《Turning The world On Its Head》


 Chapter 1-The Madman and his Castle

    On a certain continent surrounded by uncountable islands and huge city sized ships, in a grand castle decorated with gold, a silver metal and marble, sat a man over 2 metres tall. Even while sitting on his throne one could tell how tall he really was. The castle itself was silent accept for the sound of wind occasionally howling through the corridors and the slow, steady breathing of the man on the throne.


    The throne room, shrouded in a cloak of darkness, was cold and had a heavy atmosphere. The enormous pillars holding up the ceiling, made of silver metal, are so thick it would take 20 grown men to surround each one. Each one reaching 200 metres, only to sprawl out like tree branches, interweaving and supporting the weight of the ceiling.


    The huge door leading to the hall, made of unidentifiable metal, looking near impossible to move due to its weight, slowly cracked open. With an ear-piercing screech, the heavy door opened more and more letting the warm orange glow of torch fire fall into the room. The 50 strong looking soldiers with matching uniforms and insignias huff and sigh after pushing open the door with all their might. In the middle of all the soldiers stands a tall graceful woman with violet hair, covered from head to toe in ornate and decorated plate armour. She looks to be no more than 25 and has a sharp look in her eyes. Slowly surveying the interior of the hall, a look of astonishment flashes in her eyes before being concealed under a cold piercing gaze. All 30 of the enormous pillars supporting the ceiling are made of what she identified to be mithril, the strongest and rarest metal humans can forge.


    ¡°Identify¡± the woman says in a faint voice causing a few nearby soldiers to look at her.


    [Identify Result:


    Target Type: Metal


    Name: Time-Space corrupted Mithril


    Description: A variant of mithril, corrupted with excessive exposure to extremely strong Time and Space magic radiation for a period of over 1000 years.]


    The results of identification magic were not at all what she expected. Mithril? Corrupted? Mithril is the strongest metal humans are able to forge without the help of dwarven technology like the high temperature blast furnace or dragon fire. As for corruption, for it to happen in only 1000 years was something she had never heard of. Corruption happens over tens of thousands of years and requires immensely strong mana waves produced by areas on the level of natural disasters like volcanoes.


    Another flash of understanding fills the woman¡¯s eyes as she realises that the entire castle uses this legendarily rare metal as mere decoration.


    As the first soldiers cautiously enter the hall a small red light flashes above the throne unnoticed by anyone but the woman. As she is wondering what the little red light could be a chill runs up her spine and a feeling of being watched falls on her. Cold sweat and nervous shivers take over her senses. Taken aback by the strange way their leader is acting the soldiers quickly back out of the hall and encircle the leader asking her questions. ¡°You ok lass?¡± ¡°What happened to you?¡± ¡°Are you not feeling well commander?¡± After hearing the questions of her subordinates and comrades she manages to calm down and a warm gaze sweeps past all the men making them all smile at her. These were all like a second family to her. She even managed to talk her father into buying her a floating ship big enough for all of them to use as a mobile base.


    ¡°I am ok now thanks to all of you. It¡¯s just that¡­ when you entered I felt as if we were being watched. The gaze was so powerful it made me freeze up¡±.


    ¡°If you¡¯re scared you can always hold my hand!¡± shouts a short brown-haired youth with a cheeky grin.


    ¡°Shut up Dave. You know you have no chance with the commander!¡± shouts another man with a long lance in his hands.


    ¡°How about I carry you, this¡¯s sure to make you feel safer¡±. Added a huge soldier in enchanted full heavy plate armour from behind his helmet.


    ¡°Yeah right. Dream on Lenny¡±. Jokes Dave while trying to hide the disappointment on his face.


    ¡°Shut up all of you. If it made her freeze and we didn¡¯t feel a thing it means that whatever it is that is looking at us is so much stronger than us we didn¡¯t even know it was there. Plus, she¡¯s gotten so much stronger than all of us old bones she¡¯s the only one who felt it¡±. Cautioned a greying older man with a runic longsword and enchanted gloves.


    ¡°Your right Rodger, if we didn¡¯t even feel it whatever it is has to be powerful¡±. Answered another man in full plate armour while activating the dark vision enchantment on his helmet. Finding it strange that even the enchantment wouldn¡¯t let him see into the room.


