Loy dodged out of the way as a searing stream of light magic split past his ear and then rolled to the side as dark magic rushed the other side of him. Five practitioners surrounded him and his notorious grin stretched across his cheek as sweat leaked into his eyes. It was that smile that made people first start calling him a psychopath. He wore it before or during a fight and it terrified his opponents. What was most off-putting was that his smile didn't falter even when he was the one in immense pain, and that was where his greatest strength lay. Devane had taught Loy that the winning opponent wasn't the one who avoided or inflicted the most pain, but the one who could best withstand it, but Loy adjusted that advice into his own, enjoy the pain and you'll always be ahead.
Another shot went right for the prince's heart, but his ball and chain blocked it. "Truly you all can do better than this!" Loy exclaimed to the practitioners discharging random attacks of magic at him from all angles. He managed to find five willing to fight him by promising if one of them managed to land a single hit he'd grant them all a lordship and a castle. It really heightened their enthusiasm, though none of them had come close to striking him yet. "I mean truly if you're the best our country can produce then our only hope left is me."
One of the more talented practitioners hurled a surge of light magic at the conceited prince.
"A bit better," Loy granted, as the magic nearly singed his hair. "But not even close." He stepped forward to retaliate but was stopped by Devane's entrance into the quad.
"Are you here to tell me it's time I prepare for the party?" Loy asked, noticing the sun close to setting, which meant the guests were already arriving.
"Yes," Devane answered and in a lower voice added. "You've also still neglected to interrogate the Emorain. And it's been a week of that man lurking around when we still don't have any clear understanding of his motives."
"You sound so paranoid and inhospitable," Loy replied as he let the ball loosely swing back and forth. "I welcomed him as a guest, remember?"
"There is no time to play host when we need to prepare for war." Devane stepped out of the way of Loy's challengers and signaled for them to continue.
His opponents jumped at the opening, bombarding him all at once.
Their multi-colored streams of energy collided in the middle as a massive void of light formed from all the dark magic used at once. Devane averted his gaze as the drastic darkness put a strain on his eyes. By the time he looked back, Loy was completely fine but his opponents were laid flat on their backs in various stages of injury.
"See what you make me do when you get in the way of my fun," Loy said, returning his weapon to its necklace form while making his way to one of the nearby fountains to run water over his face.
"You want to see what your negligence made me do?" Devane dryly returned.
Loy turned to his advisor so fast in his alarm water splattered from his hair, "Do I?"
Devane simply replied by striding away. Loy followed, wondering to what extent of damage had Devane already committed against their guest, though Loy was aware of his infamous war years and knew his damage had no bounds.
~~~~~
Jared had been going over rows of text in the library to convert the oldest books into common translations. He had found a few accounts from people in Etilia of the last good king's visits, where he would go, and where it was said he'd be heading next, but over a course of forty years, it was constantly changing. All that stayed consistent was how inconsistent he seemed to be. Jared marked every location where it was stated King Leviathan traveled too. There was no mention of him ever leaving the content and Jared believed it as he never seemed to travel a certain distance away from one central point. He just couldn't figure out where that point was.
Jared took a break when his eyesight started to falter. He walked around the castle and tried to envision where the king would be, what he would do, and think about. He came eventually to a balcony that overlooked the sea of Etilia's coast. Ships were constantly sailing by and Jared started to think any random crewmate might have more knowledge on the whereabouts of the last good king's diary than all the books in the world.
"Looking for something?" Devane asked, coming up from behind Jared.
Jared almost jumped out of his skin. He had been so quiet in his approach he hadn't even noticed the presence of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall man. "Bathroom." Jared lied, learning after the few exchanges he had with the advisor that you gave him an answer when he asked, even if it wasn't truthful.
Devane detected the lie and his mood declined. "Allow me to show you where it is." He ordered, beginning a walk down the hall.
With no choice, Jared followed. He knew the advisor distrusted him by how he sometimes came into the library questioning what it was Jared was doing but no lie he gave ever satisfied the man. The prince seemed to care a lot less since Jared hadn't seen Loy since the dinner on his first night though he did see Selice when she would visit him out of curiosity or in hiding. She said Loy was fickle and probably too caught up in one thing or another to remember he even invited a guest to stay here. It only served Jared though, as he got to explore the castle freely, apart from Devane, who now waited outside an open door for Jared to enter. He nodded his thanks as he went it.
The door slammed shut behind him as he walked into a pitch-dark room. Jared's eyes had just started to adjust when he was knocked unconscious.
~~~~~
Jared awoke strapped to a chair with his hands tied behind his back as Devane and Loy argued in front of him.
"I told you he was a guest!" Loy said.
"Not an honest one," Devane replied but stared at Jared who was just beginning to stir.
"What are you looking for?" Devane asked as soon as Jared looked to have enough sense about himself to answer.
"King Leviathan's diary," Jared said weakly, fully waking up when his immediate honesty shocked him sober. He felt a tightness against his throat and knew around his neck must be a truth stone embedded into a chocker.
"Why?" Devane requested, stepping closer to Jared. "Does it have something to do with that boy you Emorians are all so boastful about?"
"Algernon Black?" Loy asked, for the first time looking interested in the integration. "Do you know him?"
"I know of him." Jares stated but had to grit his teeth to keep himself from spilling more, as the stone pushed him too. "But I'm not here for him. I'm only interested in the information in the king's diary."
"What kind of information?" Devane pressed, getting impatient at the vagueness.
But Jared was smart enough to get around the stone's magic and question. "The one found in the king's diary."
