Hand of the King

Kareth Fenix trudged hastily through the dark tunnels deep below the Slane Theocracy.

40 years ago, the Supreme Chancellor herself had appointed him as head researcher of the Theocracy's hidden research initiative when the previous head researcher had died of old age. He was given exactly one task: to learn more about a single magic item obtained from the Great Vanquishing.

In all of those 40 years, despite his extensive history and credentials in magical research, Kareth had made close to zero progress.

The head researcher stopped in front of a large pair of double doors carved directly into the stone walls. He placed his hand on a magic circle engraved to the right of the door frame. As he laid his palm on the intricate circular pattern on the wall, a golden glow lit up the engravings beneath his hand, and the double doors slowly began to creak open.

"Brief me, now!"

Two senior researchers garbed in white robes frantically came forward to receive him.

"Sir, it's emitting some sort of strange aura!"

"Please stay back, all of the junior researchers who went near it to investigate died instantly!"

Kareth's eyes widened as he gazed beyond the two men to behold the shocking scene behind them.

6 corpses lay in a circle around an orichalcum stand, cloaked inside a barely visible fog of wispy grey. Atop the stand and clamped in between two Adamantite pincers was the object that haunted his every moment of living for the past forty years.

The Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown.

<100 years of silence…..why in the world is it showing activity now?!>

He turned back to the two senior researchers besides him and barked a quick directive: "Go and call the Cardinal of Darkness over here NOW!"

After seeing off the backs of the two men hurrying to carry out his instruction, Kareth slowly approached the weapon, careful to stay well away from the grey mist that had presumably taken the lives of six of his junior researchers. He narrowed his eyes into a watchful stare as he got closer, not once taking his eyes off of the staff.

No matter how many times he looked at the weapon, he still could never truly prevent himself from being transfixed by the sheer beauty of the golden staff. The incredible craftsmanship of the seven entwined serpents had a surreal, almost hypnotizing quality to them. The seven gems each shone with an ethereal light that captivated him more than any other sight in the world. The crystalline grip emanated a faint cerulean glow, shimmering in an invitation for him to extend his hand and grip it. It hummed with a seductive power, like a promise to grant the entire world to any who dared to try and wield it.

Kareth grimaced. He was very glad that he managed to resist those urges when he first laid eyes upon it. Almost everyone who tried instantly died or lost their mind. The only one to ever succeed in wielding it was the Supreme Chancellor, and even she was only able to command it for a second before the process was too much for her to bear.

Yet that one second saved the Slane Theocracy, and possibly the entire world. Through some miraculous effect, the Supreme Chancellor managed to disable the Sorcerer King's enraged champions long enough for them to be bound and sealed away. This was a closely guarded secret within the Theocracy, and outside of these top-secret walls, the official story was that an epic battle had taken place and the Sorcerer King's subordinates were soundly defeated. Even most of the upper echelons of the Slane Theocracy's current administration had no idea the place Kareth worked even existed.

Throughout the past 40 years, Kareth and his small team of researchers worked tirelessly to uncover the secrets of the Staff. He had been told that the original purpose of his position was to destroy the Staff. However, no progress had come about during the sixty years of work that his predecessor, Maximilian Oreio Lagier, had put in to try and destroy it. As a result, when Kareth was assigned to the position, his task changed to simply trying to amass knowledge and to uncover any secrets that could lead to the Staff's destruction or use.

The Supreme Chancellor had told him in person that his job was the most important task in the entire Theocracy. When Kareth visited the previous Cardinal of Earth, Raymond Zarg Lauransan, he had been told the same thing by the old man days before his death.

At first, the words of those two great individuals fueled his motivation and drive to absolute heights. But after decades of mind-numbing work in a dark underground facility, he had long come to terms that he would never make any progress with the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown. All he had to show for his 40 years of devotion was a personal theory that he had no way of confirming.

The Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown has a mind of its own.

Kareth was convinced that the Staff possessed some kind of independent sapience. He had a sneaking suspicion that the reason it could not be used and did not behave like a regular item was a product of something far more intriguing than mere incompatibility.

But...how to prove it….

His constant train of thoughts was finally interrupted by the sound of footsteps behind him. He turned and looked at the newcomer, a stone-faced middle-aged woman in her fifties whose obsidian eyes bore a dangerous gleam. With her jet black hair and matching robes, she blended almost completely into the shadowy background as she walked through the still open double stone doors.

"I hear there has been an unexpected circumstance?"

