Chapter 30 - Stars

It was a clear sunny day. The gentle wind carried the sounds of a heated sparring session coming from the Training Fields. Looking over, Spencer could be seen effortlessly dodging and redirecting the attacks of the young Yarok, adding his comments after each attack. He was instructing him on his mistakes and teaching him how to be a better warrior.

Going back in time, last week, after his shameful display, Yarok visited Spencer's castle and prostrated and apologized for his actions. Afterward, he asked Spencer to take him in and train him in place of Cassius as he finally recognized him as the strongest in the kingdom. Although Spencer was reluctant at first, he ended up accepting the offer and from then on, Yarok's hellish training began.

Finishing up their latest training session, Spencer sent Yarok home to clean himself as he was covered in bruises all over his body.

"Heh, he is getting stronger pretty fast…" He lamented, looking at the youth's receding.

Leaving the field himself, Spencer made his way around the kingdom. Growing curious about how his people have developed so far, making his way to the kingdoms library. The library was an idea of Spencer's about ten years ago, he ordered his people to record all of their knowledge in some shape or form and store it in a structure in which other people of the kingdom could go and look for the knowledge they needed.

As the need surfaced, ideas popped and development started. After a few trial attempts, with the guidance of Spencer, they made use of leaves and clay, creating something similar to thick parchment. For ink, they used a mixture of animal blood and herbs. While it was primitive, it was still many years ahead of its time. Spencer was very satisfied with the result, even though he contributed the most with his suggestions and slight 'nudges' here and there, the brunt of the work was still done by his people.

The library held a variety of information, ranging from the many different forms of plant life, maps of the area, past events, people who have passed and their offspring, as well as many other subjects. The knowledge stored in its halls was growing daily, all information would be brought into the library, and once proven correct, it would be recorded. The parchment would then be placed on individually protected shelves based on the information it holds.

The speed of the kingdom's development grew greatly compared to the years before. Reaching the library, Spencer walked through the doors and scanned the building. Seeing the shelves filled with tablets covered in writing, he couldn't help but let a smile show on his face.

Looking to his left, something caught Spencer's eyes. On a shelf, vastly different from the others, he saw a series of tables that differed from the rest. They had luxurious decorative patterns carefully carved on the edges, and the material was made of something softer than the rest. They were obviously special.

Picking it up, he saw his own recorded accomplishments, how he conquered other tribes, how he taught them how to farm and achieve general agriculture, and how he showed them how to domesticate different animals. Many of his teachings were written on these tables in the kingdom's language. Some of the tablets spoke words of worship towards him, depicting him as a higher being, something akin to their God.

Seeing all this, Spencer was shocked. He was happy at the sigh of his feats being recorded for the future generations to see. Looking away from the shelf, Spencer began making his way further into the library.

Reaching the back portion, he came to see a child sitting on the library's floors surrounded by a huge pile of tablets. The child was intently looking through the tablets and recording as much information as possible.

Walking up to the child Spencer looked down at the individual to see that they hadn't noticed his presence. Seeing how much focus the child placed on these tablets, Spencer sat down and waited. After a few minutes, the child finished reading all of the tablets and looked up to see Spencer staring at her, she was startled and jumped in surprise.

"Hello, Castor." Spencer grinned at the girl.

Upon realizing that it was Spencer, she managed to compose herself.

"Oh, Spencer, sorry I didn't see you."

Reaching out and patting her head, Spencer was happy with Castor, she was the smartest out of her siblings and the easiest to get along with, so he rather liked talking to her.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm looking through as much of the tablets as I can." She answered.

Looking down at the tablets, Castor was reading, Spencer came to see that most of them were on the kingdom's structure, the different sections, the agriculture, and the irrigation systems. All of the tablets focused on the main important aspects and how they came to be.

"Seeing how much you like increasing your knowledge, I have a gift for you." He said, while he stood back up, and waved for her to follow.

Castor, as curious as she is, wanted to know what gift Spencer had in mind, staring at him in anticipation she hurriedly put back all the tablets where she found them and followed Spencer out of the library.

Heading to his castle, Spencer could be seen carrying a happy Castor on his shoulders. Since they have left the library he has been buying her anything that caught her eye, clothes, toys, even a variety of tablets, carrying all her things in his arms while she ate on his broad shoulders.

Arriving at his house, Spencer gently put Castor down. Placing her newly acquired loot on a table in the dining area, Spencer looked at her with a genuine smile.

"Do you like it?"

In Castor's hand was a honey apple, something he decided to make when he started craving sweets a while back. It was a regular apple that was cut into slices and covered in honey which was then placed into a wooden bowl. Normally, you would have to return the bowl, but Spencer paid for it as well.

"Yes, it's really good!" She replied with a bright smile.

Seeing her honest smile, a warm feeling spawned in Spencer's chest, making him smile as well. He waited until she finished, then he picked her up, and carried her to the other side of his castle while covering her eyes. Reaching a simple-looking door, Spencer opened it and entered a special room.

Removing his hand from her eyes, he spoke.

"Open your eyes."

When Castor opened her eyes, she was almost euphoric! In front of them was row upon row of tablets, all holding information and ideas Spencer had for the Kingdom over the years. Information that he kept to himself and shared with no one. Well, until now.

Putting her down, she immediately ran up to a shelf and began scanning the contents.

"These tablets all hold information and ideas on the Kingdom that no one else knows but me. I will now allow you full access to this place, on the condition that you tell no one. Not even your father, mother, or siblings. Got it?"