"You're clever," Devane's eyes slanted into two small slits as he bowed closer to Jared. "You want to see how far your cleverness will get you once you've pushed my patience too far?" He threatened and though he held no weapon besides the one formed in his voice and eyes, it was more intimidating than just about anything Jared had ever faced.
Loy set a hand over his advisor's shoulders to call him off. Devane let him but his menace didn't stray far.
"You're not a friend of Selice," Loy declared.
Jared shook his head no.
"But Selice trusts you?"
Jared nodded, as far as he could tell she did. She would come to the library once in a while to check on him. He kept reassuring her he wasn't going to tell anyone her secret and she thanked him for it. She often came back to help him with finding a book or to bring him some food, saying she was doing it to escape Loy, but Jared appreciated the company, nonetheless.
Loy rested his chin between his fingers. "Selice is a good judge of character."
"That's why she doesn't like you," Devane added.
Loy released a snort of laughter through his nose. "Well, how would she know what's good without a bad example to compare too?" The prince sounded very proud of himself and Devane rolled his eyes.
Jared remained quiet, but like he suspected they both knew of the identity Selice hid. He just wondered why they kept her secret from everyone, and most of all her.
"But no matter how poor of a character I am, this is not how I conduct myself," Loy said as he cut the restraints from Jared's arm. "I believe in free will, and that includes our choice to share our thoughts or not."
Jared rubbed at his wrists. It was just rope that he could have easily broken with his magic, but it was not the restraints that kept him from leaving but the men looming over him.
"I'm sorry that my advisor acted on his own," Loy said, though naturally unable to sound apologetic even at his best of attempts. "If you want you can leave our country and no one will stop you, or you can remain here," Loy added. "But if you stay, it will be as my friend." A sudden shiver went up Jared's back at the way he had voiced friend like it was a threat. "And if you do anything to compromise that friendship, you'll wish you would have been my enemy. Because my enemies can't betray me, and betrayal is something I have no mercy for." Loy drew closer to Jared and the same weapon in Devane's voice bore in his. "Not from my friends."
Jared swallowed as he glanced between the two. There was no way they were related, Devane with his dark skin and harsh features, and Loy with his tanned golden skin and wide upturned eyes, but they had the same auras as if he was facing off against two mountain lions keen to kill.
"Wait," Jared called out as Loy turned to leave. "I want to tell you this now while you know I can only speak the truth."
The lions looked at him, waiting for more.
"I mean no harm to you or anyone in this country," Jared said as the words came out effortlessly with the truth stone. "I'm looking for something that could help me save the person I care about most in this world."
"Who?" Devane asked.
"My sister."
Loy and Devane looked more interested than ever. "She is kind-hearted and innocent, and she has enemies everywhere. Ones she doesn't even know she has." Jared's hand clenched in anger around his wrist as he thought of a few specific people. "All she has is me, and I'll never be strong enough to protect her from all those that would hurt her."
"Not without the diary," Loy added. "And the godly power that is said to be found in it."
"I'm not looking for power," Jared said as he trained his eyes on the prince, holding steady his gaze. "I'm looking to stop it."
Loy kept his stare for a moment longer before a sideways smile broke out across his face. "It seems we share the same goal then. Though we have very different ways of going about it."
Devane examined Jared and didn't need the stone to see how serious he was. And that nearly confused him as the advisor couldn't recall the last time, he had met a man, not after power, not one other than himself.
"I think you're a fool to pursue such an old legend that's as baseless as the fairy tales parents tell their children," Loy said. "But no one here will stop you."
Jared nodded his gratitude to the prince who made for the exit again.
"Oh, but one thing," Loy said, spinning back around to Jared. "Has Selice been hiding from me in the library?"
Jared pressed his lips together as he promised Selice he wouldn't say anything, but Loy saw the answer in how hard he had to try to keep it in.
"When will she learn she can't hide from me?" Loy said, smiling to himself as he made plans to stop by the library later tonight.
"I thought you believed in free will." The advisor said to the prince. "You lose your morals so quickly when it comes to Selice."
Loy shrugged his shoulders. "They weren't that high to begin with."
"If you put a third of the time and effort you put into tormenting Selice, world peace would already be here."
"Peace?" Loy laughed. "What fun is peace from the world or a woman?"
Devane sighed as he relented, knowing any attempt of countering Loy's childish mindset would fall on deaf perverted ears. "Before you make any more plans to harass her, make an appearance at court." The advisor demanded.
"Sure," Loy spoke absentmindedly as his mind focused only on his latest ideas of subtle torture.
Devane lingered in the room with his hands clasped behind his back. "I still don't trust you." He declared once Loy was gone.
"You tied me up against my will and put a truth stone to my neck," Jared replied. "I don't trust you."
Devane suppressed a smile. The man was savvier than most and quite a bit more entertaining.
"Is your sister at Attwood?" Devane asked.
Jared bit down on his lip. He didn't want to admit it to himself but the look of pain that fell upon his face gave it away.
"Then she really is in danger," Devane added, recalling all the times he had visited as an ambassador for Etilia. "Everyone at that school prides themselves on acting as if they abided by righteous and selfless morals while creating a system of oppression that only benefits the small percent in power. And those hypocrites in charge do everything and anything for power." And Devane knew that curriculum was passed down to the students where they were pitted against one another. It made Devane wonder what kind of constitution Jared had to be amongst them and not become a self-obsessed power-hungry hypocrite himself. "They tried to send Loy there when he was of age, but I wasn't going to let that happen."
"Lucky for you and him, you didn't have to," Jared lamented, running a hand through his hair.
Devane noticed the stress in Jared's strained voice. It didn't take any magic to know he truly was looking to protect his sister and leaving her at Attwood was killing him. Though at least Jared had one comfort to hold onto, knowing his friend was watching over her.