The Monarch

Chapter 14

"Your majesty," Alistair stated as he kneeled to his King, "I've received a report from a ranger south of us that may greatly interest your attention."

"Hoh?" The King, Arthur III, chuckled. The King was a very respectable man. He was tall, had dark brown hair and bright green eyes. Arthur was known for his past military triumphs over the last few decades in his goal to expand his kingdom's territories. He wasn't afraid of much because of his years as a warrior. Instead, he reacted to tense situations with amusement, "Speak, Alistair."

"Yes, your majesty," Alistair nodded, still kneeled before his King, "Just a week ago, the ranger known as William Vercotti returned to the capital from his assignment. He returned early due to a magical threat that originated in his location. He, unfortunately, lost two of his companions, one due to petrification, and the other went missing."

"Tell me more about this magical threat," Arthur inquired. Alistair nodded before continuing.

"As you command," Alistair said, "I've sent scouts to the region in the last few days and have confirmed a curse that has befallen the local forests. While the progress is slow, it's sure to spread across the country if left unchecked. While the scouts reported that the curse is harmless against humans, it has proved more than capable of turning the forest's flora against us. The scouts spotted several hostile woodland giants as they left the area."

Arthur's brow furrowed as the giants were mentioned in the room. Several of Arthur's court also showed concern.

"Tell me about this ranger," Arthur directed, "What was his name?"

"William Vercotti, your majesty," Alistair replied.

The King chuckled for a moment. He recognized the boy's last name.

"Bring him to me," The King said.

A week and a half after we left the laboratory, Rose and I found ourselves back in the capital city. We sat alone in the inn room, left alone to our thoughts and a sleeping Snow. I looked at her but could barely see her expression through the room's dark atmosphere. I knew she was holding on to Josh's petrified heart very tightly as if she would lose it if she let go.

Constantin was missing as well, which just made the situation worse. Rose was the one who saw him last, but she wasn't telling me anything about their experience in the forest. Snow seemed to be constantly sleeping, and to be honest, I had completely forgotten about her. Yet, she seemed bigger again. She was almost the size of me.

Then, a knock sounded from the door. It echoed through the room, cutting through the silence.

"Sir," A servant said as he walked into the room. He held a small letter in his hand. Even from here, I could see the deep red stamp in its center. The servant walked over and gave the letter to me, "This arrived for you just a moment ago."

"Thank you," I told the servant before he returned to his duties. Once the door was closed, I slowly opened the letter. A moment passed before I finished the letter.

"Come, Rose," I exclaimed as I stood up, "They've summoned us to the castle."

The royal throne room was humongous and gave a very mature feeling. It had a tense atmosphere, full of the type of stress you'd feel the night before a test. At the end of the throne room was a giant set of windows that allowed a massive stream of light to flood into the room. At the base of the group of windows sat a man on a golden throne. The man relaxed in his throne, his hand against his cheek. In his other hand rested a golden chalice. Surrounding him were two or three female slaves, each serving him food or massaging him. Because of the set of windows, I could barely make out any of his facial features. He seemed like a god on earth.

I recognized Alistair to the right of the throne. He gave me a slight nod.

"William," The man chuckled, his laugh echoing through the throne room, "Vercotti. You look just like I thought you would!"

"Pardon?" I muttered before Rose took me by my shoulders and forced me onto the ground. She lowered her head before the King, and I did the same.

"Vercotti, Vercotti, Vercotti. That name sounds familiar, you know! Where do I recognize it from!" The King blabbered on, more amused with his voice than me, "Vercotti! Oh, I'll get to it later. Now, Vercotti. You're a ranger, correct."

"Yes," I stated, trying to sound as professional as possible. For extra effect, I added, "Your majesty."

"Good, Good! I respect a man who can be proud of who he is at such a young age," The King laughed. Then, he shooed away his servants and began to stand from the throne. His robes hung to the ground quickly as he rose from his throne, "young William. Alistair here says you discovered something in the forests south of the kingdom? Near the old laboratory?"

"Yes, Your majesty," I nodded. The King stayed silent for a moment. I shuddered after I realized he wished for me to continue, "Alistair assigned my party and me to the laboratory for six months. After examining a sudden outburst of hundreds of undead from the laboratory, my party investigated."

"What of the town?" the King asked, "Were they not a concern?"

"I sent Constantin to evacuate the villagers as soon as the Undead arrived, your majesty," I explained, "Afterward, the other party members, including myself, fought the undead."

"Hmm," The King pondered. He rose his hand to his chin as he tilted his head, "The undead. Were they pure undead?"

"Yes, they were," I answered. Dozens of gasps erupted from the members of the King's court.

"And how many of them were there?" The King asked.

"A little over two hundred, I approximate," I answered. Even more, gasps erupted from the King's court. Several members seemed to have a hard time believing my recount of what happened. The King turned to Alistair.

"Alistair," The King calmly said to Alistair. Alistair jolted upward, his expression showing mild concern, "Was this boy capable of such a feat when you last saw him."

"During his three-year apprenticeship," Alistair answered, "William was the only candidate that we couldn't keep in contact with."

"And why's that?" The King asked.

"He was living in Ithilia," Alistair answered. For a third time, gasps erupted from the room.

"I see," The King said, returning to me. While still staring at me, he asked Alistair another question, "And during the last trial. Was he as powerful as he says?"

"No, he was not," Alistair answered.

"I see," The King muttered. He crouched low to me. Once his face was a few inches from mine, his eyes staring into my soul, and he laughed. Then, in a low whisper, he said to me, "Those eyes don't belong to a human's eyes. What are you doing here, Druid?"

I froze for a moment, then stared directly into the King's eyes myself. It was here when I realized the King was very young. He looked just my age, which was seventeen. How had he had past military exploits as a boy?