    Out of the 50 soldiers 20 equipped heavy looking full plate armour and tall tower shields, another 20 weald long lances and the remaining 10 had longswords and kite shields. This was the largest practical size for a detached force, any larger and the support units would take too long to get to the sides. This unit was world famous for turning the tides of battles they came to help and for being the only unit to never lose a single soldier since its formation 10 years prior. Under the direct command of the second Princess of the Triton Empire known for her ridiculously large mana pool and support spells, this unit was considered invincible to normal armies and anyone who dared to get in their way was crushed by the might of this single unit with ease.


    Yet at this moment they were standing before the doors to a long-forgotten castle, described in history as having appeared overnight with the Princess shaking in fright at a loss for what to do.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you managed to detect the Guardian¡¯s presence, I admire you for not losing conciseness¡±. a low, powerful, ancient voice filled the air shaking the very souls of all the soldiers and the Princess.


    Everyone in front of the door felt the enchantments on their equipment quiver and heat up trying to resist the mana pressure waves in the air caused by the voice.


    [What the hell was that?! The voice alone commands such authority over mana that the enchantments nearly dissipated! What would a spell from someone like that do?!] These were the thoughts of everyone in the group, including the Princess who was an accomplished mage, as they all looked at each other.


    ¡°Which lord do we have the pleasure of meeting, if I may ask?¡± asked the Princess with a shaking voice. No matter her position in the Empire, she was away from home and even at home there may not be anyone strong enough to protect her if she offended someone this powerful.


    ¡°I am the master of this castle and its sole resident, as I have been for a very long time. And who might you be so that I may welcome you to my humble abode?¡± said the voice with a discernible joy and excitement in it.


    [Humble?!] the Princess almost had a heart attack hearing the words says by the voice.


    ¡°I am Catharine von Triton, second Princess of the Triton Empire, third child of Emperor George von Triton, fifth in line for the throne of the Empire. May I hear the name of one such as yourself, my lord?¡± the Princess answered with pride, which quickly disappeared as she remembered who she was speaking to.


    ¡°The last name I remember using was Aaron. I abandoned by surname a long time ago so I do not have one to give, so Aaron will do, you may call me Aaron!¡± the voice said with joy.


    ¡°May Lord Aaron come out so that we may speak face to face?¡± asked the Princess a little worried.


    ¡°Of course, my pleasure!¡± shouted the voice in glee.


    The shout brought with it the sound of air rushing through a small space and a warm breeze which lifted the frigid temperature of the grand hall.


    Two quick claps sounded, the hall trembled slightly and some dust fell from the pillars. The pillars began to tremble and parts near the top started to detach themselves, floating in mid-air around the entire hall. Another set of claps caused the floating pieces of mithril to light up in a silver hue, like a thousand moons. The hall was instantly lit up with a soft cold light, not effecting the eyes of anyone inside. Although the hall was filled with light the throne at the back of the room and the entire back wall remained behind a cloak of darkness.


    If one looked closer at the walls of the hall they would notice all shapes and sizes of cables and wires coming out and running along the floor on the edges of the hall to the throne where they would disappear into the stairs where some fine golden wires hung loosely off the last step.


    The darkness around the throne squirmed and a huge, hazy silhouette appeared out of it. The shape of a large body stepped forward slowly, step by step revealing more and more.


    The first thing that the group noticed were the unusually large boots made of leather, metal and some strange scales.


    The pants covering the thick legs above the boots were also a combination of leather and scales. Each of the strips of leather, scales and metal held together with thick rivets and layered as if it had been patched up so many times they had more rivets than material.


    On the waist of the figure sat 2 belts. One buckle in the shape of a shining silver hourglass. The light gleaming off the buckle made it look like never ending sand falling in the hourglass. The second belt buckle in the shape of a golden dragon¡¯s skull. Light reflecting off the empty eye socket created the illusion of being watched.


    Above the belts was a stomach and chest littered with countless scars and burn marks. Scars shaped like slashes, scratches and holes crossed each other and some even overlapped others.


    The right shoulder, or what was left of it under the huge burn mark, is covered with pieces of metal. Some of the metal pieces were coming out from under the skin while the rest are held on by bolts visible on the surface. A combination of thick and thin wires and flexible pipes connected the terrifying, scared shoulder to his right arm. An arm that looks to be made entirely out of metal.


