Vol 1 Ch 3: Land of Commerce

THE KING WAS DREAMING. His ears rang deafeningly as darkness covered his vision. He felt his knees submerged under a lake of black goo; its putrid smell reeked everywhere. Then, the wind blew, causing leaves to rustle around him. The king stood in the middle of a forest deprived of all light. He blindly ventured the area, trusting the mental map within his mind created by his limited senses. On his right hand, he held his spear firmly when he felt a lot of eyes were watching him. The creatures broke the silence in the once quiet forest; they hissed and growl as though carnivores waiting to eat their meal.

A soft hand touched his forehead, its warmth spreading on his skin. It eased the pain caused by the soldiers’ blows. His vision was still blurry but he could barely make out an image of a blonde girl behind the iron bars. She was nursing his wounds. Or rather, she was healing him. With magic.

Viktor slapped her hand and immediately sat up with his back against the wall. “Lay a hand on me again and you’ll be dead.”

“I’m sorry. I mean you no harm. I just wanted to—”

“Miss Florentina, you can go back to the temple.” A feminine voice echoed behind the dungeon’s steel doors, followed by the sounds of heavy steps which he assumed were caused by the heels of boots. A short woman emerged from the door whilst the girl hurriedly followed her orders. Two guards in full armors followed her. She gestured to them and demanded, “Unlock it.”

“But, milady?”

“I believe our Majesty wouldn’t hurt me, am I right?” She smiled, almost threateningly. Her golden reptilian eyes studied him as if he was a newly-discovered specie.

“I should be the one asking you that question.” Viktor remained alert while he watched her every movement. He was used to be the one doing the interrogation rather than being on the receiving end. The Phoebeans cowered before him and begged for their cursed lives; how come he ended up in that same predicament?

“Typical Nadians.” She scoffed before the guards finally opened his cell, letting her enter. “Fear not. I wasn’t unfortunate enough to wield such great magical prowess.”

Her sarcastic tone made it very clear that she was mocking him. No one in Styrkeis spoke to him that way, not even General Corvinus of the Styrkean Knights. The guards called her 'milady' but her way of speaking did not seem fit for a lady from noble lineage. He doubted a woman of such title would even be down in the dungeons for military duties. “How are you any different if you conspire with the likes of the moon children?”

“Moon children?” She raised an eyebrow as if to express her confusion. “Right, you did claim to be a Styrkean king. Maybe you’re actually mentally ill?”

“That’s quite the accusation you have to a possible ruling monarch.”

“If you really claim you’re truly who you are, you should be dead by now.” He would have taken that as a mockery but she did not seem to mean it as a threat. The woman pulled a vial of a clear sparkling liquid from her pocket and started unsealing it. “It’s about time you start telling the truth.”

Viktor can recognize a potion when he sees one. He had been brought to inspections as a prince, busting through the residences of Phoebeans living in Styrkeis. He does not intend to drink such suspicious liquid nor will he let her force him to do so. He immediately got up, slapped the small bottle from her hand, and grabbed her by the neck as an attempt to strangle her.

“Lady—”

Something suddenly stung his arm, quickly draining his strength. His grip on her neck loosened as he fell back to the floor. He couldn’t feel anything but the numbness on his entire body. Still, he could talk and move his eyes. “What... what did you do?”

The woman hid the syringe inside her cloak before she gestured to the guards. “Bring him to the Lieutenant General. He’ll have to take the truth serum in the interrogation room.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

* * * * *

Viktor had a temporary trance while the guards carried him by their shoulders. Along the way, he hallucinated about the beasts he met in the dark forest through the shadows. The king was aware how that horrendous place could have made him a mad man. It may have spared his life but it took a part of his sanity.

He woke up from his trance, noticing the steel cuffs that bound him to a chair first. A spectacled man with midnight blue hair sat across him along with the redhead who injected him with a paralyzer.

“Lady Henbur, would the truth serum be working now?” The man spoke with a monotonous voice as though he was void of emotions to which the woman nodded in return. This time, he addressed him, “Your name?”

“Viktor Invictus.”

“Your real name?”

He wondered why no one ever believed him when he said his name. “Viktor Invictus.”

The other man cleared his throat and glanced at his colleague. “Being the Royal Alchemist, I believe this serum of yours isn’t faulty, milady?”

“Are you doubting my skills, Lieutenant General?”

He ignored her question before averting his gaze back to Viktor. “Your age?”

Somehow, the words forced themselves out of his mouth against his own control. He had nothing to lie about in the first place. “Twenty-four.”

“Where are you from?”

“The Kingdom of Styrkeis.”

The lieutenant general glanced at the alchemist once again with a look of disappointment. She stared at Viktor instead and asked, “Are you aware of what became of Styrkeis?”

He did not know how to answer her questions. Was there something he needed to know about his land? Did something happen while he was away for two months?

“Do you know anything about the Sovereign State of Nadia? The Zenith Commonwealth?”

The king became confused. He never heard of the countries she was speaking of or even if they were real. There were only five lands he knew of in the Desmos Continent; Styrkeis, Mercurius, Ahlea, Shuuyi, and the Fengaris Isles.

“Lady Henbur, what are you trying to accomplish?”

The alchemist continued watching him to observe his expression. “Do you know where you are right now?”

Viktor began to think and analyze what he had seen on the land so far before the soldiers seized him. He remembered being unfamiliar of the town’s structures; the building’s architectures seemed advance than in Styrkeis and the townspeople rode on 'wagons' and 'carts' without horses. He surely was not anywhere in Desmos. None of those countries within the continent can improve as fast as two months.

