Rise of Legends - DISCONTINUED

Elenoir

His tone was gentle but implied that there wasn't really an option, so we both nodded in consent. As I was about to follow behind them, Tessia came to me and grabbed my hand again, filling the surrounding people with expressions of shock. I couldn't help but chuckle uncomfortably as I scratched the side of my head, unable to muster up the appropriate words for a situation like this.

After a strenuously awkward ride that seemed a lot longer than it actually had been, we arrived at the castle. Rather than a castle, however, it looked to be an enormous tree. This tree, that probably needed at least a few hundred people locking arms to encircle it, was made of a white stone that, I could only guess, had gone through a petrification process somehow.

Stepping through the front doors of the tree, I was pleasantly surprised to see how impressive the interior of this castle was. There were two curved staircases that created a circle, with a gigantic chandelier floating in the middle of it. This chandelier seemed to be made of the same orbs of light that were dotted throughout the city.

I had told the King and Queen that it wasn't necessary for us to rest and would rather tell them as soon as we arrived, so that's what we did.

Not even washing up, the welcoming crew was all situated around the rectangular dining table downstairs. Tessia's father was on the far end of the table with me directly opposite of him. Tessia's mother sat perpendicular to her husband, with Tessia seated right next to her. The grandpa was sitting across from the mother and daughter while Alistair was sitting next to me, leaving a pretty big gap between us, while the five guards stood off to the side behind the King.

With both his elbows resting on the table, fingers intertwined, the King was the first to speak. "Child. What did you say your name was?"

"Forgive me for the late introduction. My name is Arthur Leywin, and I come from a remote town in the Kingdom of Sapin. My companion here is Alistair.A pleasure to make your acquaintance King, Queen, Elder, and gentlemen." I stood up and bowed slightly while Alistair followed my actions perfectly.

Discussion wasn't going to progress if they were going to treat me like a child.

Both the King and Queen and the guards in the back showed evident looks of surprise from my mature behavior, while even the grandpa had an amused smirk on his face; Tessia giving me a shy smile.

Regaining composure, the King continued on. "It seems you are much more mature than your age. Forgive me for assuming. My name is Alduin Eralith and this is my wife, Merial Eralith and my father Virion Eralith. As for what happened, please tell us. We would like to hear your side of this."

Waving off the apology, I began telling the story. I made sure to be very vague in telling them how I got inside the Forest of Elshire in the first place; I simply told them I had gotten separated from my family after running into bandits, only managing to survive out of luck.

Inevitably, I had to tell them I was a mage. This was followed by another wave of looks of utter disbelief from everyone, including Tessia. Because of the lack of obstacles we ran into on our journey back, I never really had the need to use mana so I didn't bother explaining. 

I quickly moved on, telling them how I had spotted a carriage and observed them carrying a tied up child into the back of a carriage before going off.

At this, the King slammed both of his hands on the table, his eyes narrowing into a menacing glare.

"I should've known it was humans..."

I corrected his mildly racist comment and said, "They were slave traders. Them and bandits alike prey on, not just elves, but humans as well, speaking as a victim myself."