    The metal arm constantly playing with the golden hair falling over it looked like it had a mind of its own. His other hand, holding something looking like a wrench, tightened large bolts on his shoulder.


    His left shoulder, thou not as badly damaged as the right, didn¡¯t look too human either. It had 2 small, bony, horn like spikes growing out of it while the entire left arm looks to be covered with fine red scales.


    The scales glittered slightly in the light making the arm look wet and give it a slight red glow.


    As Aaron made his way down the stairs and into the light the Princess grew more and more scared. What kind of demon had they encountered this time? All the Princess could think about was the face of the being in front of her. Would it have sharp, pointy teeth? Fangs? Red eyes and devil horns? She couldn¡¯t see a tail but imagined it to be hidden under the thick pants.


    Aaron finally made it to the last step. His face slowly lowering out of the shadows and into the light flooding the hall.


    The image in the Princess¡¯s shattered as if a mirror shot with a cannon. The face of the man could be described as pretty, the opposite of the hideous visage she conjured.


    His face, soft, almost female in appearance. This would give him a very gender neutral look, if not for the huge body riddled with scars and burn marks.


    His left eye was encircled with a terrifying scar and was a vibrant golden red with a vertical reptilian pupil giving a vicious bloodthirsty glint.


    His right eye was as black as the darkest night, seemingly absorbing all light.


    A normal person could get lost looking deep into the abyss that is his right eye and be reminded of all the most terrifying experiences they lived through.


    The thick layer of fine golden wires hanging loosely off the last step of the stairs turned out to be Aaron¡¯s hair. The hair was so long it reached the last of the 15 steps leading to the throne while he was sitting on it. The hair looked flawless in every way and shined like real gold.


    As the Princess and the soldiers saw what Aaron looked like, they were confused weather they should scream, admire him, beg for their lives or attack on sight. This made Aaron laugh abruptly, snapping the soldiers and the Princess out of their thoughts. The laugh brought with it a warm breeze calming them all. Aaron used his left arm to invite them to come into the hall.


    The warm breeze exited the exhaust vent on the back of Aaron¡¯s shoulder, he was letting some accumulated heat out of the arm after tinkering with it. The soldiers surrounded the Princess and cautiously walked into the huge hall, Aaron stretched, his left arm cracked and popped while his right squeaked and groaned. He finished with checking his right arm by opening and closing all the vents and flaps on the arm. This resulted in an orchestra of claps and whirls.


    Aaron, seeing the uneasy look on the faces of his new guests, decided to entertain them. The right arm straightened and split into two. Both arms were exactly half as thick as the original and split at the shoulder. These separated arms seemed to decide it was an excellent idea to have a thumb war and after a few seconds of finding no winner decided to play rock-paper-scissors. This once more stunned the soldiers and Princess bringing even more laughter to Aaron. He hadn¡¯t taken his eyes off them the whole time watching for their reactions and responses. The laughter once again got the attention of everyone and Aaron began to talk once more after inviting them once again to walk the rest of the way to the stairs of the throne.


    ¡°Since you¡¯re here with a sizable force I can only imagine the way here was quite tiring and you would like some time to rest before we talk about why you¡¯re here, yes?¡± Aaron asked in a calm tone as if asking a friend.


    The Princess and soldiers got here on the floating ship which they set down in the main courtyard of the castle. This proved to be quite easy as the castle and subsequently the courtyard was huge. The journey was leisurely and easy for them, but the Princess decided that if Aaron was offering them a warm place for the night the soldiers would like it more than the cold cabins on the ship.


    ¡°Yes, that would be much appreciated by both me and the soldiers¡±. The Princess answered with a shaking voice, still looking at both arms and eyes with fear.


    ¡°Great, I¡¯ll let the Guardian lead you all to the guest wing!¡± happily shouted Aaron.


    Aarons shout made the Princess flinch. This in turn made the soldiers more hostile and prepared to fight to the last for the Princess.


    ¡°You mentioned this Guardian before, but I don¡¯t see anyone but us and you¡±. Rodger, the Princess¡¯s personal butler asked cautiously.


