The Stone Grimoire

The capital today was beaming with festivities and many carriages could be seen coming inside the royal palace. These all belonged to various nobles and important figures of the kingdom coming here to attend the award ceremony.

~Jade Hall, Royal Palace of Isiah.

Award ceremony was going with many figures attending it. The king was sitting on his throne accompanied by the queen and his close aides.

"It is my honor to present this award to Captain Liam of 23rd special battalion for his contribution in the war, and grant him with 3 niche of territory in the Sandora plains". (1 niche = 60 acre)

*Clap *Clap *Clap.

"Next, I shall reward Archmage Darla for her efforts in safeguarding the lives in the battle with her magic and present her with some land and 2000 gold coins."

*Clap *Clap *Clap.

After the ceremony ended, the king called Darla in his study.

"After humans were granted the power of grimoire by God, what was once thought to be impossible slowly and slowly turned into reality. Humans started to fight back and with the help of the four heroes liberated themselves from slavery and founded the first human kingdom. It's name has been lost in time. At that time peace flourished and humans started building their homes and families.

At that time in a small village, a young mage was amazed by magic and started pursuing the limits of magic. Through many years of hard work and experiments he slowly tapped into the hidden potential of grimoire. The skills he learned he called them heavenly skills. That much power they contained and through which he rose the ranks in the kingdom and became the second most powerful person after the king.

In those times the human kingdom would often be invaded by the demon army and beast army who excelled in magic and strength more than humans.

The king called the mage and asked for his suggestions to which the mage raised an army of mages that had the skill to push the enemies back. But their growing power upset the balance of the world and every other species king raised a coalition army and crushed the human kingdom", extending the hand holding the grimoire towards Darla, "Miss Darla, once again I thank you for your efforts and present you your this, The Stone Grimoire".

Darla came forward and humbly accepted the gift. With the book in her hands she muttered, "Finally I have you with me".

Tension years ago and adventurer found the stone grimoire in a dungeon sealed inside a wooden box. The words written on it pointed it to be the grimoire of Great mage of old kingdom, Thurus or so the name the scholars were able to decode after going through many literature references. The spell cast on it had turned the grimoire into stone and though many great mages and scholars tried to break the magic only to fail in the end. It was given to the royal family and since then has been passed down as decoration.

Seeing Darla's smile the king asked her, "What are your intentions Miss Darla?".

Darla just smiled and said, "Secret". She took her leave and immediately went for her carriage to leave the capital and reach her home as fast as possible.

The king was seeing her board the carriage from his window and had a face devoid of any emotions. "I have a task for you", he said to the empty space and a man emerged from the shadows. His face and body covered as if to hide his identity. "Order my lord", the man said while bowing.

The king turned back to look Darla's carriage leaving and said, "I want you to keep an eye".

The man took his leave and disappeared. The king sat down and continued doing his work.

In her carriage, Darla couldn't help but feel an excitement whenever she looked at the grimoire and would pick it up and hugit, then keep it back in its box and this continued. Controlling herself she asked her maid to keep an eye on the outside and ensure that no robbers attack them. Her maid like Darla was skilled magician and bodyguard trained to follow every order of Darla. She cast a spell and activated the carriages defenses all so that Darla doesn't lose the book to any unseen attack.

Like that they continued their journey for three days.