The Arrival: Part 2

Why the King would put an effort into the education of a strange creature found in a tube inside a necromancer’s lair was a mystery to pretty much everyone, myself included. Nonetheless, I was to be given military, academic, and magic training.

Magic training went nowhere. I could grasp the theory, but in my home world, spellcasting had been the stuff of legend and superstition, and I was unable to put my knowledge into practice in spite of my efforts. I was eventually able to channel my energy into magical items, but could never go beyond that level, and, as such items are quite rare, it would be years before I could reliably use that skill outside of training grounds.

The court sorceress Claudia, however, took an interest in me due to my unusual circumstances, so we would frequently meet up to speculate about my origins and conduct examinations.

“It is truly a miracle of sorcery”, she would say, “that Arthacyros was able to pull your soul from beyond. I cannot for the life of me find a precedent for such an act of sorcery”.

“But what about the undead armies the Sorcerous League used against you?” I wondered.

“No, no, that’s much different. Those are merely puppets animated by magical energy, with no will and no soul. They may look terrifying, but you, my friend, are a much bigger abomination. Manipulating souls is hard enough; pulling them into the world is unheard of”.

“Nothing even remotely close?”

“Not really. There are cases of mortals binding souls of magical beings to their own – like General Idris of Shina and that ifrit of his – but those are bizarre creatures and their essence is different than ours. Everything else is in the realm of legend. But we’ll talk about that some other time. I have other work, and we have yet to complete your examination...“

Unlike magic, military training went smoothly and uneventfully. I was taught the full package – close combat, marksmanship, riding – and went through regular drills. I made up for my lack of experience with my new body’s uncanny physical ability, and for this, a lot of recruits detested me.

As for academia, history was what I found most interesting. Finally, I was getting to know about this strange place I ended up in. I learned of the Kingdom of Manea I found myself in, which rose from the ashes after a cataclysm some 1,500 years ago, and which in its hayday spanned continents; I learned of various kingdoms to the west; I learned of the Sorcerous League, a lose confederation of city states ran by sorcerer-kings which only rose to power after Arthacyros shut down their inner squablings by force and turned them into a military powerhouse; I learned of the mysterious Celestials, living on floating islands that could occasionally be seen on the horizon, and conducting trade on sky barges, the construcion of which was a closely guarded secret.

I also learned of the last war, at the end of which I was discovered. Arthacyros had, for the past few centuries, been slowly expanding his territory westwards, padding his ranks with undead troops. Maneans and their allies had been fighting a desperate defensive war, an effort which for the longest time seemed doomed. At one moment, however, a city state called Shina declared independence from the Sorcerous League. Arthacyros was forced to send troops to crush the perceived rebellion, but he couldn’t maintain a war on two fronts. He was, eventually, forced back across the sea, evacuating his last western fortress in a hurry, leaving even his latest magical experiment – that being myself – behind. A peace was soon signed, and the Sorcerous League was considered, for the time being, defanged.

During some of these academic lessons, I had the opportunity to briefly meet the crown princess, Odelia. She was the king’s only daughter and the successor to the throne, as the queen had passed away some years prior, and the king refused to remarry. I don’t know whose wise idea this was – perhaps His Majesty wanted to push the spoiled future queen out of her comfort zone – but the sheltered young girl was wary of me, and this practice was abolished.

Unlike his daughter, King Phyloctetes took personal interest in this new experiment of his, and one day I was, to my infinite surprise, informed that the king had summoned me for a private audience.

The audience chamber to which I was taken was fairly small. It was intended for private use, with only one ornate wooden table and a couple of chairs, as well as a lantern, which was the main source of light, given that the meeting took place fairly late. I was instructed to stand in the middle of the room until the king arrived. He entered through the door on the other side of the room. I bowed as I had been instructed to. He sat in the largest chair and then motioned me to another one. As I slowly and cautiously sat down, a servant brought refreshments, then excused himself. For a moment or two, we sat in silence.

“Well, young man”, he spoke in a tone much more informal than I expected, “how are you finding my kingdom?”

I was taken aback by the simplicity of the question.

“It... it is very good, Your Majesty. You have been very kind to me”.

“No need to be so tense, young man.”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I am not quite sure how a necromantic experiment should address a king”.

He laughed. “I was hoping a necromantic experiment would be blissfully unaware of such concepts as court etiquette, and I could have an honest conversation with another person for once. But alas, I underestimated you. Claudia tells me you had a different life before Arthacyros dragged your soul here. I assume you had kings there, too?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. But in the past mostly. Many countries have shifted to... different types of government”.

“Very interesting. Something like republics? We had some of these here, too. You will have to tell me all about them sometimes. There is always something to be learned from a different perspective. But you have not answered my question yet. I have not summoned you to exchange empty platitudes”.

So, the conversation continued. I learned that – aside from professional curiosity – the reason Claudia took an interest in me was to check whether I was some sort of trap prepared by Arthacyros. “We had to be certain you wouldn’t suddenly attack me, or explode, or turn into some kind of monster. A king must exhibit at least some degree of paranoia if he wants his reign to be a long and prosperous one”, said Philoctetes.

“Couldn’t you just call it ‘caution’, Your Majesty?”

“It isn’t quite the same. A cautious man can, on occasion, afford to judge things by intuition and gut feeling. A king cannot afford such luxury”.

These encounters with the king happened rather frequently during my stay. He was a naturally curious sort and took great interest in this strange creature that came from beyond; he also undoubtedly took some pride in appropriating his great enemy’s creation, though he would never admit as much. Sometimes he would inquire about my home world, absorbing the stories of what I used to find mundane with almost childlike glee. Sometimes we would discuss matters such as history, religion, and politics. On occasion, he would even ask for my opinion on daily political troubles, but whether that ever amounted to anything practical, I cannot say. Sometimes we would simply play a game of Bellum, the rules of which I grasped quickly, due to its vague similarity with what was back home called ‘chess’.

Several more months have passed. Gradually, I was given more freedom and allowed to wander the streets of Hieropolis. And then, when it was decided that I was sufficiently prepared to survive in the outside world, the King suggested I join the Royal Treasure Hunters.

The Royal Treasure Hunters were something of a passion project for him. While growing up, he was fascinated by tales of adventure. Unfortunately, as a monarch, he could never afford to delve into ancient crypts in search of forbidden knowledge, and the mundane job of fighting necromancers and their armies padded with raised corpses was forced upon him instead. As soon as the situation in the country got stable enough, he founded the Royal Treasure Hunters and was vicariously living out his fantasies through them. He was actively seeking legends of forgotten treasure, he was present at every mission briefing, and made sure to listen to detailed reports after the treasure hunters returned.

It was a fairly informal organization. The members were, technically, of equal rank and reported to the court sorceress and the king directly. They were encouraged to seek out rumors, which would then be verified by scholars and sorcerers. By the same token, the citizens and travelers were offered rewards if they brought any credible stories to attention. After the jobs were filtered, a team of treasure hunters would be assigned to them. As needed, military personnel or experts from outside the organizations would be summoned to assist and placed at the treasure hunters’ disposal. From there, an expedition was dispatched and, upon return, the court was presented with its results.

I had no reason to reject this offer. I didn’t intend to freeload in the palace eternally, for one thing, and a posting such as this would allow me to repay the king’s kindness. Also, similarly to the king, my innate desire for adventure was left unfulfilled in my youth, so I jumped at the opportunity.

Thus, the early, uneventful period of my tenure under King Philoctetes came to an end. I joined the Royal Treasure Hunters, met other members, and, soon enough, was attached to a squad for my first mission.