    ¡°Look above the throne¡±. Said Aaron amused as he clapped his left hand with one of the right hands while the other snapped its fingers once.


    The soldiers and the Princess did as they were told and lifted their gaze slowly, bit by bit leaving Aaron below their line of sight. Aaron looked at them awaiting the amusing reaction he knew he would get.


    Just above the throne on the back wall of the hall was a huge mechanical spider with a leg span covering nearly half of the wall. The spider had all the wires that come into the hall through the walls attached to its back. The 8 glowing red eyes sent chills down everyone¡¯s backs and the wires and cables connected to its back made it look even more terrifying. In its mouth, it held a few loosely hanging strands of Aaron¡¯s hair and little blue lights travelled up and down from the spider to Aaron and back.


    ¡°W¡­what¡­ What the hell is that?!!!¡± shouted the Princess taking a few steps back and subconsciously summoning a mana barrier around herself and the soldiers.


    The soldiers quickly got into formation in front of the Princess while still being inside the barrier, pointing their shields and spears forward. The 20 soldiers in heavy armour and shields in the front and the lancers behind them keeping the support team and Princess safely behind them.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s just rude¡±. A second unknows voice rang out in the hall. This voice was very feminine with a robotic undertone.


    ¡°Show yourself!¡± shouted the support unit looking around nervously.


    ¡°Master, permission to detach and suspend all work around the castle to greet our uninvited, and rather rude, guests?¡± the female voice sounded again this time from a different direction causing the soldiers to be even more confused and scared.


    ¡°Granted¡±. Aaron said with an amused smile on his face.


    The giant spider on the wall began to tremble and numerous hissing sounds began to come from its back. Steam shot out from each of the connections on its back ejecting all the cables and wires letting them fall noisily on the ground around the throne. The spider started moving down the wall, when the front legs reached the ground they made a sharp noise indicating that both the legs and the floor were made of metal. The spider slowly lowered itself onto the floor carefully avoiding the throne and came face to face with the soldiers in front of the Princess.


    When all the legs were on the floor the spider lifted a front leg into the air showcasing the sharp point on the end and the millions of tiny barb-like hairs along the length. The soldiers with the shields prepared for the impact having already fought giant insect type enemies before.


    However, what hit them was not the raised leg but a mental shock. The shock of seeing the leg in the air waving at them and hearing the voice of the female again, this time coming from right in front of them.


    ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Guardian. I am very happy that master will finally have someone else to talk to besides me, he gets lonely and talks to himself sometimes¡±.


    Everyone was stunned into silence by the voice and the words said. Aaron hidden behind the giant spider covered his face with his left hand and shouted at the spider.


    ¡°They don¡¯t need to know that you piece of scrap! Get to work!¡±


    With that roar, even the mana barrier set up by the Princess crumbled under the pressure and left the soldiers and Princess wide eyed.


    ¡°S¡­so¡­ where did you say the guest wing was?¡± the Princess asked nervously unsure of what Aaron would do to them because of what the spider just said.


    ¡°Stupid pile of scrap.¡± Aaron muttered.


    ¡°Go show them to the guest wing and give them enough blankets for everyone to be comfortable and warm, there should be a few hundred in one of the storage rooms¡±. Aaron said in an annoyed tone as the spider turned to the Princess and the soldiers who managed to calm down.


    ¡°This way.¡± the spider now in a much happier mood told the Princess and soldiers to follow her and left the throne room leaving Aaron alone to his thoughts.


    [Why would she be here, why would anyone be here for that matter. I thought I made this place safe a long time ago.] Thought Aaron to himself as he was left alone on his throne.


    ******************************************************************************


    In another part of the castle in a huge corridor the Princess and her soldiers followed the spider to the guest wing.


    ¡°So, this is why all the corridors are this big?¡± asked a curious soldier as the followed the spider


    ¡°Yes, master had us build it, so we could all get around the castle without problems¡±. Answered the happy spider.


    ¡°Us? We? What are you talking about?¡± asked the Princess when she realised there was something wrong with the reply.


    ¡°There are a few more like me, slightly smaller but still too big for normal human sized doors and hallways¡±. Answered the spider to the astonishment of everyone.