“You really know nothing,” she mumbled to herself.

The lieutenant general sighed and turned to her. “How would we know the truth serum isn’t faulty?”

“Drink it.”

“Pardon?”

The alchemist reached for another bottle of silver liquid and offered it to him. “Lord Erwood, I will ask you what he needs to know regarding his claims so far. You will feel the words being pulled from your mouth. Our prisoner could either have an altered memory or he has a severe case of psychosis.”

She waited for a few minutes — supposedly the time it takes before the potion works — after the man had drunk the serum. “Who is Viktor Invictus?”

“The twelfth king of the Styrkeis Kingdom, third son of King Vestmaur Invictus.” Viktor found it natural that they would at least know his family history but wondered how did they not acknowledge him to be the same man.

“When did he die?”

“September of thirteen hundred.”

'How did they declare me dead? I surely do not have a corpse.' The Styrkean law states that a missing person would only be declared dead after seven years of absence. “I can’t be dead I was only gone for two months.”

“What became of the Styrkeis Kingdom?” Once more, her reptilian eyes studied his, waiting for a reaction. He was sure she saw the anticipation in him when she asked the question he wanted to know the answer to. 'What happened to Styrkeis without their king for two months?'

“Styrkeis fell a year after the death of Prince Regent Vigmund Invictus. The early Zeniths overpowered the former kingdom’s military power and obliterated them along with the royal family almost five hundred years ago.”

Sudden rage filled his entire body, thinking the people before him were making fun of his homeland. He was only gone for two months; how do they expect him to believe such lies? Five hundred years cannot simply pass by that quickly. Otherwise, he would be dead. His right arm instinctively broke the chair’s arm rest even though the paralyzer was still in effect. He himself did not notice it happening until the alchemist and the lieutenant general reacted. “Do you take me as a fool?! A kingdom cannot fall in mere two months!”

Erwood rose his hand before a white cord of light was wrapped around Viktor’s arms and torso. “Lady Henbur, did the paralyzer already wore off?”

“No, that’s impossible! It should work for half an hour more.” The alchemist seemed even more perplexed than earlier. “Wait... two months... he said he was gone for two months.”

“Where were you?” Erwood carried on with the interrogation.

“You have insulted me and — kuh!” Viktor choked on his own words as new ones forced themselves out of his mouth, proving the serum was still in effect. “I was in a dark forest filled with beasts. No light shone over its skies. It had no concept of day and night. I had to survive the never-ending darkness, manually counting the days to keep me sane.”

“That sounds similar to the Tartarean Forest.”

“From the Seven Seas legend?” The lieutenant general reached for his forehead and heaved out another sigh. “Great another delusion. We have little information regarding his background and he firmly believes he is King Viktor Invictus.”

“I assume an asylum would be a better place for him than the Imperial Court,” the lady suggested.

“You know first-hand how careful the empress is when it comes to Nadian spies. He needs to be judged by the court before we determine if he is to be sent to an asylum or to his death.”

“I have done nothing wrong to be executed.” Viktor interrupted them while the guards began replacing his cuffs with shackles for his arms and manacles for his feet.

A laugh escaped Lady Henbur’s mouth. “For someone who you claim to be, you have done a lot of crimes, Viktor.”

**********

Viktor couldn’t help but look around the town, curious about the mechanisms of their transportations. The townspeople are also dressed strangely presentable with colorful fabrics, hats, and different lengths of skirts for feminine clothing. Callisto town did not bear any resemblance to Regis, the capital of Styrkeis. What more could this country’s metropolis look like?

He thought he had seen everything until they went inside a brick building with a familiar inscription on its sign. He was sure he had seen letters written similar to it but he could not remember where.

They passed a crowd of people who were forming lines inside the structure for what appeared to be a small piece of paper presented to the guard standing by the archway parallel to the building’s entrance. Unlike those people, their group went straight to the said exit after Lieutenant General Erwood presented his badge. The guard casted Viktor a disgusted expression, mouthing the word 'Nadians' with great resentment.

The king immediately forgot the encounter with the guard as soon as he saw the enormous locomotive in front of the raised platform where they stood. Its long body was coated with black paint and white smoke came out from the front part of it. He wondered how can a large vehicle even move while carrying the weight of its steel body and passengers. 'Is it powered by magic?'

Lord Erwood tugged his shackles forward as they rode the vehicle. The interior seemed to look like a hall of connected carriages with how the seats are placed, facing each other, and how doors and windows separated each room.

“Try not to get too comfortable. We’ll only be here for half an hour.” Lady Henbur said as she sat on the seat across to him, though it sounded like she muttered to herself rather than to remind him.

**********

It was a quick and smooth ride just as the alchemist claimed. In Styrkeis, trips to another town or city take a minimum of six hours by horseback but the vehicle they rode took only half an hour.

However, surprises did not end there. A glass dome immediately welcomed him to the country’s capital, letting the sunlight lit up the entire place. It was also more populated compared to Callisto town, a lot of the people were also dressed elegantly. The interior of the place alone was marvelously done, at least in the eyes of a Styrkean king. The people gave way to them immediately so they left the building without any interruption.

That was when Viktor saw a very familiar statue towering over them in the middle of the plaza; an ivory woman raising a winged staff surrounded by two snakes to the sky. It was Mercury, the goddess of trade and commerce, which meant he could only be in one place.

He met Lady Henbur’s cunning golden eyes again. “Welcome to Mercurius, Your Majesty.”