Return of the Fallen Volume 5 Chapter 58
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch58
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
One after another doors were thrown open as a young woman ran through the palace as fast as she could.
*Bang*
*Bang*
Finally, she arrived at the throne room. Here she stopped and readjusted her glasses. Taking a deep breath, she gave a gentle knock.
*tok tok tok*
“Enter.”
A loud voice came from inside and the doors slowly opened. The woman walked in and immediately felt a pressure surround her entirely. Her body felt heavy and she could walk no further. She found it harder and harder to breathe but she didn’t leave. She had something important to say and she would say it no matter what.
Near the center of the room, King Garn floated in the air. Both eyes closed, he held his scepter in one hand and a staff in the other. Staked into the ground were several other staffs in a large circle, each one filling with power. In the center sat a boulder-sized mana crystal. Inside the mana crystal, a liquid swished around and constantly went from a deep red color to an even darker blue.
Tens of thousands of inscriptions were carved on the floor and molten magic gold had filled the carvings.
Garn slowly opened his eyes and asked.
“What is it?”
The woman swallowed hard before taking out several parchments and sent them flying over. Each one floated in front of Garn and the woman began.
“Your Majesty, these are the latest reports. Another eight towns have gone silent. That brings it up to 46 and all of them are concentrated heavily in the north. Your Majesty, none of them are responding and it’s looking bad.”
King Garn snorted.
“I thought I told you to not interrupt me unless it were a dire matter. After Glacious destroyed my ultimate weapon, I’ve been working on this masterpiece and yet you come in here with what exactly, hmm?”
The woman felt the rebuke down her spine but she had family in one of the towns and couldn’t stay silent any longer.
“Your Majesty, this is important. The combined population of these towns is nearly one million people. For them, all to go quiet within weeks of one another…something is clearly wrong. What if it’s a plague or a curse or worse? What if Glacious killed them all in retaliation?”
Garn snatched one of the papers out of the air and gave it a casual glance.
“Hmm, for that many people to go quiet so suddenly, they’re either already dead or it’s a rebellion, in which case they will be dead shortly. In the end, the results are the same. As for Glacious, he wouldn’t have done it. Although I hate that disgusting lizard, he has his own set of principles and won’t involve innocents if he can help it. He’ll only go after those that annoy him or attack him. The fact that I’m alive now shows he no longer has a grudge with me. When he opened that rift and sent me and my ultimate weapon through it, he also sent an attack. After I got away he didn’t pursue the matter anymore. With his power, there’s no doubt he knows I still live, and yet here I am. No, this was the act of something different.”
With that said, Garn lost interest in the matter and then crumbled the paper into a ball and tossed it away.
The young woman seeing this had tears in her eyes and she couldn’t help but yell.
“NO! My sister is not a rebel, she’s the kindest most caring, and loyal…She would never betray Treia, she would never betray you! I haven’t heard from her in weeks and you don’t even care! You don’t care about her or the other citizens! How can you be so nonchalant about all of this!”
Garn raised a brow and turned around in the air. The woman before him was called Mila. She was very loyal to him and carried out his orders to perfection and was never disobedient or defiant but here she was yelling at him, yelling at her king.
Garn slowly floated down in front of her. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Mila immediately realized she had made a mistake and knelt down and cupped her fist.
“Your Majesty! Forgive this useless one!”
*Haaa*
King Garn wasn’t angry. If he couldn’t even consider the thoughts of his people then what kind of king would he be?
“Raise your head Mila.”
Mila did so and tears were already streaming down her face.
“I understand your concern. As for your sister, you must let her go, it’s already too late. It sounds harsh but when you look at the grand scheme of things, a million deaths really isn’t so much. When my masterpiece is completed, I will save all of humanity. Until then though, what’s a few million deaths here or there. Now go back and disturb me no more, I have work to do.”
Mila stared at Garn in absolute disbelief.
Was this the same Garn that would save as many as he could whenever there was danger. The kingdom’s hero who would not sit idly by at any injustice. The man who valued human life over all others. Right here and now though he was saying what’s a few million deaths. Mila couldn’t believe what she had just heard and her foundation was shaken.
She tried to urge her voice, she tried to find the courage once more to say something to her king but with this new revelation how could she. This was not the same man, this was not the hero of the past. This was King Garn, this was someone entirely different.
Mila slowly got to her feet and turned to walk away. However, after only a few steps, Garn called out to her.
“Mila.”