    [Others? More? Where? We didn¡¯t see anything!] The soldiers sent in first as scout were the 10 with swords and shields and they were filled with dread at the thought of an enemy they couldn¡¯t detect even with the soul and heat detecting enchantments put on their shields.


    ¡°But how is that possible? My support team has shields enchanted with soul detection and heat detection which should find anything around the shields and show it by lighting up runes on the back¡±. Said the Princess eyeing the support team.


    The support team trembled a little at the sight but resolutely kept walking. Hearing the Princess¡¯s question, the spider stopped and turned to face everyone behind her before slowly lifting herself onto her back legs and using the 2 sets of front legs to slowly separate the carapace on her underbelly. What was inside made the Princess and soldiers confused. No organs, flesh, or blood. Just cold hard metal and wires running here and there all over the inside.


    ¡°As you can see we are not something living and so we do not possess what you call a soul. As for the heat, we have a very advanced carapace which is layered with heat proof materials and our insides are layered with heat transferring materials taking heat from where it is created and not needed to parts that need heat to work properly¡±. The spider answered while pointing and poking at her own insides and carapace.


    At this point the soldiers and Princess were ready to run back to the throne room and ask all the questions they just thought of.


    [Aaron seems to be the one that built these things, so he should know everything about them, right?] Everyone thought like this. The more time they spent with Aaron and this spider the more they learned how amazing and mysterious he seems to be.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s that. Your rooms are just up ahead, and I requested the blankets to be delivered to us as we get there. But since we stopped I think they will already be there waiting for all of you¡±. The spider said happily as she lowered herself and closed her armour.


    As they got to a corridor with doors on either side they saw a mountain. In the middle of the corridor was a mountain of blankets and pillows waiting for them just like the spider said.


    ¡°Everyone please grab what you want and chose a room. There are enough rooms for one each so no worries and there should be enough blankets for everyone to take a few¡±. The spider peeked around the mountain and told everyone goodnight before climbing the wall to the ceiling and rushing off back towards the throne room.


    ¡°Get what you need and let¡¯s have a good sleep, you all deserved it¡±. The Princess smiled and said while walking towards the mountain of blankets but froze as soon as she touched one.


    ¡°You ok Princess? Everything ok?¡± asked Rodger a little worried.


    ¡°These are so¡­¡± muttered the Princess.


    ¡°There so what?¡± asked Ryan, another of the support team.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ¡°THERE SO SOFT, I CAN¡¯T BELIEVE IT!¡± screamed the Princess as she grabbed a hand full of blankets and a few pillows before running into the closest room and slamming the door closed.


    ¡°What just happened?¡± Rodger asked confused.


    ¡°No clue¡±. Everyone replied at the same time.


    ¡°They can¡¯t be that good, right? I mean they¡¯ve been here who knows how long, right?¡± Ryan spoke as he neared the mountain and again he too froze as he touched the first blanket.


    ¡°SHIT!¡± he shouted and did the same thing as the Princess.


    ¡°OH, come on they can¡¯t be that good!¡± shouted one of the soldiers in full plate as he took of a gauntlet while walking towards the mountain.


    He didn¡¯t even make a sound, he made the impossible happened. The full plate armour disappeared from their view leaving only the echo of a door slamming shut. Everyone stared for a second before running to the mountain and grabbing as many blankets as they could and leaving to the first open door they could find.


    Even thou the furniture in the rooms was not as extravagant as in the royal palace this was still the most comfortable night anyone of the soldiers and even the Princess had ever experienced.


    ******************************************************************************


    The spider returned to the throne room and slowly neared the throne. Aaron looked at her and started to speak as he had just finished his private ¡®talking to himself¡¯ session.


    ¡°So how did they like the blankets? Aah I¡¯m sure they were happy with the softness, after all even I can¡¯t resist them and ended up stockpiling hundreds and even made myself a bed entirely out of them. Thou I guess it¡¯s not that surprising when you think about it, they are made of the silk of corrupted demon spiders famed for the softness of their silk. So, different question then. Why do you think there hear?¡±


    The spider was slightly at a loss for what to say to the stream of words.


    ¡°Right as always master, they were very happy with the blankets and I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll express that tomorrow at breakfast. As for why they are here, there is a 60% chance they came to ask for help after reading something left by their predecessors and a 29% chance that they found the castle on the way to another destination. The remaining 11% is that they found the castle by accident¡±. The spider loyally reported.


