Departure

Why was the world on fire? Why do I feel no pain, but see nothing but destruction? Grimwald hazily thought these questions as he watched the castle walls and the village within and outside the walls be razed to the ground. Over and over again he was forced to watch that gruesome scene. After what felt like a century had passed a revelation pained his mind as if it was being crushed between the crumbling castle and the rock foundations. The memories of what transpired the previous night flooded his consciousness, jolting him from his bed gasping for air.

Cold water dropped from his face as Kyriel poked him in the forehead, "Oh good you're awake, I was afraid your mind had broken, not being able to accept the reality of the situation. Come now we are to depart at once."

Still upset by the experience he instinctively went for his sword, only to find empty air in place of where it should have been. Noticing the movement Kyriel just shook his head and began to walk into the corridor. "I'm not going to say it again boy, I can have Minerva walk for you if you wish."

The faint rays of sunshine began to peek over the horizon lighting his room. As he took survey of his room showing no trace of the battle from last night, his eyes rested on a shadow in the corner of the room. She stepped into the light after hearing her master's words, he could see her ruby lips and matching wild ruby eyes peek under the midnight black hood that helped assimilate her into the darkness. An unnaturally long tongue licked around her lips as she basked in memory of feeding from the prince. His aura was delicious and had given her goosebumps all over her pure white skin. She had the appearance of a noble beauty from the high court if it wasn't for her ruby eyes giving away her inhuman characteristics that hid inside her robes.

As she moved toward him, his body trembled and quickly raced behind the terrifying wizard. If he had to choose from being bossed around by that maniac or falling prey to that 'thing', he would pick the former every single time.

He silently followed the mage in front of him, not mustering the strength to speak up or run away. He was a good 6 inches taller than the mage, however his survival instincts screamed in rebellion at any thought of not complying. He tensed and stretched his muscles in anticipation of the opportunity to escape if it was to present itself.

They walked down the many corridors of the castle until they found themselves in a dead end with a huge painting of one of Grims ancestors depicted slaying a dragon. Kyriel walked up to the painting, and to Grims amazement, swung the painting open as if it was on a hinge. He muttered a few inaudible incantations, and pressed against one of the many stones. The wall shook and an outline of a door first appeared, then the pseudo stone door creaked open as a musty gust from the tunnel that had just formed swept over their bodies.

'How had he not known about this, I've lived here my entire life and have never known the castle had secrets that weren't privy to him' he cursed and wondered how much more of his life here was just a front. Feeling a cold chill start to envelop his back, he came to his senses and realized his new master had vanished down the tunnel, and that thing was trying to take him over again to prod him along. Jogging to catch up, he nearly tripped over the rocky terrain and jagged edges that comprised the tunnel.

After walking for a while, a light began to appear down the tunnel. As he got closer he made out the outline of another door. It opened into a small dome shaped room with a huge metal door on the opposite side. The room was scattered with boxes and towers of racks. His Father was waiting for them leaning on a precarious tower with his eyes closed. Noticing the arrival of the duo and the shadow that followed them, he opened his blood shot eyes and turned to a box that was next to the tower he was leaning against.

"Did you not think I would see my boy off? Even though I feared this day would never come, I prepared these supplies over the years just in case. " he waved his hand to encompass the entire room. "First things first, while these items I'm giving to you are your birthright, until I die or am usurped, that means they belong to me and are just on loan to you. So that means no matter where your travels take you, no matter what situation you find yourself in. You must survive. You must make your way back to me..." The ploy of caring for the relics was exposed as the last sentence cracked as it left his mouth, his eyes watered. He kicked open the box he was staring at, unable to turn to his son. He fumbled around for a second before pulling out a black garb that seemed to have scales everywhere, completely making up the top. It was followed by some grieves and boots of the same strange material.

He turned and handed them in a bundle towards his son. Grimwald, still not sure what exactly was going on, could do nothing but reach out and grab the bundle. The moment he made contact with the bundle, light poured from his hands. The armor came alive, it flowed from his hands like water, slowly enveloped his body. It ate and consumed the armor that he was previously wearing. The chainmail and greaves corroded under the water like black substance that engulfed it. Once it covered his body where his clothes had been, cracks started to appear as white light seemed to force its way from under the new armor. The scales reformed all over as the white light outlined each one individually showing how they protected and overlapped each other to form a sturdy defense. Symbols of dragons were depicted across the shoulders, knees, and chest plate.

His body tingled, he had no clue what was happening, yet he felt no fear. It was as if an old friend was embracing him and a warm feeling filled his heart. He looked at both his father and his new master, hoping for an explanation but receiving nothing but bewilderment and astonished faces.

