Witness

The carriage rattled as the capital city of Esmerand emerged across the horizon, lit by the faint color of dawn.

Its white-bricked buildings, domed roofs and cascading houses appeared hazy with fog, but the royal palace loomed ever present at its center, blood-red in color and hulking in its enormity. Its giant obelisk in particular looked as if it floated above the haze, ready to pierce the sky. As was the common joke when it first shattered.

At the western edge of that city was the magic academy. It was the closest Kyr could call home. Maybe that was the reason he dreamed of it. Or maybe because a familiar face came to find him after all this time.

Roy, the sandy-haired youth from his past, was sitting across from him next to Inquisitor Leatrix. Both had fallen asleep, disheveled and weary from their fight against Serenti’s reapers.

Kyr looked down at his arms. The magical restraints were gone, leaving greyish discoloration around his wrists.

He actually did it, didn’t he?

He left the confines of his prison.

He used magic again.

Neither of it was a lie. This wasn’t the dream. Even now he could feel the surging of mana beneath the land.

But what was next? Vengeance against those who wronged him? Finding the truth about Aven? Ending the apocalypse?

“Whoever is sabotaging the prophecy put you in this place for a reason,” Leatrix had said. “You might be the key to stopping them.”

Someone was behind all of this.

Was it the dead king? The other guardians? Or perhaps the Specter of legend?

His eyes met with Leatrix. She’d woken up.

“Inquisitor,” Kyr said.

Leatrix stared at him for while, as if barely cognizant of her surroundings, until her eyes settled on his forehead. She sat up straight, then fixed her hat. “How long had I been out?” she asked. “How are you feeling?”

“I just woke up myself,” Kyr replied.

“Listen,” Leatrix started, “I—”

“Thank you, inquisitor.”

“What?”

“For not betraying me. For getting me out. I suppose I haven’t said it yet.”

The inquisitor blinked at him repeatedly, as if she hadn’t just given him the most important thing in this world. Life. When everyone he trusted turned their backs or disappeared, she sought whatever truth she believed in and earned his freedom. “I’m… merely serving my role in pursuit of justice,” she said. “And I meant everything. You’re important.”

“In stopping the great evil?”

Leatrix looked surprised. “I see you’re still familiar with the Vastillian legend.”

“It consumed my life seven years ago,” Kyr whispered. “Even before I was chosen as a guardian, I intended to join the academy research team in pursuit of the legend. I also know what’s inside the spires. I’ve thought about it every day in prison.”

A glimmer of recognition appeared over the inquistor's eyes.

“Do you know it as well?” Kyr asked. “Have the guardians talked about the spires? Or was it the king?”

“Morick told me what he can… before he died.”

Morick was dead? 

The nobleman was a renowned duelist with the spear before he became one of Aven's guardians. He spoke against Kyr in his trial, but prior to that he was a good man. Friendly despite his clumsy understanding of societal norms. Out of all the guardians, he was the one Kyr suspected the least.

“Morick was a relative of mine,” Leatrix said. “He was poisoned a month after he refused to join the new hero’s quest.”

Poisoned?

“Huh.”

“There’s… a lot to go over, but I think it’s best we save it after you meet with the princess. What’s important is I believe a version of the Specter exists. I don’t know if its an individual or a group, but they’re responsible for many things.”

Kyr nodded slowly in thought, his mind racing. Then he glanced over at Roy who stirred in his sleep. “What about him?”

“Ah,” Leatrix said. “He found us about a year ago. He’s one of the few supporters you have left. He was a key witness when I presented my case to the magistrates.”

“Witness? Of what?”

“Your character for one. Few spoke positively about you thanks to pressure from the royal family. This one didn’t care.”

Kyr chuckled at the thought. The boy didn’t change much in terms of appearance, aside from growing a bit taller than him. Seven years and the boy was still challenging those bigger than he was. Though Kyr supposed he was a man now.

“He was also present at Lumis,” Leatrix added. “He wanted to surprise the hero’s entourage after you completed the rites at the second spire. The town was only a couple of miles over. He wanted to convince Aven to let him join as a guardian.”

Kyr blinked at that. He always knew Roy was more talented than he let on, but a guardian? Didn't he promise he'd work hard at the academy while Kyr was off 'adventuring with the hero'?

“But…” Leatrix continued, but Kyr finished it for her.

“We didn’t leave the Spire of Knowledge."

“You and Aven didn’t,” Leatrix said. “The other guardians did. They rushed to Lumis seeking for aid.”

“Because I supposedly hunted them down and destroyed the town in the process. What did Roy see?”

“He immediately rode for the spire after he heard the guardians talk about what you did to them. He wasn't at Lumis to see it burn."

“Wait, Roy went to the spire?”

“He tried to. He said it was sealed off, as it normally would be. The guardians took four days to get a key and open it. That’s when they found Aven’s body.”

“And me, unconscious next to him.”

Leatrix nodded. “Roy said Radon was very adamant it was you who attacked them.”

Kyr felt his blood boiling at the thought. “I don’t deny striking Radon at the spire. And only Radon. Are you aware of why I did it?”

“Radon was harassing Jessa, so you defended her.”

“But then Jess—” Kyr nearly shouted but stopped himself. “She spoke against me. Said I suddenly attacked everyone at the spire. And then they spin this story about me coming after them and burning Lumis down.”

Jessa Cayne was a noblewoman and a priestess of the sacred order. She often sat close to Kyr next to the campfire, trading theories about magic and myth.

Yet on the day of his trial, she betrayed him like everyone else. 

That... hurt him the most.

“If Roy is your witness,” Kyr said, “why didn’t he come forward all those years ago?”

“He did,” Leatrix replied. “Among many others, like the former headmaster of the academy. But they were all prevented from speaking.”

“By the king?”

Leatrix nodded.

Why the hell was the king so determined in making him the killer? Why did he even let Kyr live after all this time?

“I have questions too, if you don’t mind,” Leatrix said, sounding almost unsure. “That horn. What is it? Why did it… open into a third eye? How did you break out of your restraints?”

Kyr absently touched the damned thing.

He didn’t know.

The horn simply grew on his forehead out of nowhere.

He said as much.

“When was this?” Leatrix asked.

“Counting in prison is hard,” Kyr said. “Two years ago? Maybe more?”

“Around the same time a new hero was prophesied.”

“I suppose so.”

Leatrix fiddled with the visor of her hat as if to think. “Interesting... It couldn’t have been a coincidence. And you say last night was the first time it unfurled into wings?”

Kyr nodded.

He wasn’t exactly sure how that happened either. One moment he was about to get killed, the next he was shot by a beam of light. He felt mana again after six long years. He was so filled with hatred and anger that he rampaged with power.

“Maybe it’s why they wanted you in prison…” Leatrix mumbled.

But that’s when a knock came from outside the carriage and a familiar voice called out.

“I hope our dear passengers had a lovely night’s rest,” Cinza shouted. “But we’re getting close to Esmerand. It might be best to freshen up.”

Kyr’s eyes flicked outside the window. The city looked bigger in the distance.

Roy stirred from his sleep and yawned, rubbing at his eyes.

“We’ll be taking a different route than the main gate,” Leatrix said. “The city is on high alert, and we don’t want to confuse the guards about your presence. Not that they’re particularly fond of me either.”