Without even a shred of reluctance, Castor immediately agreed to his conditions and began to eagerly browse through the tables. Looking at her thirst for knowledge Spencer smiled and left the room going back to do some light meditation.

A few hours later, Spencer felt a tugging on the side of his pants. Opening his eyes, he noticed Castor who was holding a tablet in her arms, looking at him.

"What's wrong?"

Holding up the tablet, she spoke with a confused expression.

"I... I found this tablet, but I don't understand it."

Looking at the tablet, Spencer immediately understood what was her problem. This particular tablet went into detail about the concept of aerial travel, and how to build a structure to achieve it. Something he was thinking about when he was bored.

Taking the tablet out of her hands, he started to explain.

"This was something I thought of when I was thinking of a way to allow our people to experience flying."

Castor still seemed confused by his explanation.

Scratching his head, he didn't know how he could break it down into smaller, simpler terms.

"Wouldn't you like to fly through the clouds, like the birds in the sky?" He asked after a while.

Castor finally got the gist of what he was saying and grew excited by the concept. However, she quickly lost that excitement when she realized that they didn't have the materials needed to make something like that, no matter how much she wanted to experience it.

Seeing her saddened expression, Spencer made a decision.

"Would you like to see what it's like?"

Caster nodded her head in response to his question. This made Spencer resolute with his decision.

"Come with me."

Picking her up, Spencer walked up the stairs to the roof of his castle and gently put her down.

"Step back a little."

Hearing him, Castor was confused but she still followed his words and took a few steps back. What happened next shocked her.

Spencer summoned his wings and began flapping them gently to make him hover off the floor. Looking at the girl, he could see the amazement in her eyes, opposite of what he was expecting. Stopping his actions, Castor immediately ran over to him and began touching his wings all over, analyzing them, and trying to see how they worked. This sight only made him smile.

"Would you like me to bring you up there?" Spencer said pointing towards the sky.

Castor stopped analyzing his wings when she heard his words. Looking at him, she began jumping excitedly while eagerly nodding her head. Spencer placed her on his shoulders and told her to hold on tight, while launching himself into the air at a moderate speed, careful not to fling her off. He began flying over the area below with her riding on his neck.

He could hear her excitement as she let out sounds of amazement. Spencer took great joy in the fact that she was enjoying herself so much.

After flying for a while, he noticed it was getting dark, so he flew back to the roof of his castle, taking the happy Castor from his shoulder. Retracting his wings back into his body, he brought the girl back into the castle and placed all of the things he bought for her into a tiny wooden carriage and sent her on her way, but not before assuring her that she could visit his secret library whenever she wanted.

Assigning three of his guards to make sure she got home safe, Spencer watched as Castor left his castle. Waiting until she turned into her street, he went back into his home and laid on his bed, remembering the time spent until he decided it was time to go to sleep, not realizing the event that was about to transpire.

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*BOOM!*

A sudden loud explosion echoed, waking Spencer from his short slumber in an instant. He quickly vanished from his bed and burst through his castle doors, shattering them in the process.

Spencer began scanning the area frantically in an attempt to see what was the cause of the explosion. Screams ranged through the night as he was looking at his people suffering. In front of his eyes was a trail of destruction, burning houses and a deep crater reaching the edge of his kingdom was visible, coming to a stop by a meteorite logged into the kingdom's soil radiating a variety of hue's.

Looking up, Spencer could see numerous trails of light flashing throughout the night sky.

"What the hell is going on?"

Continuing to scan the place, Spencer came to realize something. The path of the meteor was dangerously close to the area in which Quintus and his family were residing! Jumping forward from his position, he quickly made his way to the direction of Quintus's house.

Arriving at their home, Spencer's heart sank, the roof of their home was destroyed by a large boulder and some debris from the meteor. Quickly tearing through the door, he ran inside to see if they were okay, frantically throwing away any objects that were in his way. He dug through a pile of debris.

Listening closely, he could hear whimpers of pain behind the boulder to his left, he immediately grabbed the boulder and lifted it above his head. Seeing what was laying underneath saddened him greatly. Spencer could see a badly hurt Quintus using his body to cover his wife and kids, he was more than fatally injured, his body impaled by shards of debris.

Spencer quickly tossed the boulder to the side and picked up his friend. His family was barely harmed, suffering from only a few cuts and bruises. He carried him out of the destroyed house with his family in tow. Rushing Quintus to his castle, Spencer placed him on his bed, turning around to look at Quintus's family who appeared traumatized, he spoke.

"Stay here."

Running out of his castle, Spencer rushed around the Kingdom, helping those he could and mourning those who did not survive, he wasted no time in making sure all of the survivors were nowhere near the meteors crash site.

After making sure that all of the Kingdom's people were safe, he rushed over to the meteor. Reaching the crash site, Spencer jumped into the crater and walked slowly towards the large space rock.

Coming close enough to touch it, he examined and observed it's rainbow-like hue which placed him in a trance with its radiance. His instincts were screaming for him to not approach the non-familiar rock, but something else was pulling him forward, causing him to ignore the warnings.

Failing to resist his urge, he reached out and placed his hand on the surface of the meteorite. It was incredibly warm, it's heat washing over his body and placing him in a deeper trance. Spencer could feel the world around him fading into darkness, his mind losing its fortitude.

*THUD*

Spencer fell to the floor unconscious, his body bathing in the radiation of the meteorite, changing his body down to the molecular level, and warping his DNA further, filling his cells with newfound power.