Kareth tried his best not to roll his eyes. "Do you not see the six corpses behind me, Cardinal Jovarus?"

The Cardinal of Darkness Irisia Kiv Jovarus tilted her head at the response, her face still devoid of any discernible emotion.

"What corpses?"

Kareth swiveled his head to look at the scene behind him. Sure enough, the six corpses and the grey mist that surrounded them had completely disappeared.

"Wh-what?! That's impossible! Th-the two senior researchers I sent you, Melvin and Syndel, where'd they go? They'll explain what happened."

The Cardinal of Darkness quietly stared at the frantic Kareth for several seconds before responding: "I hope I did not come here just to have my time wasted with these ridiculous ramblings. I received a letter from you telling me to come over here because of an urgent occurrence. I did not encounter any of your senior researchers."

Kareth's mouth hung open as he heard this. His mind went blank as he struggled with the sheer absurdity of the situation. "B-but...what…?"

The Cardinal sighed as she stared at the bumbling state of the head researcher.

"I don't know why you're still cooped up here studying this irrelevant artifact. The chapter of the Sorcerer King has closed long ago. Your talents are wasted here toiling over a mystery that will likely never be solved."

She looked the old man up and down, a hint of pity finally slipping through her stony countenance.

"Look at you, you look like a vampire. When was the last time you actually left these wretched halls and saw the sun? The Theocracy needs magical researchers like you on actual important matters. The war against the Elf Country is finally drawing to its inevitable conclusion after all these centuries. The blasted Cult of the Deathless has infested deep into the Roble Holy Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire, and we suspect that it will soon penetrate into the New Re-Estize Kingdom and the Karnassus City-State Alliance as well. The Dwarven Kingdom and their subhuman spawn are expanding faster than ever and openly defy us. With all these enemies at the gates, we are in need of brains like yours more than ever."

At the sound of these words, Kareth's thoughts finally shifted away from the sudden mystery that had just befallen him. He looked up at Irisia Kiv Jovarus, a tone of warning entering his voice as he spoke:

"My work was assigned to me by the Supreme Chancellor herself. This Staff here is the only thing between us and the monsters we have sealed away from the world. It is imperative that we glean every bit of information we can so that we never have to repeat the events that shook the world 100 years ago."

The Cardinal of Darkness shook her head, an unconvinced look on her face.

"The Sorcerer King's Guardians are sealed behind the most powerful enchantments and barriers known to man. The Theocracy's most distinguished magic casters collaborated with all the best and brightest magical geniuses from across the world to create an impenetrable prison that would spell eternal imprisonment for even the Dragon Lords. Three quarters of our Treasury was emptied to contribute to the creation of an everlasting bulwark against their escape. They are never getting out. NEVER."

She hesitated for a brief second before adding in a softer tone: "Your work...is not needed."

Kareth clenched his teeth in rage as he listened to the Cardinal. The anger those words brought him bubbled like a molten fury at the brink of an unthinkable eruption.

The reason was simple: everything she said, he already knew. Those same words he had already heard countless times….from himself. Every single time one of his countless experiments failed during the past 20 years of failure, he would tell himself the same damn thing.

<IT'S POINTLESS, ALL OF IT!>

It took every drop of willpower for Kareth to calm himself enough to deliver his next response through gritted teeth: "As I said before, the Supreme Chancellor was the one who tasked me with this assignment. Are you questioning her wisdom?"

The Cardinal pursed her lips. They both knew the conversation was over. "I would not dare. I will leave you to your….research, Kareth."

Having delivered her final word, the Cardinal turned and walked away, her dark figure quickly disappearing into the shadows of the underground hallway. The stone doors shut close with her departure, leaving Kareth alone with the Staff once again.

Kareth had to catch himself from stumbling as the accelerated beating of his aged heart reached a dangerous peak. His vision blurred as the frustrations that had plagued him for the past 2 decades threatened to engulf him.

Finally, he cast the spell [Calm] on himself, slowly soothing much of the turbulence in his heart and mind. But as his thoughts cleared, another sinking realisation dawned on him.

Damn it. I forgot to explain the sudden activity of the Staff. Besides, what in the world happened to my team? Was it….all just an illusion?

He looked around the room, still confounded by the sudden turn of events.

And then he noticed it.

A dark red glow now pulsated from the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, an effect that Kareth had never once seen in his 40 years working with the nefarious object.

Kareth stared silently from afar as the Staff throbbed with a dusky crimson glow like the beating of a human heart. Somehow, he had a feeling he knew what this was all about.

<It's taunting me….>