System Change

Derek and the others’ adventure through the capital wasn’t quite what Derek was expecting. At least in the capital, it seemed that it was business as usual for the most part. There was absolutely no tension in any of the children running around—it seemed they didn’t have a care in the world, just how it should be. The adults didn’t seem too worried about matters, either, but he guessed they were just doing their best to keep up the front in front of their children.

When he first stepped out of the teleporter building, he had expected a quiet and solemn city. But when he saw everything, he was happy that quiet and solemn was not what he was met with. And soon, even the underlying tension in the adults will be gone, he thought, knowing that he just may have two keys to end the war stored inside his Time Prison.

Derek, Alanah, Silvi, and Edgar made haste through the city and soon arrived at the front of the palace gates—a place that looked all too familiar to Derek. No matter how many times he saw it, and how instant it was, it still stunned him that the carnage from the fight with Gerald Torith had been completely erased even before he had left on the raid.

The three people and one bunny were instantly greeted when they arrived, and quickly brought to the Great Hall where Edwin, Edward, and a young woman who looked much like the two royals waited. There was also an older man dressed in a dark gray robe. Derek could only assume that the man was Edwin’s other adviser—the one who was cocky and complacent, but hopefully had no more similarities to Gerald Torith, and wasn’t a complete and total idiot.

Finally, Natalie Savannah was seated off to the side, minding her own business with a communication crystal in her hand. She casually looked up when they all walked in, and her eyes met Derek’s own. After a smile and a slight nod, she went back to whatever business she had on the other end of the crystal.

“Father,” Edgar said, as the giant doors behind them were closed by the guards on the outside of the Great Hall.

King Edwin waited until the doors were completely shut before replying. “Edgar! You’ve done well, very well!” The king seemed ecstatic, and for good reasons. He’d been informed via communication crystal before they even arrived. “Alanah, Mr. Hunt, Sil… Ms. Silvi… the kingdom owes the three of you a debt of gratitude for all that you have done for it. Really, words do not even begin to express how grateful I am to the tw… three of you.”

Derek didn’t bother with a reply, and Alanah was still recovering. However, what was surprising was that Silvi hopped off of Derek’s shoulder and onto the bottom step in front of Edwin. The two locked eyes for a few moments, and Derek wondered what kind of exchange they were having—Silvi didn’t currently have any of her blue communication crystals with her, so any speaking she did had to be done through Telepathy.

“Of course, of course!” the king said with a big smile. “When I heard you were coming, I had it all brought to me. No point in decorum with just us in here. Please take it all.” With that, the king reached into one of the pockets on his robe. When he brought his hand out, there were two storage rings laying on his palm.

With a flick of his wrist, the two rings flew over to Silvi. Before they hit the floor, they were caught by her Telekinesis and hovered in front of her. Derek watched as she touched one ring with a paw for a few moments, then moved onto the other. Finally, it looked like she was satisfied.

‘Pockets,’ she sent to Derek, then, before he could comment, the two rings came flying his way.

He caught them and stuck them inside one of his pockets without bothering to check them out. ‘Got it,’ he sent back.

“I am glad that the rewards are to your liking, Ms. Silvi. If there is anything else you have need of, don’t hesitate to ask,” the king said.

‘Don’t,’ Derek said, as he knew that Silvi was getting ready to make all sorts of demands. He knew that the king was just speaking in platitudes, but Silvi either didn’t, or she didn’t care. So Derek decided to stop her before she ended up owning the kingdom or something. Silvi listened to Derek, and in the next instant, she appeared back on his shoulder.

“Now,” the king cleared his throat. “Shall we begin?”

“I take it that’s my cue?” Derek asked.

“If you would be so kind,” the king replied.

Finally, out of the corner of his eye, Derek saw Natalie put away her crystal and stand before walking over next to him. It seemed that she was finally showing some interest in the proceedings.

Derek turned around and took a few steps away from everyone, so there was ample space to work with. With a thought, he activated Time Prison, then ripped the space in two with his hands. Finally, he opened the newly revealed door, and inside, everyone could see the two captives.

He had adjusted the flow of time inside the prison so that as little time would pass as possible for the captives while they traveled. So, it wasn’t surprising when both Ryven and the Duke of Astrus looked to have barely moved an inch since their last meeting—the one where they were unceremoniously thrown inside the prison and locked in the darkness.

The Duke of Astrus was completely immobile, still unconscious from his near death. Duke Ryven, however, appeared to be doing his best to hide his agony as he stared daggers at Derek, but the constant flow of fresh blood pouring out of his mouth didn’t do his stoic look any favors. Derek’s attack had landed on, and possibly destroyed many organs inside the man’s body, and he was still feeling the brunt of it.

However, even in unbearable pain, the elven man continued to hold himself to a higher standard. Well, I guess you’re first since you’re awake, Derek thought as he took a step in and grabbed the duke by the collar of his shirt before tossing him out into the Great Hall with everyone else.

