Chapter 85 - The Spreading Speech

News of the king's speech spread quickly from the capital. Like a flame gone wild within a dry forest, it couldn't be stopped and within only a few days, most of the kingdom had heard, and by the end of the second, everyone knew of the king's words, of the king's promises and the power he'd shown that day.

The reaction, for the most part, was positive if skeptical. Although the words hit the people and gave them hope, they still remembered the events that had led up to this. The poverty, the pain, and the suffering the previous royalty had caused and things had not yet been fixed in any impactful way. Many were hoping the king's words were true and that soon things would be back to normal, if not better than normal.

Rumors spread of course, as was expected, both good and bad. While the majority had been impacted in a good way by the speech, those of the underground of Larra had not.

The criminal element of Larra while not particularly large was active all over the kingdom and in the past few months had grown considerably, due to the war and lack of security. Murder, robbery, sexual assault, and thievery had thrived and many a pocket had been filled.

They were not pleased with the king's words. They preferred if things continued as they did, and thought they'd seen and heard of the power the new king held, many were not worried. They weren't as weak as they'd once been They'd grown powerful during the war. If this new king wanted to try and take them down, he would find it a more difficult task than he thought, or so the criminals thought.

If only they'd known the true power of the king's allies, and of his spymaster.

Their laughter would soon turn to screams.

As for the outlining towns and villages that had been ignored for the most part by the previous generations of royalty, they while pleased that they would finally be getting help, were skeptical and many doubted this new king could manage it.

All over the kingdom, rumors and poison abounded, hope and doubt clashing. Hope of a new and better Larra, and doubt that this new king could keep to his promises.

However, unbeknownst to the people of Larra, they were not the only ones paying attention and thinking of the new king.

To the Western borders of Larra stood a mountain range that cut across the land and divided the kingdom of Larra from the old Denzin plains, and within this mountain range was a cabin. A simple wood cabin of unremarkable build and quality. In comparison to the desolate and cold feeling of the area, it looked and, if one to go near it, felt warmly.

At first one might simply think one a fool to build a cabin in such an area since not only was it freezing constantly, the mountain was home to many a dangerous beast, which made it all the more surprising that the cabin was in perfect condition, and the surrounding area was empty of beasts, almost as if they were intentionally avoiding it.

A light flickered within the cabin and an old man gently rocking in a simple wooden chair, opened his eyes for the first time in over a hundred years. Despite the aged look on his face, his skin shone like porcelain, and his body was more akin to that of an athlete and fighter than that of an old man almost as if someone had taken the body of a young man and meshed it with the features of an elderly man.

"Not again, I really need to get control of it."

The man sighed and lifted a finger. The air around him stilled and a moment later, his face which had looked like that of a man in his sixties now looked like that of a handsome twenty-five-year-old.

"That's better, now, what is it this time. It had better not be that damn serpent again. I've told him time after time, you cannot eat aspects that are already a part of yourself."

To his surprise however there were no presences nearby and it took a moment to realize that he had been woken not by a person, but by himself, or more accurately, the powerful artifact close by.

He reached over to a nearby book that was set atop a table, and slowly picked it up, opening it and skimming through the pages, all while muttering to himself.

"Let's see, past the Exeron crisis, but before, no after the fall of Denzim. That's odd, we're not due for another convergence for another twenty years. What woke you?"

The man frowned as the pages began to turn rapidly by themselves until they quickly reached the latest page of the book. If one were to have watched him, it would have seemed like the book had more pages than was possible.

"Ok, here it is... what in the world?"

Throughout all of his years, the man had seen many things within the book, from techniques to poems, to cursed words and images, but never had he seen anything like this.

[Error... foreign presence detected. Crude manipulation of fate in process... protocol 67 activating]

That single line of text made little sense to the man, but the feelings he got from the book made things clearer. The book held a part of himself within it and so was technically somewhat sentient, and the feeling he was getting from it made no sense.

Fear, overwhelming fear of the source of the power that had completely negated its ability, its main ability, an ability that was treasured even amongst the highest artifacts of the eighth divine court. It dated back to the third court, a time where the divines had been at their peak, but even with all its power and supposed great control over fate, it had beaten easily, not just easily, but with no effort. The man got one last feeling from the book before it slowly went back to sleep.

Anger.

The book felt insulted. Crude. It was a great artifact, and it had been called crude.

The man sighed heavily as the book went back to sleep. He glanced out the window and shook his head.

"Well, I guess I'm not gonna back to sleep."

There was no way he wasn't going to figure out what had happened, because if the book had activated then he was not the only one who would have felt it. Within a few moments, they'd arrive, and no doubt the others would be scrambling to find out what had happened and what the book had said.

He stood and with a thought sent the book to his personal space. It was best if he left this spec of land, if they all arrived at the same time and an argument broke out, then this empire would be rubble by the end of the hour, let alone the day.

"Damn book. I just wanted a nap."