SYSTEM ASCENSION

The afternoon felt incredibly long to Elias. The sun was fully out now, streaming in through the open window of the small apartment. His eyes lingered on it, but he didn’t move at inch towards it. He tapped his feet against the floor board repeatedly, leaving slight cracks in it’s wake.

”I was saying!” Keen yelled after Rowen as they entered through the front door. ”I have observed that freak for a week. I think he’s a shut in demon! He avoids the sun like a plague!”

Rowen took off his coat, and hung it on the stand.

”Keen, he just hate the sun, and it has only been a day.”

”Who the hell hates sun?!” The little boy dramatically exclaimed. ”There is no one who would natu...rally...” His eye locked with Elias’s own.

”...well...I mean...”

Rowen glanced at him, and back at Elias.

”It was a book I read.” Keen defended. ”I was not talking about you.”

Elias didn’t take Keen’s words relevant, even if he was well aware that they were talking about him. Instead he muttered.

”Zeal...”

Rowen raised a brow.

”What?”

”Where is he?” His voice was louder.

”Oh. Zeal went to the palace.”

Elias expression dimmed a little. He pulled up his legs and rested his head on his knee.

”Why did he go to the palace?”

___

SALVADOR MIDDLE CITY. PALACE.

The throne room had been reduced to the endless rhythm of governance, with Emperor Daevon’s quill moving across parchment after parchment while the late afternoon sun beat through the glass.

He signed a decree concerning the eastern grain levies, pressed his signet into the molten wax and reached for the next document.

It was precisely as the wax cooled, that the sensation arrived. A needle of ice slid behind his eyes. A summon without sound. He was well aware who would dare attempt it.

His quill hovered for a brief moment above the next line of text, allowing a bead of ink to swell at the top and drop onto the imperial crest. Although any scribe watching would have attributed the pause to a mere fatigue, Daevon exhaled through his nose and completed the stroke.

He finished the signature, applied his seal to the document, and set the quill aside.

”Conclude the records for the day.” he said to the chamber at large, and dismissed the court.

When the doors finally closed behind the last of his attendants and the sound of their footsteps had faded into the stone corridors, the emperor remained seated for another breath, before he rose and exit the throne room to his chamber.

When he pushed the door inward, he was not at all surprised to find that he was not alone, because the presence that had called to him would hardly have waited in the hall to be caught.

A figure cloaked in a hood stood before the grand portrait of Rodio, the founder of Salvador. This very painting was drawn after the Lower City had been abandoned to the Nulls. The intruder studied the gilded frame like someone who had all the time in the world.

Daevon stepped inside and allowed the door to shut behind him. He took few steps closer to the figure, his eyes gliding sideways during that time.

The sight of an unidentified baby, laying sound asleep on the imperial bed was shocking if anyone had seen it, but to the emperor who was familiar with the intruder’s oddities, it was perfectly normal.

”I lost my daughter. Is this your way of consoling me?”

The intruder turned his eyes only a inch.

”That’s Rowen’s daughter. She’s not for free.”

Daevon chuckled softly. He leaned towards Rasy and pinch her cheek a little.

The intruder spoke again.

”You lost your daughter? Was she taken three years ago?”

”No. She had been gone since she was a baby.”

Daevon straightened up, regaining his emperor’s stoic nature and turned.

”A C rank raider who would sneak into a palace guarded by A rankers, and still dare carry a baby along.”

”You flatter me your highness.”

Daevon frowned.

”I don’t like you Zeal. Your appearance usually foresee the end of the world.”

Zeal turned around, and took off his hood.

”I’m glad you understand; Save me the stress of breaking your heart.”

Daevon sighed.

”Tell me.”

Zeal walk to a table made with fine wood and elegant design, and leaned against it.

”I’ll be straight with you. We offended the black empire and the end goal might be a war.”

It took a full minute for the emperor’s brain to register what Zeal had said. A war? With the Black-eyed?

He could dismiss it as a cruel joke, but Zeal’s expression said otherwise. Moreover, he had never known Zeal to joke around important things. That was Rowen’s personality.

”Offended the black empire?”

”Ten years ago. We sent an alliance request. That time, they didn’t decline it, but added an official letter that says any more offer, would lead to a war, yes?”

”Yes.” Daevon answered, still trying to wrap his head around it. ”I did find it odd that the letter had hostility towards us.”

”Ten years ago...” Zeal tilted his head side, staring into space. ”The Black-eyed empire finally accepted our offer and sent delegates to seal the alliance.”

”What?!” Daevon gasped. ”The alliance was accepted? How—”

”Let me finish old man.” Zeal sharply cut in.

Just like a ridiculously charm, the emperor quiet down.

”However, the delegates were attacked before they could cross the Death valley to our territory. Some got killed and some captured. Later on, a portal that was coincidentally in that area broke open, releasing creatures that we can’t even identify here in Salvador. Those creatures ate the bodies,” Zeal chuckled coldly. ”I guess that covered the track that they were attacked by humans.”

Out of all the things Zeal had explained, only one thing struck the emperor.

”Attack.”

The death valley divides Black and Salvador, while the sun valley divides Salvador and Torzi. Torzi empire was no way close to the black empire, so an attack was very unlikely.

”Did we...”

”We did.” Zeal replied. ”We attacked them, took them hostage and finished them off one by one after we were done with them.”

”Why?!” Daevon finally bursted out. ”What’s the goal!”

”Tubs and cages. It seems like the culprit was trying to extract their vitality. In other words, their essence.”

”Essence...” The emperor blurted out. His hand spoke. ”That’s...you can’t extract—!”

”It’s possible. The owner would have to die.”

A moment of silence followed. The emperor turned to his seat behind a table with stacked files. He sat down and relaxed his head. The story was foreign to him.

Zeal just stared at him with a look very close to boredom.

When the emperor finally spoke, it was close to denial.

”There must be a mistake here. Maybe it’s a... conspiracy or...”

Zeal reached into his hood and pulled out the dark necklace.

”Sealing stone. You can get it for a few billion in the upper city. Extremely expensive and rare,” he rolled the chain in his finger tip. ”But in the lower city, black empire, it’s hung around like a cheap talisman. We’re aware that every black resident wears this.”

Daevon leaned forward.

”Did you find that?”

”I borrowed it from it’s owner.”

”So it’s owner is alive!” The emperor almost smiled. ”We can fix this then. We’ll write an apology. No, we’ll visit and —”

”It’s not that simple.” Zeal cut him off again.

”What...do you mean?”

”First, the survivor is a child.”

”A child?”

”A mentally damaged boy.” Zeal pushed off the table and took slow steps towards the emperor. ”He spent about seven years locked up, tested, pierced, drowned, scorched, poisoned and more. I wouldn’t want to pry furthur. Somehow, they were not able to extract his vitality.”

Daevon chuckled in frustration.

”So...”

”But that’s not the problem.” Zeal cut him off, yet again.

”So what is the problem?!” He sprang up.

Zeal stopped before the table, leaned forward and placed his hands on it.

”If I were to kidnap your son, the crown prince and return him to you with mental issues after ten years. Would you take it?”

The emperor went quiet. It felt like something exploded behind his ears. In all his years of ruling, he suddenly felt like stepping down.

”Is he...a Morail?”