The Monarch

Chapter 16

"Yes?" I asked, confused by the sudden voice. I turned my head to the source of the sound, then sat in surprise as I saw a small girl about my age. She was thin and short, with white hair and pale skin. However, her eyes were a beautiful bright purple, like no other color I had ever seen. Now that I was looking harder, she looked amazingly beautiful.

"Hi," She said, then walked over to me. She brought out a small map to show me, "I'm looking for the ranger's guild. Do you know where that is?"

"The rangers guild?" I asked. Then, I noticed her necklace. It was a rangers guild necklace, but it looked strangely different.

"Yes," She said as she showed me the necklace. Now that she showed me, I saw the golden imprint 'A' on the surface, "I hail from another city, but it seems the King has summoned all rangers here. However, I got lost. I see you're a ranger yourself! Do you think you can show me the way?"

I looked down to my own 'D' ranked necklace. I chuckled a bit. That needed to be replaced.

"Sure," I said, then pointed down the road, "It's this way."

"Thanks!" She cheered, following me closely, "So how long have you been a ranger?"

"About six months now. What about you?" I asked. The girl smiled, looking proud of herself.

"Three years!" She laughed, "Since I was fourteen, at least. My dad trained me to be a ranger since I was young. It runs in the family, you know? So I see you're a D-ranked ranger! That's impressive for sixth months in. The superiors hardly noticed my existence until I was a year in. If you want any tips, feel free to ask!"

"If I need them?"

"And don't be afraid to ask for help! I know things can get hard as a D-Ranked ranger, but things will look up! I promise!"

"Sure," I laughed.

The girl's face dropped as the clerk handed me my brand new platinum necklace. As I picked it up, I saw the 'S' rank engraved on the edge. I gave the clerk my old D-Ranked necklace. As I returned to the girl, she continued to have a look of utter surprise.

"Since when have you been S Rank? Have you been lying to me?" She asked me.

"I've known you for five minutes," I laughed. Then, I sat down at a table and quickly summoned a waiter. The girl sat down opposite of me as she wore an angry expression.

"Here I thought I was the superior one! Now I've made a fool of myself! God, this is so embarrassing!" She whimpered.

"Don't worry about it," I laughed. Something about this girl refused to let me frown, "I would've done the same."

"Ohhh," She sighed. Then, she saw the waiter come to our table. Almost instantly, her face was full of excitement. She was the first to order as she shot her hand into the sky and proudly announced her order to the waiter. I followed suit as I ordered at a much quieter tone.

"So, what's your name?" I asked.

"Evelyn," She said, "It's a weird name, I know. But it's what I go by."

She looked embarrassed. I chuckled once more before I extended my hand toward her.

"Nice to meet you, Evelyn. My name is William," Evelyn looked at my hand with a gentle expression before shaking it herself. Then, we started to talk. We talked about various things for what seemed like an eternity. When the waiter brought us our food, a billion years later, we didn't notice.

When night had finally struck and our food was cold, she asked me a question.

"I haven't seen your face yet," She pointed to my hood and mask, "Just your green eyes. What do you look like under there?"

"That's a sensitive subject," I smiled as I gripped my cloak tightly. Evelyn looked scared for a moment, as if she was worried. I looked around a bit, then confirmed that there was nobody around but us.

Then, I slowly removed my hood and mask. Evelyn gasped as she saw my face.

"A d-druid?" She gasped, covering her mouth. I sighed as I slipped the hood back on. A feeling of regret washed over me, and for the first time that night, I frowned. As Evelyn noticed this, she quickly reached out and took my own hands. She must've felt the roots underneath, for she froze for a moment, "Take your hood back off. I want to see your face."

I stared into her eyes for a moment, surprised. I did as she said as I was lost in her eyes once more.

When the King summoned all of the kingdom's soldiers into one place, he held a massive strategy meeting that was displayed toward the entire kingdom. It was more of a propaganda speech to make him look cooler.

He held his speech from atop of a giant balcony that overlooked the entire city. All of the people that attended the war meeting just two weeks prior were behind him, including me. Several magicians started to broadcast his voice throughout the city so even the sewer rats could hear him.