"I do my business as I do my business," I answered.

The King remained silent for a moment before standing again. He stepped toward his throne a bit before taking a swig from his glass and handing it to a servant. He stood a moment at the set of windows.

"Woodland giant's, you say?" the King muttered. Then, he turned around before facing me again.

"William," He stated, using my first name, "Have you killed a woodland giant before?"

"Yes," I said, "I've killed three of them."

Gasps in the crowd reached a maximum. Alistair's eyes widened in a look of shock and betrayal while the King's expression showed surprise and excitement.

"And how difficult are they, in your own opinion?" the King asked, "How many could you fight at once?"

"Using my full abilities?" I pondered, "Maybe three at once? But if you lined them up so I could fight them one on one, I wouldn't have a problem destroying fifteen of them."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly seemed to change. I looked up in confusion.

"Alistair," The King exclaimed as he turned to Alistair, "I'm taking this ranger directly under my wing. Give me his file now!"

A few hours later, I was standing in a colosseum surrounded by nearly three hundred spectators. Among them sat the King himself and Alistair. I sighed as I tightened my gear. Now, more than ever, I needed to hide my rootlike hands and feet. While the King saw through my disguise almost immediately, I didn't want him to know how much Bal had already influenced me.

I turned forward, refocused on the challenge in front of me. A servant stood there with a giant wooden egg. I wasn't sure what the servant was doing there, but the egg seemed to look familiar.

"It's a woodland giant shrunk down," The King explained, "We can make them portable this way. Now, prove to me that you can kill a Woodland Giant, just as you explained earlier."

"A woodland giant in the middle of the city?" I asked. The servant boy dropped the egg, then started to run toward the edge of the arena. Almost immediately, the egg exploded. A giant eruption of roots popped from the egg. I quickly dodged backward, wary to avoid all of the roots, "Are you crazy?" I asked the King. The crowd laughed for a moment before the King answered.

"The audience is protected by a magical barrier. However, you are not," The King laughed. I looked back to the pile of roots. The boy indeed didn't escape in time. A moment later, they started to construct themselves in the air. Just as Constantin said, they were built like a jigsaw of roots and trees. When it finished creating itself, it looked me right in the eye. All I felt from its stare was bloodlust.

"f**k," I sighed. What was my best course of action? I didn't want everybody to know about my abilities. I didn't know how anybody would react. However, I wasn't sure if I could kill off a very angry-looking Woodland Giant with my human body.

The giant was the first one to make a move. It slowly moved its hand toward me, its mouth open. It intended to eat me, for sure. I quickly dodged by running under its hand and underneath its body.

By now, I understood that there was no way to escape this giant without showing Bal's influence somehow.

To respond to that knowledge, I removed my gloves. The giant fidgeted from above me as it tried to squash me with its feet. Without thinking, I shot a root toward its ankle and used the momentum to swing myself into the air. Then, I quickly created two longswords. Now, I was at eye level with the giant. I looked around some more. There was no other place but the giant's own body to anchor my roots to. This fight would be hard.

So, I spent the next few minutes swinging away endlessly. Whenever I got the chance, I would attack the giant's chest or back, attempting to get to the core. However, this giant was strong. It was much stronger than the first giant I fought, who went down with just a few hits.

The crowd, meanwhile, went wild. However, I could see the King's expression of disapproval, even from high up in the air. He was expecting something more splendid from my performance.

"Fine!" I yelled. Then, I dropped the longswords from my hands. They dropped to the ground. As I fell as well, I mentally prepared myself to transform. I closed my eyes for a moment, which turned into a fatal mistake. The giant grabbed me as I fell to the ground. I felt its iron grip crush the bones inside my body as the impact forcibly pushed the wind within me out of my body.

"Damn," I cried, trying to breathe. The giant grinned at me as if boasting. I turned my head toward it, feeling tears run down my face.

Transform! Transform! Transform! The giant brought me closer to its mouth, which was now wide open. I watched as moss, almost similar to saliva, dripped from its mouth. Not like this, not like this! TRANSFORM, DAMNIT!

A giant explosion of green light surrounded my body. When I opened my eyes, I was watching from above the giant's own body. I screamed, filled with anger. As I started to fall back to the ground, I brought my fist to the giant's face. It cracked almost in half as the giant fell to the barrier behind it. I stood there for a moment, balancing myself for a moment before turning to look at the King.

His eyes were wide, full of fear. I exhaled slowly as I continued to stare at the King. I was able to see my breath come from my body. Then, I looked toward the rest of the crowd. Each one of them watched back, breathless. There were no cheers.

Damnit.

A sudden urge took over me, and I turned back toward the giant full of anger. I roared as loud as I could, trying to express my anger as well as I could. I didn't understand why I needed to do this. The other giant, now on its feet, looked back at me. The giant took a moment for its jaw to heal entirely before it roared back at me.

Then, we charged each other. The fight was quick but deadly. All I could see was a fast transaction of blows traded between myself and the other giant. Each of the blows felt like giant explosions blowing away our skins. After a short while, however, it appeared that I was the winner. I pushed the other giant against the magical barrier as I pummeled it with hits.

Fuck you! f**k you! f**k you! f**k you! f**k you!

As the other giant slowly faded away from my blows, leaving nothing behind, I noticed the magical barrier behind the giant start to c***k. The King saw it too and quickly rose and extended his hand in my direction as if trying to stop me himself.

"William, get off of him!" the King ordered across the Arena floor. I quickly took the other giant's body off of the wall and back onto the Arena floor. I watched as the magical barrier broke just after. The audience's silence was broken soon after by terrifying screams. I paid them no mind as I brought my foot up to meet the other giant's chest.