CHAPTER 47

  A TRAITOR’S PLEDGE

  In this year’s Glory wars, none from Clandor answered the invitation as guests. Their plate was already full with the fragile stability and civil war situation. Bernard among them was frantically searching for his queen who had disappeared again. This had been going on for quite some time, and his analytical brain was pointing to trouble ahead.

  “Where did she go?” He murmured, but the answer came from someone unexpected.

  “She’s gone to kill your former king’s son. What was his name again? The beginning of something… ah, Hans.” Martys Clandor, the elder brother of Reina and now the second in command of Crows, the shadow family of Clandor, answered.

  “Martys Clandor, you just had to say it, didn’t you?” The elderly-looking woman, with blond hair neatly tied in a bun, reminded. Her wrinkly face was still full of vigour as she infuriatedly scolded her eldest child.

  “Former queen. What did he say?” Bernard asked quickly. He was perspiring, concerned that if it were to happen, none of them could handle the consequences.

  “It is as Martys says, we are getting rid of two thorns from our side—”

  “And you sent Reina to do this job. Have you lost your mind?” Bernard became furious but held it in and heard her reply.

  “This is a nation ruled by matriarchy. I didn’t abdicate my throne to a weak woman. It is Reina’s responsibility to carry out anything necessary for our nation. Even killing that vermin.”

  “And how does killing the last hope of Parv bring benefits?” Bernard was barely holding in. “All I could see is their wrath without any filter—”

  “That is why you couldn’t think ahead of your enemies, Bernard Holger.” The former queen changed her tone, akin to a wise sage. “His death will bring many benefits. The way she planned it will bring us Parv as revenge-driven allies against the Council. We can finally eradicate that cancerous Council society once and for all—”

  “You don’t get it, do you?” Bernard shouted, cutting her off in the middle, but after a while, his tone turned into a concerning one. “You can’t fathom the forces you are messing with. Move!” He shouted again but was quickly stopped by surrounding mages who had already cast several restrictive spells.

  Bernard pleaded, “Let me go. I need to stop her. He will survive; there is no way he’d die this easily, and when that happens, Parv will join the Council and eradicate us all.”

  “It’s even better. I acknowledge the lives lost will be immense with this route since it won’t be a civil but a world war.” She explained. “The moment Parv joins the other side, the reluctant nations will join ours.” Martys, who looked like a spoiled prince, showed his brilliant strategic mind. And this was the scenario he was hoping for to unfold, even if it meant the death of his sister, their queen.

  “But he’ll die.” The former queen emphasised with confidence. “It was Martys who was supposed to go, but she said it was her duty. She chose this, Bernard, so stand down.”

  “No…No…it can’t be.” Bernard’s voice shook, pleading, “He is but an irrelevant child in this game of power. You can’t do this, we will all die if something happens to him. There must remain an imperial alive. His guardian god will butcher us all.”

  “You believe that nonsense.” The former queen quickly rejected his notion, pointing, “It is just a tale to brainwash civilians to fear and respect the ruling bloodline. I thought you were smarter than this, Bernard.”

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  “This isn’t a matter of us living, you dumb idiots.” Bernard was done being polite, his words weren’t getting through the hard skulls of Clandor’s so-called royals. He continued, enraged, “I believe this because I’ve seen her. Few of us had the audacity of demanding to know of our future, and she showed it like a curse. The demise of what we care for most. You all are frogs living in a well.”

  He closed his eyes, collecting all his aura, but the spells stopping him were tightening instead of loosening. “Please, OSIRIS. Please, I beg you. Please lift the restriction.” he pleaded silently, hoping his disconnected god to listen to his plight. However, the augmented window of his ‘birthright’ still showed - INACCESSIBLE.

  “Please, Aadya. Give me a chance to save your Prince. Please —”

  He kept pleading, and after a brief pause, the voice he yearned to hear the most for the guidance spoke. “You’ve been heard.” The authoritative voice ran in his ears, and his augmented window showed several alerts, right after another.

  “Osiris Terminal- online”

  “Reestablishing connection”

  “Restoring user data”

  “User Bernard Holger: connected.”

  “INGRESS” Bernard shouted and disappeared, severing all eighth and ninth circle spells. He had an idea of where Reina could be, but appearing inside the red demon barrier was not possible, so he had no choice but to come to the Clandor royal node. He didn’t wait for any authorisation or check and barged inside the DeadLands.

  “I hope I’m not late.” He sped up towards the general direction of the Council node. As he was progressing, he could feel the tremors and soon he saw the traces of which had killed the flora and fauna alike. “There is no life here—”

  Suddenly he heard a child’s cry—let’s die together. “No.” Bernard shouted his lungs out but the carronade that Hans had shown against the undead Samson resurfaced in close proximity to Hans and Reina. It was truly a suicidal attack.

  Skill: Seven Hells.

  The moment Sunstones converged, suddenly a volcano mouth erupted from the ground and swallowed the colliding energy. Then in quick succession another volcano grew like a plant, eating up the first one. It repeated five more times, finally completing Bernard’s ultimate aura skill.

  But he knew beforehand, his unprepared ultimate was far weaker than the original, which needed quite a time to prepare. He appeared between Reina and Hans like a ghost and gripping Hans tight he swung him far.

  Reina shouted, she was this close, yet Hans was flying further away. “Bernard—Boom!” She couldn’t even finish her words because the seven Hells of Bernard finally exploded, multiplying the strength of Hans’s carronade to several folds.

  He quickly caught almost aura-less Reina and shot himself in the opposite direction with all his might. The explosion chased them for several hundred kilometres. The explosion of this magnitude was sure to attract the attention from both red demons and Council Node people. So he ran farther, exhausting his healing potions on lifeless Reina.

  Several hours later. The night had graced the world with her presence but inside the barrier the only change was the moon high in the sky. It was still as bright as day. “You’ve woken.” Bernard asked Reina, if it wasn’t her serious condition, he’d have at least gotten furious at her.

  He remained calm as she remained silent. But after a while, she murmured, “He was really planning to die with me?”

  “Yeah. He is a nutcase like his father and you…I thought you were smarter, Queen Reina. I told you to stay away from Parv’s business. Chris serving him was supposed to be a bridge between both nations. I can’t begin to express how furious I’m now—”

  “The fate is correcting its path, Bernard. I wanted to know if it was still possible to avert the inevitable—”

  “You already did it.” Bernard shook her by the shoulders, stressing further, “You succeeded once. Your husband, who shouldn’t be alive, is alive; your children, who shouldn’t exist, but they do. You have changed the fate while everyone else who tried is dead. So stop ruining the lives of people who were devoid of the things that helped you preserve Eleanor’s life.”

  She was lifeless, yet she said, “You still blame me for Samson’s death, even after you know what he did to me—”

  “It was you who didn’t honour our deal. I never wanted him dead. You promised me his life. I still regret taking your hand in that tower—”

  “You came to me, Bernard Holger, on your own. You freed me on your own. You wanted to change your son’s death. You averted his fate too, so don’t ever say you regret joining my side.”

  “That’s why I still stand by you. But if you ever, and I’m emphasising, ‘Ever’ touch a hair on the child’s head, I’ll show you what it’s like to be betrayed.”