Heartbreak and Despondency II

Before he knew it, the boy had passed out.

The flustered people in the room didn’t know what to do.

Some of them picked up the newspaper and read the article, passing it around the room:

Euliseus, son of Dremir, Executed for Assisting a Criminal’s Escape.

…He was charged with the following felonies in accordance with the misuse of magical affinity and use of excessive physical force decrees:

*Using magic to help an offender escape

*Using magic to distort the sacred marble room

*Using lethal magic against a royal guard

*Killing a royal guard

*Endangering and threatening their majesty the Oracle

…His last efforts before capture were spent avoiding the royal guard, of which, he had killed half, while the others succeeded in restraining him.

…The total felony count for his barbaric crimes have earned him the death penalty.

…He was later transported to the main plaza, where he was publicly executed at noon, today.

“…”

“That was his grandpa…” muttered Braun, as he finished reading the paper.

He covered his face with his hands, unable to say anything else. Xax couldn’t say anything in response either.

There wasn’t anything to say to begin with.

All they could do was prolong the silence to honor the death of the miserable boy’s loved one. The air was filled with remorse and regret.

The boy’s life has been turned to hell in just a few days.

The two men couldn’t believe that a short while ago, they were going about their usual business; that Aireven and Neveria were quiet; that this small intruder was peacefully enjoying life in his small village, a whole week’s journey away from here.

Xax pitied him from the bottom of his heart, but his feelings were left obscured because of the felony charges attributed to the boy’s grandfather. He has made clear that these kind of crimes were intolerable and inexcusable in his world.

“What’s this about the man killing half of the royal guard? Is that true?” asked Xax, softly.

“I have to say I am a little confused, sire… As you know, I was on the surface when this happened…” Braun explained, “Well I saw this incident play out, but only the latter half, so the boy must’ve been somewhere else by then,” he added.

“When I saw this man escorted out by the guards, he wasn’t even resisting... The view from the doors of the marble room didn’t exactly portray a sign of struggle during his supposed capture, either,” Braun commented.

Both men understood that this was becoming a very intricate, and convoluted matter the more they tried to connect the dots.

“Are you sure you got a good look?” questioned Xax.

“Yes, sire… I used the commotion to take a brief glance inside from close range, there wasn’t so much as a scratch on the ground, let alone blood and corpses...”

“So what, they are spreading misinformation?” Xax queried as he closed and massaged his own eyes. His insomnia was starting to kick in; he hasn’t properly slept in days.

But lack of sleep didn’t dull his senses, he knew that they were entering muddy waters with this conversation, and both of them were aware of the possible consequences.

“Either that… or a rather ridiculous thought I had in mind,” said Braun warily.

“…tell me,” said Xax drowsily.

“Well… this is only speculation, sire… but if the guards really are dead… could it be that the Oracle… had them executed? …because of failing to capture the boy, that is…” theorized Braun. In his head, this sounded way better than it did out loud.

Xax thought about it, remaining silent.

“On second thought, please ign—”

“Look into it,” said Xax, “in this world, anything is possible.”

“…right away sire,” said the man as he hurriedly left the room. He was happy Xax even contemplated the idea and didn’t reject it right away.

Despite Braun being Xax’s subordinate, it would be fair to say that beyond trust, they were best friends. The two had known each other since childhood and have turned Aireven into what it is today.

But something continued bothering Xax and he couldn’t understand what it was. It most certainly had something to do with the article, but he wasn’t able to pinpoint it.

He started scrambling through it again and looking it over in detail.

'Son of Dremir... felonies... offender...'

He found it.

“Wait Braun!” he hollered.

“Yes, sire. What is it?” said the man, running back a little perplexed and worried.

“This man was charged with ‘distortion of the marble room’…” said Xax. “I think we might have found how the boy got in here...”

“What?” Braun paused, “You don’t mean… You’re saying this man made ‘the hole’ in the ceiling the boy was talking about?”

“Yes, although the scale of the magic is a little problematic…”

“Problematic? Sire, we are more than 5 miles under the city!” said Braun in disbelief, “The hypothetical hole isn’t there anymore, either…”

Indeed, to any normal person who had lived to see magic of multiple classes, they would recognize that this would have to be exceptional mastery only a handful amount of people could hope to achieve.

“This would have to be a city-scale offensive mage, sire! We have everyone of this class, or higher, noted down in our records. There is no man called Euliseus in there…”

“I know Braun—”

“To think that a man from some village could be capable of…”

At that moment, Braun’s eyes made contact with Xax and he understood without the need for words.

“I shall investigate his background at once, sire.”

Xax nodded and he left the room.

Shortly after, Braun returned to the Neverian surface.

“City-scale mage… from where…” whispered Xax, taking one last look at the article.

In this world, where only a third of the total population can wield some type of magic, most of the people remain in Beginner class.

A select few have the blessing and ability to reach Intermediate class. Life becomes easier and everyday tasks can be accelerated with this magic.

Then come the chosen ones that have the ability to cast magic at an Advanced level. This guarantees them a bright future, as these mages are in high demand from royalty, the world government, and most and foremost, adventuring guilds.

There are very few people who reach Advanced mastery in any element during their lifetime. Although extremely rare, a few dozen cases exist of people going even further beyond this.

Anyone able to reach greater heights is automatically entered into a special category of mages classified as Offensive. These mages, though idle for years, are used to wage war and protect nations.

The first category-offensive mage is termed city-scale.

These are exceptionally rare mages who have such high magical affinity in any one element, that at full power, they are able to threaten the existence of a city.

Like mentioned by Braun, everyone who has reached the category of a city-scale mage and above has been recorded under what’s known as the Index of War.

The second category-offensive mage is termed country-scale.

These mages are one of the most dangerous people in the world. Able to change the direction of battle in seconds, at full output capacity, they even have the potential to erase small and medium-sized countries.

Though other more reliable factors exist, a country’s prosperity can be estimated by the number of citizens that hold this rank.

The last, and most fearful category-offensive mage is termed continent-scale.

This title has been vacant for generations, with only 2 people ever achieving it in recorded history. More like a curse than it is an honor, the previous owners remained eternal enemies to all humanity. Possessing inexplicable power capable of altering entire continents, they shaped the geographical layout of the world as it is today. Legends say that it was precisely them that spawned anomalies called Gateways to Tartarus.

The Index of War remains a publicly accessible document because of its reproducibility by the Oracles, and currently consists of 2 pages, containing the names and affiliations of 50 mages, 41 city-scale, and 9 country-scale.

Currently, Validae is unofficially considered the third strongest continent, with 6 city-scale and 1 country-scale mages at their disposal. In comparison, the ranked-first continent lies on the other side of the world, with 14 and 3, respectively, at their disposal. 

It’s name is Leviathan – the birthplace of the World Government.