Lion’s Den

"Look James over there."

The two had been traveling north for a few hours now when they came upon a crossroad. Just off to the side of the road leading north was a sign.

"Capital city Irathel ahead," James read the sign and his entire demeanor became much more relaxed knowing their destination was just ahead. They continued walking on the road for about twenty minutes when the capital finally came within sight. The roads leading to the capital were much more developed than the roads they were both accustomed to.

There are giant walls that run for miles along the city, and there were lookouts everywhere on those walls. At what appeared to be the center of the city was the castle where the king and queen resided. It is there that all decisions regarding the king's kingdom was made.

The current king, Zeolotz was a man of great ambition. He has only been the king for two years, but he has already made very bold decisions regarding the kingdom. One of which was renaming the kingdom from Tiera to Ethereal. Zeolotz believes he will make the kingdom the most beautiful place in all the lands, so it needed a name that was worthy of his vision.

When James and Drake finally made it to the city gate, they were stopped by two guards donning two halberds each.

"Halt! State your business here today." The two guards took a defensive stance. The halberds that they had, began to float and point towards James and Drake ready to impale them. The gate guards were elites because they are able to use telekinesis magic.

James raised his hands and began to speak their plight, "Please we need shelter. We came from the village Ezmalis, our village was attacked by a monster."

The guards looked over at each other as if they were communicating telepathically. The guards turned and faced James and Drake.

The guard on the right spoke, "do either of you have identification plates? No sir, we've never been outside of our village."

James tried being as respectful as possible to the guards. Knowing at any moment they could be impaled by the halberds if the wrong thing was said . "Very well then. Before either of you can enter the city, we must search you. After that you will go see our captain; explain to him what happened to your village. Thank you sirs."

Both James and Drake bowed to show their respect to the guardsmen. The two guards then searched them for contraband and illicit goods. Needless to say, they found nothing.

"I'll escort them to the captain in the barracks, you keep watch until I get back." The other guard just nodded and continued watching the gate. "Follow me." The guard leading them seemed slightly agitated, maybe he didn't believe their words about a monster attacking their village. Either way, he was going to let his captain deal with it.

They traversed bustling streets unlike what they've seen before. Vendors everywhere trying to sell items to just your everyday citizens. Guards also patrolled everywhere to ensure the safety and peace of the people.

James and Drake continued to follow the guard for another five minutes before they reached the barracks. The guard led them in as they were eyed by other guards until they came upon a door. The guard knocked before announcing his intentions, "captain I've brought two individuals who claim their village was attacked by a monster."

After a few seconds, a deep raspy voice replied back, "come in." When the door opened, James felt like he was in a Lion's den; as if he was going to be consumed by the behemoth of a man that was leisurely sitting at his desk reading something.

To say he was huge would be an understatement. He hard broad shoulders, huge arms, and a neck as thick as a tree trunk. He had whitish blonde hair , hollowed eye sockets that looked to have seen many things. There was a huge scar running from his left eye, down to his top lip.

Drake wondered how he got it and how he didn't lose that eye as well. He looked over to James and realized he was shaking.

"Hmm, you seemed scared boy. Tell me, how long have you been using magic for?"

James's heart sunk, he had no idea how this 'man' knew he could use magic, albeit barely. James choked on his words while the man smirked and got up from his desk as if he was about to kill James.