    ¡°Hmm I see, as I thought, even your calculations are showing the same results. We¡¯ll have to ask tomorrow at breakfast then! Prepare everything in the castle for immediate departure, we may be leaving tomorrow¡±. Aaron said in an excited tone.


    ¡°Yes master¡±.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to bed. The preparations for breakfast will be left to all of you¡±. Aaron said as he left the throne room and closed the huge doors with no effort.


    ¡°Yes master!¡± Several similar female voices sounded from above in the now dimming hall as the lights went out and the mithril plates found their way back to their spots on the pillars.


    That night for the first time in 6 thousand years the kitchen was full of small mechanical spiders crawling around creating a symphony of clicks and clangs, preparing all kinds of food for the whole night. They prepared meat, vegetables, fruit, and drinks enough for 100 people to make sure there was enough and by the time they finished the first breakfast in such a long time it was already morning.


    The next morning Aaron was in the throne room waiting for his guests while Guardian was waiting in the corridor for the soldiers and the Princess to wake up. When everyone was awake and ready to go the Princess cast a spell on herself and the soldiers. This spell was a very simple one and had no attack or defence properties, instead it could separate whatever the caster didn¡¯t want from what they were casting it on. Simply put, a cleaning spell.


    ¡°Mass Clean!¡± shouted the Princess and the faces of the soldiers lit up in happiness like they had just taken a bath.


    ¡°Well, I was sent here to bring you to the baths but since you can do that I guess there¡¯s no need for that¡±. The slightly disappointed tone in the spider¡¯s voice must have been their imagination.


    ¡°Anyway, breakfast is ready, and master would like you to join him in the throne room¡±. The spider quickly got over the fact she didn¡¯t get to show off the bathhouse she built herself and lead the guests to breakfast.


    In the throne room, Aaron was sitting on his throne waiting for everyone to arrive. When everyone was there he could see confusion in their eyes.


    [Where is the food?] was probably what they were thinking.


    Aaron simply smiled and whistled loudly. A section of the floor in the middle of the hall started rising forming a table while knee high spiders flooded the room bringing in comfortable chairs for everyone to sit on and the food they spent all night making to please the master and his guests.


    The faces of the guests paled upon seeing the flood of spiders but soon calmed down as the smell of the food started rising from the table. Although some were still cautious most understood that if he wanted, not of them would be leaving the castle alive.


    When everything was set up and ready Aaron clapped once to get everyone¡¯s attention.


    ¡°Breakfast is ready. Why don¡¯t we all sit and enjoy while you tell me why you¡¯re here¡±. He said as he looked at the Princess.


    ¡°If my lord would listen to my request then I would be happy to ask¡±. The Princess slightly lowered her head and headed to a chair next to where she expected Aaron to sit at the head of the table.


    ¡°Very well¡±. Said Aaron as he headed to his seat at the head of the table just like the Princess expected he would.


    All the soldiers started to sit and chat while casting glances at the food, Aaron and the small spider bots running around the room.


    As Aaron took the first bit of his food all the soldiers and the Princess started eating. Aaron looked at them strangely and asked the Princess.


    ¡°Why did you all wait for me? Why don¡¯t you just eat?¡±


    ¡°It is a custom in out Triton Empire for the one at the head of the table to be the most important and the first to start eating as a sign of respect¡±. Answered the Princess.


    ¡°Aah so that¡¯s why, I kind of like it. Gives you time to address the guests before a meal¡±. Intoned Aaron.


    As they ate, voices of admiration for the food came from everyone including the Princess who attended numerous parties and dances reserved for royalty. ¡°This is great!¡± ¡°Never had anything this good!¡± ¡°This tastes amazing try some!¡± Complements for the food rang out across the table.


    ¡°What is this stuff it tastes amazing, I¡¯ve never had anything like it even at the parties of royalties!¡± exclaimed the Princess stunning the soldiers.


    [Even the Princess hasn¡¯t had stuff this good? How did this happen?] all the soldiers felt reserved about eating something so good now that they knew what the Princess thought.


    ¡°This is just some food I had the spider bots make for today¡¯s breakfast, it¡¯s no big deal, go ahead and eat as much as you want!¡± laughed Aaron after seeing the faces of the soldiers.