"My dear subjects! My name is Arthur III. I am your King and protector, and now it is my duty to begin to talk to each of you about something that has been on your minds for weeks now. A threat has arrived from our southern backyard. It has destroyed our fields and crops and now threatens to destroy our capital city. But do not fear, for I have brought the kingdom's strongest warriors to combat this threat. Under their efforts and my own leadership, we will protect this great kingdom! We will travel south and confront this disease and put a stop to it! We will not lose!"

The King seemed to erupt the entire city in cheers. Even from the balcony, I could hear the roar of emotions from under us.

"We will depart soon! Show your dedication as we show ours!"

Even as we left, the crowds continued to cheer for us. Some threw flowers as if they were expecting our demise. The military, including the nation's rangers, rode on horseback from the barracks in the center of the city to the outer gates. The King led in the front with a massive unit of bodyguards, followed by all the nation's rangers in rank order.

As we rode out of the city, I was able to turn around and spot Evelyn a few rows back. However, Rose wasn't seen anywhere. Maybe the guild didn't promote her when they promoted me?

Snow was also with Rose. It seemed, over the past few weeks, that the two had grown incredibly close. Maybe it was because they were both females, and I seemed to always be busy with other things. By the time the army was safely on route to their destination, and the front city gates had closed, rose and Snow were nowhere to be seen.

With preparations for fighting the soon-to-come war were finalizing, Arthur introduced me to a few of his top scholars. While I had met a few of his scholars before, the group in front of me now was known for their achievements. The group had four scholars included among the ranks, each of them just as intelligent as the next.

Previously, I had only met other, less-known scholars from within the cities limits. Now that we were out of the city, we had the freedom to test through different experiments.

The new scholars did the same things the previous scholars did, such as measuring my giant form and trying to figure out how I was able to create it. However, after these scholars finished with that stage of testing, they urged me to use the different powers in front of them. They had me do new and interesting things, things that tested my root's durability and strength.

During this time, I started to experiment with my own abilities. I tested these out with various scenarios, all of which put me in some form of danger. Within a few weeks, I learned how to regrow limbs, control smaller trees, and even grow extra limbs. Although, it was pretty difficult to control limbs the normal human body didn't usually have.

Whenever the scholars were busy in the tents, Arthur had me train with the rest of the soldiers. Our force was massive, with more soldiers than Arthur could've personally trained. However, he made a point to train me personally.

"We can never be guaranteed that your powers can always have your back," he would say during our training sessions, "You must train your main body as well to defend yourself. Indoors, in caves, even in anti-magic areas. You can't turn into a giant in any of those situations, you understand?"

"Yes, your majesty," I said, leaning against my wooden sword. I was skilled at swordsmanship. I had always known that and had proved it several times. However, the King seemed levels above me. He moved at speeds that were unmistakenly superhuman, even from my perspective. He was also a good teacher and a great mentor. He also taught Evelyn once he noticed how close I had gotten to her.

She was skilled as well, but her expertise was with long-ranged bows. The King was skilled with a sword and shield but still found ways for her to practice her own skills. Whenever he was able to find a field of tall grass, he would sneak in around the grass, hidden from Evelyn's sight. Her goal would be to always shoot him, or more specifically, his shield, before he managed to sneak around her.

She almost always lost. The King's body conditioning training was also intense, but my enhanced powers made his exercises seem like child's play. Thus, I was seen every day carrying around literal boulders to make up for that difference in power. Because strength wouldn't be Evelyn's main concern, she focused more on stealth and steady breathing.

During my free time, I had fun with Evelyn. She had come on the trip with the rest of the soldiers and rangers, contrary to Snow and rose. The more time that I spent with the girl, the more I ended up liking her. By the time the army had reached the southern portion of the country, I felt like I had known her for years.

However, as the days dragged on, a nagging feeling started to arise from within me. Maybe it was because none of my other party members were here. Constantin was missing, Josh was dead, and Rose was probably back in the city with Snow.

