The Rise of King Akiel CHAPTER SEVEN: Guns, Spies, and the Hidden Trial
910 Words
CHAPTER SEVEN: Guns, Spies, and the Hidden Trial
The palace courtyard thundered with shouted commands and synchronized footsteps.
Fifty handpicked men—soldiers, farmers, even a few former thieves—stood in neat lines, each gripping a newly forged Divine Flintlock Rifle. The steel shimmered in the morning light, etched with protective runes and enhanced by the Weapon Bond enchantment.
Akiel stood on a raised platform beside Jay and Master Darek, watching them.
“They’ve never seen a gun in their lives,” Darek muttered. “Yet in just one day, they’ve formed ranks like seasoned warriors.”
Akiel nodded. “Because they believe in something now. A king who sees them.”
Jay, eyes full of wonder, asked, “Will you… will you train them personally, my king?”
Akiel jumped down into the dirt.
“I will train every man who carries my weapon.”
With a confident stride, he walked to the front of the formation.
“You hold in your hands the future of Zoria,” Akiel addressed the men. “This is not just steel and fire—it is a promise. And I expect every man here to wield it with discipline, honor, and loyalty.”
He demonstrated how to load the flintlock, how to aim, how to brace against the recoil. The men followed eagerly.
Then came the test.
Akiel pointed at five clay targets in the distance. “Take aim.”
Crack—crack—crack!
The thunder of the rifles echoed across the valley.
Five perfect hits.
Cheers erupted.
Zoria’s army was being reborn.
---
That night, while the men celebrated their success with roasted boar and songs in the lower courts, a shadow slipped through the palace garden.
But he didn’t go unnoticed.
In the rafters above, Agent Mirek, one of Akiel’s newly activated Shadow Network spies, watched silently. His face was covered in a black scarf, his breath slow and measured.
The intruder—cloaked in Cedar military colors, though faint—crept toward the forge.
He paused.
A blade slid across his throat before he could make a sound.
Mirek caught him as he fell, and whispered, “You blinked too loudly.”
He dragged the body into the hidden catacombs below the palace. There, in the dim torchlight, Mirek bowed before his king.
“My lord,” he said. “A Cedar spy. Killed before he could steal the blueprint for your weapons.”
Akiel stood in silence.
“So it begins,” he murmured.
He dismissed Mirek and turned to the wall behind him. What had once looked like an old stone slab now shimmered faintly under his touch.
> “System, what is this?”
> “Ancient access point. Hidden beneath the royal palace for over three thousand years. It is the entrance to a Divine Trial.”
> “Purpose?”
> “If completed, the host gains a permanent kingdom-wide buff: +30% Resource Production, +20% Loyalty Conversion Rate, and access to the Ancient Knowledge Tree.”
Akiel’s eyes sharpened.
“Open it.”
With a sudden rumble, the stone slid aside, revealing a spiral staircase carved from obsidian.
He summoned Holiness.
“Can I enter it alone?”
> “Yes. But you must complete the trial with your own strength. No systems, no weapons—only your mind, spirit, and physical skill. Do you wish to proceed?”
Akiel removed his royal robes and tossed them to Jay, who had just arrived.
“Send word to the blacksmiths. Prepare twenty more rifles. Train ten more men. If I don’t return by dawn… continue without me.”
Jay’s voice trembled. “My lord, what is inside?”
Akiel looked back.
“A trial.”
Then descended alone.
---
The darkness was thick, almost alive.
Torches lit themselves as he moved deeper. The temperature dropped. Whispers echoed along the stone walls.
> “Trial Initiated: The Trial of Wisdom and Endurance.”
Suddenly, the path split in three.
One corridor glowed with golden light. Another pulsed red. The third was pure black.
> “Choose the path that reflects your greatest strength.”
Akiel closed his eyes. He thought of his years of study—medicine, mechanics, warcraft, languages. But then he thought of his lonely nights in the orphanage, of the beatings, of surviving without food, of learning how to smile while bleeding.
He stepped into the black path.
It closed behind him.
The air grew colder.
Then came the whisper: “Do you endure? Or do you break?”
A barrage of illusions slammed into him.
He saw Jay slain.
He saw Zoria burning.
He saw himself back in that run-down room in the modern world—poor, forgotten, wasted.
His heart pounded.
Tears welled in his eyes.
But he gritted his teeth.
“I endured then…” he whispered. “I will endure now.”
He stepped forward. One step. Then another.
Until the visions vanished.
And the door opened.
—
Back in the royal courtyard, dawn broke.
Jay looked to the staircase.
Nothing.
Then, footsteps.
Akiel emerged—drenched in sweat, eyes fierce, holding a scroll glowing with divine energy.
“Prepare the scribes,” he said. “We begin rewriting this kingdom’s future.”
> Trial Complete: Rewards Unlocked
• Kingdom Buffs Applied
• Ancient Knowledge Tree Unlocked
• Bonus Reward: 20,000,000 Gold
• Skill Unlocked: Sovereign’s Insight (See all lies and betrayal within a 20 ft radius)
- Writer
