Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

[Arc 16] Ch.2 Hidden Masters

[Sebas]

"The audacity!" Velice hissed behind her fan, and I was certain at that moment I had become her enemy. The soldiers behind the Immortal crown prince also tensed and waited for the order to strike me down.

"Hold." the Immortal said, looking at me curiously. "Do you mean to say that I am wrong about my own position?"

"I only know that there are many aspects of one's life that cannot be grasped in a single meeting, your majesty." I stated.

"Indeed, this great one admits that you have a point and have piqued my curiosity." He summoned a Jian sword from nothing that appeared in a flash of fire and pointed it at me. "You small creature, you are aware that with a flick of my wrist you would die and with a breath I could incinerate you and this caravan in an instant?
Talisa tried to put herself in front of me, but I stopped her by stepping forward until the blade touched the skin of my cheek causing a droplet of blood. "I know enough about dragons to know how powerful you think you are." I dared him with my eyes. "A Monster Hunter always does his research." I smiled wickedly at him revealing only a touch of my inhumane desire to harvest such rare ingredients. Taking a moment to dissociate him as a person, a weird trick I learned when dealing with my inner demons from my traumas.

I flicked the switch inside me only for a second. It was the same switch that let me torture and brutally murder an assassin. The same switch that applied a cold logic to the world and shaded everything in grey, gold, and gore. It wasn't bloodlust exactly, Bloodlust implied that I wanted to kill and slaughter. To extinguish life. it wasn't killing intent for the same reason. It was an appraising gaze, a cold calculation that put your life on a scale and added a value to it. One that broke everything down into pieces and added a price to each part.

A leg, an arm, an eye, a heart, a breath.

A calculation that measured your last heartbeat and if it was worth prolonging it. Calculating the future moments in your life down to the potential of letting you live versus slaying you this moment. For instance, did your future worth exceed the value of some of your parts broken down?

This is not bloodlust, that implies a threat. This was a judgement, cold and deadly.

But like I said it was a flick, on and off again.

Velice took a step back and the dragonguard behind them pointed their weapons at me.

"In-insolence! Guards strike him down for his blasphemy." Velice shouted.

"NO!" Talisa screamed as she tried to pull me away.

"Halt!" the immortal said but his voice carried a weight that brought the dragons to their knees and staggered Velice. He then narrowed his eyes at me appraisingly. "No one has ever dared speak to my greatness like you have. No one has ever estimated this great one as less than the sun as you have. No one has ever lived after sending a chill down this great one's spine as you have. Why? Why do you not kneel before this Mighty one's power? Why do you now cow to this Royal's authority?... you are not a commoner." the immortal's eyes widened and then..."HA HAHAHA." he laughed as his sword disappeared.

"It seems I have been disrespectful to a Hidden master, please forgive the rudeness of these dragon's foolish eyes." he said.

And that was how I became a Hidden master in the eyes of a dragon prince.

Goody.

*

[Julie]

I sat with Minerva, Tiera, and Florence. With Flint AND Nerinin gone something strange had happened. First of all, Tiera was suffering from separation anxiety from Macsen since she was anxious about how to approach him at all. Florence's boyfriend didn't go to this school and was away. Sebas hasn't made much contact with me other than a letter that was delivered to say he would be away for a while. And Minerva was also going through the same thing although she seemed to be a bit of a veteran at getting by in this kind of situation.