Evelyn must've noticed, as she tried to help me cheer up on more than one occasion. One day she had the kitchen staff make me a wonderful breakfast that tasted god-tier. Another day we spent the entire day on a giant walk around the camp, just talking to each other.

Several more weeks passed, and the nagging feeling never went away. The army split into several parts, with some portions going to the front lines to fight Amadeus's woodland curse, as the soldiers were now calling it. I remained with the main army as an excuse to allow me more training time. Arthur was treating me as his trump card, but he held me in close proximity because of it.

Whenever I wasn't training, talking to scholars, or chatting with Evelyn, I was sneaking into the forest. The scholars wouldn't like me doing this, mainly because half of them didn't trust me. However, I had already made it a habit to walk into the forest every night to allow my powers the experimentation the scholars didn't allow.

Of course, I never went into giant form when in the forest. That wasn't exactly smart. However, I did try to connect with nature as well as I could. Sometimes, I would sit down near a random tree and rest against its trunk.

One night, when I chose a particularly large tree, a voice echoed in my head.

"Enjoying ourselves, aren't we?" Bal's voice echoed through the forest, startling me up. I rubbed my eyes, then frantically turned in all directions, searching for a source, "Don't bother looking, I'm not actually there."

"What do you want?" I asked. Bal started to chuckle, much like an evil god.

"No need to treat me so distastefully," Bal said, "I am your patron god, after all. Show a little bit of respect, manchild."

"You created a monster out of me," I yelled, rage beginning to boil from within me. Bal laughed a little more.

"All I did was give you the power you needed," Bal said, "I'm sure one of these days you'll eventually thank me for it. Besides, I'm not influencing you on how much power you choose to use. Your appearance is entirely because of your actions."

I could hear bal shrugging.

"Now," Bal's voice continued, "Onto the business at hand. Listen, kid, I've been very disappointed with your progress. Not only have you broken the max limit several times and thus suffered the consequences through your physical enhancements, but you haven't discovered nearly as much about your abilities as I intended."

"What do you mean?" I asked, intrigued. Bal chuckled.

"I knew you would be interested," Bal smiled, "I'm sure you'll put this information to good use. Now, in order for you to unlock your full potential, you must meet certain criteria."

"Criteria?" I echoed. Bal nodded, or at least, I think he did.

"Yes, Criteria," Bal said, "The Criteria is the same as the Druids those humans fear so much. You have the same magic, you see. So do the elves in Ithilia. The only difference is that the Druids aren't afraid to get dirty for power. The elves are weak. You are not, yes?"

"Get dirty?" I echoed, chills flowing down my spine, "By that, do you mean evil deeds? Like killing somebody?"

"Wow, you catch on fast," Bal said, "No wonder your body accepted my blessing so fast,"

"But I thought the elves and druids used different sources of power," I asked. Bal shook his head.

"Of course they don't. Both races were born from the earth, my earth. However, the elves don't use their magic, so even they have forgotten where exactly they come from," Bal said, "You must side with the druids to unlock your true potential. Go now, and cause havoc. The more you antagonize the humans that plague the earth, the more the earth will respond with gifts."

"Antagonize," I muttered, then looked up, "No."

"No?"

"No," I nodded, determined, "I will not become evil for power. I'm not that type of person."

"I see," Bal said after a long pause, "Well then, I guess you'll have to gain your power the hard way, won't you? Kid, I'll warn you. If you really want to follow this path of pacifism, you'll be met with incredibly difficult choices. Your body will break down and become one with the earth in 

the end, and in the most terrible way."

"One with the earth?" I asked. Before Bal explained what he meant, I interrupted and continued on, "No. I'll stick with my decision."

Bal paused again, "All right," He said after the long silence had finished, "I'll be watching."

When I returned back to camp, chills down my spine, I first went to my camp. I looked in the sky as I walked there, disturbed by Bal's message. Was the only way to get stronger to become evil? Was that it? Otherwise, would my body be destroyed? I looked at my hands, specifically at the roots that had already covered my green skin. I sighed, realizing Bal was completely honest.My body would be destroyed, eventually, even though I didn't know when 'eventually' was. It saddened me.

When I looked back down, I found myself already in front of my bed.