In the capital of Renia, Kings Landing there was a palace. Underneath that palace there was a basement, a very deep basement not marked on the plans. It had been there for over 700 years and only a select few people had come down to that room or even knew it existed.

Should anyone find the entrance and the huge ruby sitting in front of it they might think it a burial tomb. They would have been partially correct.

The jewel was the size of a small child and could store more power than most high level mages would ever use in a lifetime. Collected from thousands of mages over decades the power it was designed to hold was immense.

With the average mages capacity of 500 to 1000 at that time and the decades of thousands of mages charging, it had been filled with an estimated 1,470,000,000,000 Units of mana. Then the most powerful mage of the time, the king of Renia designed the first publicly acknowledged 11th tier spell.

Made to work as long as it had a power source, he used the gem thus named Rubrum Solem to cast the spell [tunc subsisto] Time Stop.

To many young mages would see the spell as a total let-down, being 3 tiers higher than what some of the most talented mages could cast yet with no visual effects.

The more talented mages would have seen the true effect of the spell. Not a mote of dust moved in the room, each atom, every molecule held still by the kings spell. Physics at the very core principles was paused, matter unmoving. The ultimate prison.

In the centre of the small room was a desk, at that desk sat a man. A raised eyebrow on his handsome face. Short dirty blonde hair and short beard oiled to perfection. This moment frozen in time.

Mage Lord Albus Dan-Agaza Kingspell sat awaiting a private meetings in the palace of Kings Landing. It was not the king he desired to meet but another member of the royal family. Shaper Rohan Al -

Esquivel Lord Of Threwcross Prince Of Renia, a young lord just over the twenty five mark and the current manager of the palace.

Lord Albus looked up as the door opened instinctively feeling his aura of mana for interfering magic before the maid motioned at the door. “The prince is waiting for you Mage Lord Albus” Her voice was stately and assured despite being still in her teens.

Lord Albus gave a nod and his thanks, it never paid to be rude to servants, and he was a gentleman at heart. Or so he told himself, after all, the things he did were all in the name of the kingdom.

“Ahhh, Albus what a pleasure it is too have you back with us in Landing today, can I offer you a glass of port. Its quite a good year.” The princes voice was jolly like greeting an old friend as he offered a glass to Albus.

“Greetings my Prince, I am greatly obliged at you humouring my request. I would also love to impose upon you that glass of port.” He kept his tone respectful yet did not deny the Princes hospitality.

The Prince walked over to Albus and held out a crystal glass of port. He was the same height as Albus, and by that he only about 5,8 with a wiry build. Despite being rich mages were never fat, just blasting spells would be enough to keep most men slim, that and a lifetime of exercise had had kept him strong. Medium length un-styled black hair wafted around his head, probably magically aided to orbit close to his head giving the impression of thick hair where it was just longer and thinning.

Albus took the glass and sipped, it was truly a good year and he appreciated having drunk it. Despite his wealth sometimes only influence could get you the luxuries in life.

“Now then, to business Prince.” Albus placed his glass on the table and took a seat opposite the prince and he did the same. Both stared at each other from their seats, golden jewellery and gems sparkling in the mana lights. The Prince motioned for Albus to begin.

“During the subjugation mission to Lonla we targeted the large town of Stonewell, an unimportant but highly populated settlement. The General decided to make an example and ordered a bombardment, then had me cast [Vermillion Nova] onto the city.” Albus paused as he compiles his thoughts on the events that followed.

“We discovered no powerful mages, however I discovered one boy who was obviously trained by a Grand Mage. His spells were efficient to the point of the ridicules and he was able to cast some advanced spells. I captured him and performed a….questioning to find out who his master was and where they had left too.” Albus remembered the shielding spell the boy had used and something clicked in his head. Supressing a smile he continued.

“The boy possessed a very unique shielding spell he used to nullify some mid-tier fire spells from a military T3 mage……” he paused seeking the Princes reaction.

“Well get on with it, what reference does this bare news too?” The price said some impatience creeping into his voice.

“The shield spell had a similar feel to the SPELL, I fear a mage has been researching a way to breach the field. I would like to inspect the Final Door” Albus tried too keep his face passive with a slight tint of concern. He could see the Princes surprise, perhaps he should have told him that he picked up the boy to ask about the shield spell. That would have been more plausible.

“Did the boy reveal anything else during your…. Torture.” The Prince asked with a hint of distaste evident in his posture and tone.

“Torture may be a bit strong…but yes something very interesting….”

Chris felt invigorated, sitting in the carriage he could feel his mana reservoir filled to the brim with mana. Back on the road a feeble man lay, practically blue with blood loss Chris may have gone a bit overboard once he discovered the taste got better and better. He may…just maybe…had a teeny tiny bit of a feeding frenzy. He did feel a pang of guild for the man and so had healed his wounds but not regenerated his blood. Biology was not his area of expertise after all and no need to waste mana.

In les than an hour farms began to replace the sparse woodland and morph into sprawling fields of wheat and barley.

In another hour the gates of the city of Madras crested the horizon, he would stop here for a while and see what he could rummage up for some contacts and a few servants perhaps. And then….

“Oi Oi Oi, lookey looo what we have here, are you off to sell granny’s flour. Come on sexy show me what you got….” A loud mocking mans voice came from the side of the road directed at Velona with cheers and whistles from the sides and front of the waggon.

Chris smiled, well some stress relief and a new escort all in one.