"Did you really give the boy a dragon's mantle? This thing has to be so old I'm surprised the enchantments have any life left in them. How come you never used this, if you had it in your possession for so long?" Kyriel hissed out as the astonishment left his face and a cold questioning gaze was directed at the king.

"I have no idea what just happened, I knew it was a mantle, but such things are a relic of the past of some of the first ancestors after the dragons betrayed us. The enchantments have long since faded and it was limited to the size it was when it was last taken off, I was only giving it to him because the scales were still stronger than the lesser metals of the kingdoms and I hoped he could get some use of it before outgrowing it." The king could not believe what just happened, but he could not falter and slow down unless he wanted his son to leave without the provisions he had stockpiled for him. He knew the old Archmage had a lack of patience and dared not to keep him waiting.

He tossed the box aside and opened the one behind it. This time he pulled out a staff, it was completely metal and bladed on both ends with two small rubies emblazoned on each side of the grip. He clenched the grip and it shrunk to a short sword with a white glow, one blade completely disappearing while the other remained. He slipped it into Grims still empty scabbard on his waist, and wrapped his arms around his son, whispering goodbye and remembering every detail about him in the same instant.

"Ahem" Kyriel accompanied with a clearing of his throat. "If we could move this along, we have quite the journey ahead of us since we cannot take the leylines to teleport to the Roving Fortress. I'm afraid it might kill the boy in his current stage of manipulating the mana around him." He clapped his hands, his staff appeared in between them and he struck the floor multiple times. The lids flew off all the boxes and the contents of each one floated up and towards the prince. Gold pieces, silver, and bronze that amassed a small fortune was one of the first to surround him. It was followed by various potions, herbs, crystals, books and a couple sets of tunics and pants.

"Well what are you waiting for boy, put them in your pocket and let's go already." Kyriels patience was getting thinner by the second.

Feeling the hostility in those words, he quickly grabbed the nearest coins and started to fill his pockets. "What in the hell are you doing boy? Are you actually brain damaged from last night's show? Not in your actual pockets. In your dimensional pocket. All mantles have one, and they're usually quite large by normal standards."

"My what pocket? What are you rambling about, old man?" No sooner had the words left his throat when the end of Kyriels staff bashed him across the head enough to stun him.

"And just who are you calling old?" Mana lit his eyes ablaze and stared into the soul of his young apprentice frightening him. He quickly took a mental note to never call his new master old again. After a moment, Kyriel regained his composure and grumbled a bit under his breath before saying "Ok, close your eyes and imagine there's a huge room inside of your armor. First you must probe it with your mind, then feed it some mana to complete the link. Some see it as a room, some a cave, some a small chest. Just open your mind and you will see it."

He did as the old fogey instructed, he closed his eyes and tried to imagine a room like the one he was in. To no avail, nothing appeared in his mind. After a moment he started to lose hope, when he felt a tugging at his mind, like a rope was wrapped around him and pulled him towards its origin. Instinctively he fought it at first, but the same familiar feeling that his armor had given him was coming from the direction he was being led.

Suddenly a huge tower appeared in his consciousness, with a shadowy figure wrapped around the roof. Two silvery slitted eyes stared back at him, giving him the creeps. The tower had a huge arched door that opened from the middle swinging both halves inwards respectively. It wouldn't budge no matter how hard he pushed, it wasn't until he remembered what he was told did he try to feed it some of his mana, he tried to emulate what he had felt when the armor merged onto him not knowing exactly how to control his own mana. The same white light exuded from his fingertips graced the door and it soaked it all up at once as it creaked open. What he saw amazed him. He could not see the opposite wall nor how big this space was.

"Ok I think I've done it, now what?"

"Now imagine whatever you want to put inside there, it must be within your area that your mana can control. Envelop your mana around the item and imagine teleporting it into that space."

He gritted his teeth as he tried to follow the instructions. No matter what he tried, he couldn't make his mana surround an item completely without it dispersing. With every attempt he gained greater control of it. After a few tries, he managed to send one gold coin into the monstrous tower. His success brought him much joy, soon he was able to do two coins at once, then four, then ten. Soon he had sent all the items inside the tower. However he felt drained and exhaustion swept over him. The familiar scene of the floor rushing towards his face was all he could see before blacking out for the second day in a row.

Minerva quickly became a mist and took control of his body before he could hit the ground. They bid the king farewell and slipped through the portcullis that blocked the cave from the exterior walls of the rear of the castle. Daylight engulfed them as they slowly began to disappear from the grief stricken vision of the King as he watched his only family being taken away and there was nothing he could do about it.