Ryven landed with a thud—the force aggravating the internal injuries enough for the bleeding to redouble its efforts. The man struggled to push himself up, but eventually managed to roll himself over enough to get a view of his surrounds. The look he gave everyone once he realized where he was at was priceless.

“B-but… how?” Ryven managed to get out a couple words before he choked on his own blood once more.

“I told you, didn’t I?” Derek began as he walked out of his Time Prison, causing Ryven to turn his head far enough to see him. “You never had a chance. You’re alive because I didn’t kill you. Do you understand now?” Derek closed the door behind him, but kept the tear in space active so they could move on to the other duke whenever they were ready.

Before the man could say anything to Derek, Edwin’s voice sounded out throughout the Great Hall. “Ryven Elras! You dare attack my kingdom after the history we share! Why?”

Ryven finally managed to turn himself around and prop himself up on his knees before finally meeting the king’s eyes. “You…” he started, but instead, began a coughing fit and couldn’t continue.

“Give the man a potion. I want to hear what he has to say,” the king commanded no one in particular.

Edgar went ahead and force fed the duke a healing potion, which started to work almost instantly. The blood falling from his mouth slowed to a trickle, and his coughing fits ceases. The potion wasn’t enough to completely heal the elven commander, but it was more than enough to allow him to communicate without a problem.

“Now, answer my question. Why did you attack us? And why align yourselves with a kingdom like Astrus?” Edwin asked again.

“You… you were weak,” Ryven spat. “Many of your best, including the only strong member of the royal family, it seems, left and weakened your kingdom. You were left with few epic or higher level 250s. It would have been a pity to let that go to waste.”

“And that clearly worked wonders for you,” Derek chimed in. “Did you hear that, Edwin? They didn’t want to waste this advantage.”

“It was an advantage!” Ryven snapped. “If not for that… that…” his eyes landed on Silvi, who was sitting on Derek’s shoulder still. “That damn rabbit and the siren!”

“You’re the one that chased Silvi back to Savannah,” Derek said. “So… it’s your fault. She just wanted to extort… uh… save Edward and receive a reward from Edwin. If you would have left her alone after that, Alanah probably wouldn’t have even interfered. Seems like poor decision making all around, really. I mean, who drops everything just to chase a rabbit?” Derek shook his head. “But still, you didn’t answer the king’s question. Why did you attack in the first place.”

The elven man stared dumbfounded at Derek with his mouth hung wide open. Then, before he came back to, Natalie walked in front of him.

“Look at me!” she half commanded, getting the man’s attention enough so that he turned and met her pale gray eyes.

Derek watched as Natalie did the same witchcraft on Ryven that she had done to Derek when they first met to find out if he was lying about Gerald Torith or not. Just seeing her eyes like that and the skill active again sent shivers down his spine. Soon, she was finished and walked away, shaking her head.

“Pathetic,” she muttered as she sat back down in her seat.

“What is it, Natalie?” Edwin asked. “What did you find out?”

“It’s the same pathetic excuse almost every war begins with. Jealousy of your resources, especially the dungeon here in the capital. Superiority over the other races that are a part of Cydaria. Ease with which they would be able to sway Astrus into helping them, and opportunity—well, apparent opportunity… we all know how that worked out.

“There was nothing special they planned to do,” Natalie continued. “Rule over those of less dominant races and use your dungeon to power level an army of uncommon and rare soldiers. And they knew that if they split Cydaria, it was only a matter of time before they could betray Astrus and control most of the continent, aside from Vallum. They seem to have no plans for the dwarfs.”

“So they threw away all those decades of peace and prosperity for greed,” Edwin sighed and slumped back in his throne a bit. “You’re right, Natalie. It was pathetic.”

“Seems to check all the boxes when it comes to starting a war,” Derek said. “The time-tested excuse of ‘we want what you have.’” Derek shook his head. He really couldn’t say that it was pathetic, as it was one of the most common reasons that a war would be fought, and with a system where might makes right, it was probably the top reason, actually.

“Indeed,” Edgar agreed. “So, father. What do you want to do with the captives?”

“Show me Duke Terrin, please?” Edwin asked Derek.

“Is that his name?” Derek muttered before opening the door to his prison and grabbing the unconscious ice duke before tossing him beside Ryven. “Here you go,” he said, and this time completely closed the Time Prison behind him.

“I’ve given this a lot of thought while you were traveling here,” Edwin said with his hand on his chin. “Indria, I believe we may be able to offer terms to, but Astrus, they are a rabid animal and need to be put down. That much was shown in how easily they were swayed into joining a war.”

“For Duke Ryven, we will keep him alive for now,” the king continued. “As for Duke Terrin, he is of no use. It’s time for a new royal line—time for Astrus to begin anew.”

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