New Quest
Dion slowly opened his eyes. He looked around. He is now in his bed. Ennet was standing beside the bed. She was looking at the window; her vision went further than that.
Dion suddenly remembered something, Ohh no.
"Where is Cilia?" Dion asked anxiously.
Ennet looked at Dion; there was an unknown emotion in her eyes. She opened her mouth, but she couldn't give a reply.
"Please answer me!" Dion gave a low shout as he grabbed her hands.
"She is dead!" Ennet said as she adjusted her facial expression. Seemed like she was trying very hard to suppress the emotion in her heart.
Dion sat back down on his bed. He wasn't able to express how he felt. His face a mixture of multiple emotions. Cilia was not that close to him. He only knew her for a few days. But she was his first woman. She died just like that when trying to protect him.
"She gave her life for you! Please live as you should. We palace guards are meant to sacrifice ourselves for the Emperor." Ennet said slowly. She was a good commander of palace guards, Dion thought. She had pretty well control over her own emotions.
"How long have I been unconscious?" Dion said suddenly.
"Six days," Ennet replied.
"Ohh!" Dion replied. He knew he missed the chance of seeing Cilia for one last time, as it was a tradition in the continent to bury dead people within three days. His heart ached as he remembered the pretty face that was lying in the stage, looking at him with pain and happiness.
Dion looked at Ennet and sighed. Maybe this girl was also blaming him. He didn't know.
"Can I visit her?" Dion asked while still holding the hands of Ennet.
"Of course, she would be pleased." Ennet nodded as her eyes finally got moistened, she grabbed Dion's hands tightly while saying.
"How did the killer got there and are they caught yet?" Dion's face suddenly hardened.
"We didn't find any trace of the killer or how he got there. The area should have been fully secured." Ennet said, "We think they are from the Shadow branch of the Dark Fey."
"Dark Fey? Aren't they are defeated and hiding?" Dion was surprised, "And what is this Shadow branch?"
"The Dark Fey are very proficient in battle magic; they have different branches in their race for different types of combat needs. The Shadow branch, for example, is expert on hiding their tracks in any situation; they can merge into the shadow, which is why they are responsible for the Assassination." Ennet explained. The Dark Fey is a mystery in the continent right now. Even she was not sure why are getting active right now. The previous war should have wounded them gravely, and they should not have enough strength to start another war.
"Assassination! What they did that night was straight out attempt to kill me." Dion's eyes lost focus for a second then he stared at Ennet again, "Are you certain that it's them?"
"There are certain evidence that proves that attacker was from the Shadow branch of Dark Fey but as for how he got here and how he got out is still not clear.", Ennet said.
Dion's face got dark. At first, he thought he could become an Emperor of an amazing empire and then live his life in peace, but now things don't look that promising for him. It seems like the legendary Dark Fey is starting to act soon. The fact that they dared to try to assassinate him proves that fact. But he also wanted to learn some answers. He needed to visit the elder's hall to ask the Heart Crystal some questions.
Dion stood up from the bed and looked at Ennet; he touched her cheek and caressed her hair that came near her shoulders. The slightly red hair made her look even stronger. Red hair, proof of having the Berserker bloodline. Dion already knew that Ennet's bloodline wasn't that strong, this might be the reason her hair not being completely red.
"I will find those Dark Feys and kill them all. They dared to intrude and kill my Cilia. I swear on my name." Dion said suddenly while looking at Ennet's face, which suddenly also got colder. The coldness was not for Dion but targetted towards the Dark Fey.
"And I will follow and protect you, may your majesty reign lasts forever." Ennet fell into kneeling position as she said with a determined voice.
Dion wanted to hold and help Ennet stand up, but he didn't. He didn't want to be weak again to another woman.
"Clear the path towards Cilia's resting place. I don't want to show my face to anyone. The magic that changes my face does not last long enough to be useful in this case." He went towards the wardrobe. Dion already checked the system about the 'Myriad Faces' spell. The duration at now is only fifteen minutes. He needs to level up his magic to make this spell any useful.
Dion suddenly looked back at Ennet, he thought about the Berserker bloodline, but then shook his head and went on his way. The system was putting too much pressure on him right now.
Ennet didn't say anything; she nodded once before exiting the chamber.
"New main quest: Improve the Berserker bloodline to level five. Find another woman other than Ennet with a much higher concentration of Berserker bloodline. Use real face during the mission. Cannot use or expose the identity of being the Emperor.
Reward ten GP and bloodline ability, 'Fire firsts'.
Second quest: Leave the palacePalaceravel the lands while investigating the Dark Fey, can take up to one companion except for Ennet in this expedition. Continuous quest, reward one GP every two days." This was the message he received from the system right after waking up. These were the new missions he received. He didn't understand why the system is having himself travel the lands like this. But he didn't want to object or didn't know if he even can. He can feel the system have something to do with the Heart Crystal.
Dion started to change his clothes after taking a shower. At this time in a place a bit far from the PalacePalaceelders hall.
"The Heart Crystal reacted again." One of the elder crystals were talking with each other.
"It's getting dimmer and dimmer. I am not feeling good about this situation." Another crystal said. These were the elders of the empire, the previous emperors.
"I wonder if this has something to do with the kid who came a few days ago."
"Who knows, the Heart Crystal isn't saying anything about that."
When the elders were discussing among themselves, a few hundred kilometres underground, right under the Heart Crystal, there was a massive cave.
The cave surprisingly was filled with a hundred small crystals that looked like smaller versions of the Heart Crystal. The cave was lit in red light that was emitting from the crystals.
"Hahaha! How long can you last? A few hundred years? Or maybe even less. I can feel you are losing your strength every day. Especially suddenly. I can feel the power of destiny, starting to move. So that person already arrived?" There was a voice that came from the black stone that stood in the middle of the cave. The voice didn't expect any reply and laughed again, "The destiny mentioned that I would die at the hands of your master back then. I survived, and he is dead. Do you think this person from whom I cannot sense anything will be able to kill me?"
"You will die when the time comes." An ethereal voice sounded just then. If Dion was here, he could recognize this voice which belonged to the Heart Crystal.
"You are putting too much effort onto this." The voice paused for a second, "Ohh, so that's why you spent so much energy a few days ago. To save that child whom my minions almost killed. Hahahaha, great, just great. Do it again and a few times, spend more of your energy so that I can break free from here." The voice was weak at first but suddenly grew in power while talking. "Teleporting another person in the middle, this would spend the least of your strength while also achieving what you wanted. Not bad. But even so, you lost enough power to seal me for at least a few dozen years. I cannot thank you enough. Do it again, please. Hahahaha."
The voice of the Heart Crystal didn't sound again. The cave soon went silent after that voice from the black stone stopped his laughing. Only the dimmed red light from the crystals remained.