Mila turned around once more.
“Yes, your majesty.”
Garn’s voice ran cold as he spoke.
“You are loyal and you are very brave to stand up to a king but I urge you to never do it again. For if you do, I will kill you there and then. Do you understand?”
Mila’s heart jumped and she quickly bowed.
“Yes, your majesty!”
“Good, now leave, you’re wasting my time.”
Mila trembled and quickly left, the doors slamming shut behind her. She stood outside the throne room for several minutes thinking about what just happened and she was terrified. Not just scared about her own life but for the people of this country, no the whole world.
(Garn, what have you become.)
—————————————————————————-
With the distractions gone now, Garn stamped his scepter into the ground and a barrier surrounded the entire throne room allowing no one to trespass or disturb him. Stepping into the air, Garn floated above the mana crystal. He sat in the air in a meditative pose. His scepter in one hand and a staff in the other. The staffs standing upright in a circle surrounding the mana crystal all lit up one by one.
Arcs of lightning began to jump from one staff to the other in a disorderly and chaotic manner.
Garn pointed his staff at the ground and sent his magic along with his will into the staffs. As soon as he did, the snakes of electricity that were unordered and leaping from one staff to the other, all at once straightened before curving and forming a perfect circle of electricity around the mana crystal.
Garn slowly opened his eyes and they glowed with golden light. He pointed his scepter at the boulder-sized mana crystal and commanded.
“Rise!”
The boulder rose until it was face to face with Garn. Garn then pointed his scepter at the molten magic gold and ordered.
“Come!”
The gold began to squirm like worms before large glops of gold began to float up from the carvings in the ground. Taking his staff, garn willed the lightning.
“GO!”
The perfect circle of lightning around the boulder began to become agitated before snakes of electricity jumped toward the boulder. Since globs of liquified magic gold were in its way, the lightning passed through it. As it did, the lightning dragged the molten magic gold behind it. When the lightning struck the mana crystal, the lightning began carving inscriptions according to a corresponding inscription on the ground, one after the other.
The liquid within the mana crystal jumped within the crystal itself as though it wanted to break free but Garn perfectly contained it. As the first few lines were carved on the surface of the mana crystal the corresponding inscription on the floor began to glow with a golden light. After the first one, then the next one, and the one after that, one by one they all began to glow.
Thousands upon thousands. The time it took was long. Seconds became minutes became hours and hours. Finally, the last inscription was carved into the mana crystal and the corresponding one on the ground lit up. With the last one lighting up on the ground, Garn pointed both scepter and staff at the ground and ordered.
“Condense.”
The inscription on the floor began to shrink and shrink until it was the size of an apple. After that, the inscription, like a sticker peeled away from the floor and floated toward the mana crystal before it landed directly on top. As soon as it did, like a chain, it connected with all the other inscriptions, and when it did, the agitated liquid within the mana crystal sped up even more and the entire boulder-sized mana crystal started to vibrate violently.
Not just the mana crystal, all of the magic energy in the air within a few thousand feet began to move. Any Mage within this area suddenly felt a sense of crisis and wondered what calamity was brought down upon them. However as soon as it appeared, not even a second later, the feeling was gone. The liquified energy within the mana crystal condensed and became a solid and with it, all the inscriptions dimmed and the boulder feels out of the air.
*Bang*
The boulder crashed into the ground and shattered like sheets of glass. Garn as well fell out of the air. Completely exhausted, his face and clothes were drenched with sweat. He could barely walk forward and he felt mana sickness coming forth. He quickly pulled out a small vile and consumed the foul contents within. A wave of energy began to fill him and a small amount of his energy was restored.
Walking over to the epicenter of the crash, a small orb sat in the center. Half red and half blue, this orb was the condensed liquid within the mana crystal. Garn came within a few feet of it and reached out to grab it but as his hand came close, all of the skin on it burned away in an instant.
Garn hissed in pain and snatched his hand back. He examined his hand and could see blood, muscle, and bone clearly exposed. This didn’t discourage him but instead excited him.
“Hahaha, I’ve done it.”
Garn pointed his scepter at the small orb and tried to lift it with his power.
…Nothing happened.
(Hmm, It’s so incredibly heavy. This is at least 10 times what the mana crystal weighed before I started. Amazing.)
Garn exerted more power and finally lifted the fist-sized orb with his magic and ogled it for a while.
His eyes shone in excitement.
(My precious. My perfect creation. We will change the world. We will save them all.)
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