I was in shock. Truly, I could not understand how my friend went from flesh to bone in such a short amount of time.

  "Khallar is now our master. Whether you like it or not, this is our life now."

  "But we're friends. Surely you can help me out here. I'm sure my grandpa will reward you handsomely too."

  hmph

  "Friends? Last I heard, you didn't even bother searching for your missing 'friend'. You were too busy partying at the beach. I don't even know why you would go on vacation right before your examination, though I wouldn't expect much from you."

  "You LOW-BORN should be happy that I even considered you a friend! That someone of my calibre would even allow you to breathe the same air as me."

  "And that is exactly why you have no friends. Why nobody like you."

  knock knock

  A gentle knock came from my chamber's door. Dorn, the ungrateful low-born that he is, made his way to my closet room. No doubt to hide his ugly, featureless mug from whoever came to my rescue.

  "Enter!" I commanded, my voice still my own.

  The handle quickly twisted, and a beautiful maiden walked in, shutting the door behind her as if she was afraid to let others see her inside my chambers.

  "My lord, I have been told to give you this by the king." She then handed me a palm-sized, black stone. It was oval in shape, with the top and bottom being quite sharp, while the rest of it contained many smooth sides.

  "A mana stone? I thought I'd have to wait until tomorrow."

  "The king has specifically requested that you do not mention this to anyone else. I shall instruct you on the basics of using it."

  "Perfect!" With my superior bloodline, I would no doubt be able to destroy Khallar and wipe my shoe on his face once I awaken my magical abilities. And here I was worrying about how to deal with that 'master'.

  So I quickly grabbed the stone from her hands. It shot into my chest as soon as it came in contact with my skin, whereupon it slowly sank through my clothes and into my flesh, leaving a hole in my beautiful silk robes.

  "Great. Now I need new robes." It wouldn't do for a royal to be seen in damaged garments. "Jennifer, get me a new robe."

  "Sire, I must first advise that you focus on trying to absorb mana into your chest. And then we must go through the process of pinpointing the exact position of your core, and you see, I cannot instruct you if I am not present here."

  Commoners. Always afraid of going against the king. Even if slightly.

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  "Just grab one from my closet. I'll wait."

  She seemed slightly hesitant, but she complied. Good. This is how low-borns should act. Not like that Dorn fellow-

  "AHhhh!" she screamed and ran away, ran all the way behind me. My chambers were quite big, yet she made it across from one side to the other in only a few short breaths.

  A skeleton emerged from my closet soon after, wearing my royal robes.

  "Put that back, those are for royalty!"

  smack

  I got slapped. My cheeks were burning with anger, but when I looked to my right, all I saw was my own hand, waving at me.

  "You seem to have forgotten your position." he then flashed me a smile with his skull, I don't really know how that's possible. "Grab the girl."

  My left hand quickly shot behind me, grabbing Jennifer by the throat. I was slightly surprised to see her there, with a hand (that happened to be my own) squeezing around her throat.

  "Sorry, my lord, but I was really surprised to see a skeleton in the material plane."

  "Huh?" Shouldn't she be, y'know, choking? How's she able to just talk?

  "Oh lost soul, why have you come to haunt his highness?" she didn't seem to be scared anymore, at least.

  "I'm not lost. I'm here to-"

  "Jennifer, he's a traitor committing treason against the royal family! Quickly, get the guards!"

  "No need my lord. I shall free him and his soul, so that he may rest in peace."

  What's a commoner gonna do against a skeleton? "I don't think that would be a good idea. Just get the guards, they'll sort this out."

  She pointed her index finger at Dorn, totally ignoring me. An eerie, white laser shot out of her finger and hit him square in the chest. He crumbled into a pile of bones right after. Now my robes are dusty.

  "Could you unhand my throat now, sire?"

  I could, indeed, do that now. Whatever magic compelled me to do those things against my will was no longer there. "Sorry about your throat."

  "Worry not my lord. Your noodle arms did me no harm."

  "You-y- ahhh... You saved my life, so I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

  "My lord, let us get back to your training."

  "Well, alright. So, I need to absorb mana in my chest and stuff. But what's the point?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "If I have you around, then I don't need magic. Come, help me deal with the traitors."

  "But sire, the king has instructed me-"

  "I am of royal blood. Part of the Vyrian royal family. First heir to all of mankind! I will not let some stinky commoner puppeteer me."

  "But sire-"

  I had no time for her bullshit.

  I quickly went to Dorn, whereupon I took my robes back and put them next to the closet. 'The maid can clean that later.' Quickly changing into some nicer, non-destroyed fabrics, I started making my way out of the chamber.

  I also kicked the pile of bones on my way out of the room. Jennifer didn't seem too happy about that, but the bastard deserved it.

  "Let's go." I opened the chamber doors, dragging her out by the hand, and made my way to where I last spotted that traitor Khallar.