Birth of the Legendary Battle Mage

Accident

‘Something’s wrong, I can’t use my magic,’ after processing the situation for a split second, Julius turned to face king Bael who to his surprise acted normal as if nothing was happening. ‘No, it can’t be king Bael, besides I made adequate preparations before responding to his summon. It couldn’t have been the food or drinks either since I didn’t eat anything.’

At this moment, they were already close to their destination and could see it from above.

“King Bael, are you sure this is the right place? Ordinary people won’t be able to get close to the River of Ends, so how could they have noticed anything.”

King Bael hadn’t informed Julius of the location, just that it was outside the kingdom, knowing fully well that Julius would be unable to escape once the poison took effect.

The River of Ends is an ever flowing body of water that is rumoured to have no start and no end. No one dares to enter the large water body as once one enters, it is difficult to return to land, and so the victim is left to flow for eternity. Although this is what is known about the river, nobody has tested it and there is no proof. The legend has been passed down from the days of old up until present.

The River of Ends has a particular power that allows only mages or anyone with a certain level of mana to come close to it, normal people or people with a low mana pool are unable to go within a 1000meter radius. The closer you get to the river the higher your mana pool has to be, and the stronger the mana beasts in the vicinity become.

“Ahh, how do you feel Julius? You should be unable to use your magic now. Guards return to the castle I’ll be back shortly.” The guards did as they were told without any hesitation.

“I knew something like this would happen eventually, but I always thought of you to be different from the others. Or maybe I was wrong.”

“I am different, there are other reasons for this.” The king had a way of speaking that made him sound more kingly. He would put intonations or stress certain words that would otherwise be spoken normally.

As the conversation continued, Julius knew he wouldn’t be returning alive or dead, he’ll probably be dropped in some secluded place of this forest. What he wished to know was how the king was able to bypass his defences.

“So, how did you do it? I took good measures to make sure something like won’t happen. How was it possible?” Julius asked with a calm voice.

“You are truly impressive, even when faced with such predicament you still manage to remain calm.”

“Just answer my question.”

“You do know of Uruak, don’t you?” As soon as the king mentioned that name, Julius realized there was nothing he could have done to stop the poison. Uruak was among the four survivors from of the incident 200years ago, and after all he is the king of medicine. Although Uruak was known for his impossible feats in medicine, one must understand that for an antidote or cure to a sickness to be developed, there has to countless experiments. Because of this , Uruak had spent more time working with poison than he did medicine.

“I have tried to put you down countless times with poison, not because I am one who prefers under handed methods, but because you are simply that strong. Even though I am a Demi god class mage, am afraid I still won’t be able to take you down in an all out battle.” The king continued, showing no noticeable emotion as he spoke.

“So am guessing the poison was a colourless and odourless gas that’s strong enough to evade my spells and potion. Smart, real smart.”

“You catch on fast. I shall commend you for being able to think rationally in this situation. You are not a bad man Julius, but I had to do it for my son.”

“Your, son?” Hearing this, he finally understood the king’s perspective. “I see.”

Shortly after Julius was hit with what felt like a huge hand pressing him down from above, which forced him upon his back, they had entered the area where the River of Ends was. The more they went in, the more he could feel his consciousness fading, and before he could speak his last words, he passed out.

A normal who has no magic would die if they got too close to the mysterious river, and right now Julius could be considered one since he’s mana core was damaged. On reaching a few hundred meters above the river, that was covered with thick fog, the king readied to drop Julius into the river as he himself didn’t dare descend to close to this fog.

Taking one last look at Julius who at this moment had stopped breathing, the king shook his head in disappointment at the circumstances which they found themselves. With no hesitation, the he pushed Julius off the flying artefact and waited for a while as he watched the lifeless body fall into the thick fog. After standing a couple hundred feet above the fog for some minutes, the king turned around to face the direction of his kingdom. “Alright, I should return. The guards from earlier must be taken care of, there should be no witness.”

As the king spoke, the large sword beneath him turned its blunted tip to face the direction of the kingdom while slowly accelerating in that direction. After a while of cutting through the wind on a giant sword, the king reached distance where he could clearly see the outer walls of the kingdom’s main city where the palace was.

“Lord.” A soft voiced braced the ears of the king as he turned slightly to his side to look at Ashia who had boarded the flying sword. With a curious look in his eyes, the king spoke with a calm and deep voice.

“ahh, it’s you Ashia. How long have you been here?”