds him. Although her voice is low and her tone is calm, there is something there that intimidates Thiago, who opens his eyes and relaxes his arms.

-I’m just a little frustrated. – He tries to justify the state of his mind. – I feel like my progress is too slow and-

-If you start thinking that you are going slow, your progress is going to get even slower. – The elf interrupts him. – I know what you are doing. Why do you think I separated your training from Arthur’s? Besides, you should understand that it is not wise to compare yourself to him.

-But I should have some advantage. Although I haven’t trained before, I’ve lived here much longer than he did. Concepts and theory should be easier for me to understand.

-And it’s also because you’ve lived here longer that you have the deepest trauma. – She counters, calmly. – He does not know what magic can really do. You, on the other hand, know exactly the atrocities produced by this type of power.

He wants to answer, but is unable to find the right arguments. Rinlia shakes her head in disapproval.

-It’s not just Arthur. There is something else. Is it about the meeting with the king? Arthur is already moving to my house. Everything will be alright.

-I would like attend the meeting with everyone.

-With your current rank? Not possible. It would bring suspicion about the story that we will tell to the servants. Arthur will go to the castle as a distant relative of my late husband’s family. This will help to explain the existence of Galaaz as his companion, since my husband’s family used to live on the border with the Forest. It will be kind of an informal meeting. If you were there, people would inquire about the reasons for a low-ranked soldier to attend a high-level personal meeting.

-I know… It’s just…

-Why are you insisting?

-I just wanted to be there. – He tries to control his tone. – I understand now the reasons for me to stay here, but the subject is hindering my concentration. I’ll try to forget about it, okay?

On less busy days, the elf would investigate the situation, however, the concern about the next day prevents her from continuing to pressure the boy for more information. That is the only reason why she does not ask more questions. Instead, she gets up.

-Keep up with the usual training for the rest of today and also for tomorrow. Try to concentrate, okay? I’ll be back in two days, so we can continue.

-Leaving already?

-I left my daughter with Arthur and Galaaz. I came here just to see how you were doing and to settle some matters with Bernard. He’s coordinating some changes in the army and… It doesn’t matter. I’m leaving now.

-Ok.

-Do not relax just because I’m not around. I will not forgive you if you stop your training.

The soldier waves and Rinlia leaves. Thiago lets his hands fall to his sides, sitting on the bed. His face turns to the window, and he sighs, thinking about the meeting to be held at the castle.

Despite his concerns about the future, what bothers him the most is the obstacle to his presence at the meeting. He is agitated by the fact that he cannot be with everyone and that his social status prevents him from seeing a certain person.

After all, what he really wanted was to see someone. Rinlia even confirmed his suspicions when she arrived, declaring that, in addition to the king, three other individuals would be in the reunion: the leader of the magicians, the crown prince and one more creature:

The future queen.

Since they arrived at Fiandel, he has not even been able to talk to Yvanna. At this moment, he is convinced that she is in the castle, among the nobility, taking part in future plans that would influence the entire kingdom, the continent and even the world.

Right now, she is at the top. Distant. Unreachable.

And he, who never cared about things like status or power, feels uncomfortable. Not because he envies power or because he wants to be at the top, but because he resents the effects of such distance between them.

Because it bothers him that this is the only obstacle for him to find her.

And, at that moment, sitting on his bed, trying to control his own magic, Thiago wants to be stronger. He wishes he had enough power to stand beside her.

He does not want to be a wolf that sneaks around the pack. He does not want to have to lie apart, aware of who is at the center of everything.

Thiago feels the sweat on his hair and the magic on his hands. Delicate strings of intense electricity run through his fingers and arms, going up to his shoulders and consuming his energy, powerful and agile.

He concentrates, determined to be stronger.

And, despite the pain and the memories, he decides that magic is the only way forward. Despite the sweat on his forehead, the trembling of his hands and the speed of his heartbeats, he needs to push forward.

He has to become stronger, to earn the right to sleep alongside her, at the center of the pack.

*

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