    ¡°So why don¡¯t we talk now?¡± said Aaron after the Princess finished eating.


    ¡°Lets¡±. Answered the Princess in a slightly lower voice.


    ¡°The reason we are here is because we were sent by my father, Emperor George, to investigate the castle of legends and bring back any clues as to how the owner of it repelled the demons and beasts they brought with them as it was written in the history books of our Empire¡±. Answered the Princess in a solemn tone.


    ¡°I see, so they really are back¡±. Muttered Aaron under his breath.


    ¡°You knew they would come back?¡± asked the Princess a little surprised.


    ¡°When the last of the demon lord¡¯s forces were being destroyed and his hell gate crumbled and before I beat him he told me he won¡¯t be the last to try and take this world from us and that there would be more of his kind trying to find another way over here from the demon realm. So, I guess you could say that I did know something like this would happen. I just didn¡¯t expect it to take them this long. There usually tenacious bastards and find ways to places quicker than you can get rid of them¡±. Aaron answered with a slight laugh.


    ¡°So, you came for clues to their defeat and found the direct cause instead, what now?¡± asked Aaron slightly amused.


    ¡°In that case I, Princess Catherine von Triton, in the name of the Triton Empire¡¯s 253<sup>rd</sup> Emperor, George von Triton, would like to formally invite you as a guest to our home and ask you to provide information and strategies to help us beat the invaders back once again¡±. The Princess resolutely said.


    ¡°Not going to ask me to help you fight?¡± Aaron asked.


    ¡°That would go against the teachings of our ancestors. If we have the power to do it but not the way we ask for way to be shown, if we have the way but not the power we ask for a way to increase our own power. We would be honoured if you helped us fight but we will never ask you to do so unless it is the last resort¡±. The Princess said with resolute eyes looking at Aaron.


    ¡°Very well, I like you, I¡¯ll go with you and see if the situation is something you can handle with a bit of tactical support and if it is I¡¯ll do everything I can to help without getting involved, and if it isn¡¯t I¡¯ll lend a hand¡±. Aaron said smiling.


    ¡°Thank you!¡± the Princess said with a huge smile on her face.


    As the food stopped disappearing Aaron looked at the soldiers around the table. He saw the content smiles on the faces of each one. He smiled and spoke.


    ¡°I guess all you guys are full, yes? Then I¡¯ll finish up the rest¡±.


    Everyone looked at him strangely but didn¡¯t say anything as a few spider bots climbed the table to take away the used plates and move the rest of the food that was left on the table closer to Aaron. The soldiers and the Princess watched wide eyed as Aaron finished the rest of the food which was just less than half of the amount they started with. He ate and ate and in about 20 minutes finished 45 peoples¡¯ worth of food by himself.


    ¡°Where does all that food go?¡± the Princess asked taken aback at the sight of Aaron getting up and stretching his arms and back.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just say I have a larger than average stomach. Plus, the arm runs on energy provided by my body¡± He answered as he waved his right arm in the air.


    ¡°So, that¡­ thing needs power?¡± asked Rodger from across the table from the Princess.


    ¡°Of course, just like anything else. From your enchantments to Catharine¡¯s magic¡±. Aaron answered casually.


    A flash of understanding passed the eyes of the Princess and Rodger.


    ¡°So, is it powered by mana?¡± asked the Princess?


    ¡°It can be¡±. Aaron answered mysteriously.


    ¡°Can be? It can use other sources of energy?¡± Rodger asked.


    ¡°Yes, like this¡±. Aaron touched the fingers and thumb of his right hand together and separated them slowly forming small constant electric arch between them all.


    ¡°Lightning magic? But that uses mana to create, wouldn¡¯t it be easier to use mana instead?¡± asked the Princess confused.


    ¡°This is not lightning magic. It¡¯s electricity¡±. Corrected Aaron.


    ¡°Electricity? I¡¯ve never heard of something like that¡±. The Princess furrowed her brows thinking.


    ¡°I¡¯m not too surprised about that. Right now, I¡¯m probably the only person who knows how to create and store it to be used later. And now you are the only others who know of its existence¡±. Aaron said as he smiled and stopped the electricity flowing between his fingers.


    ¡°So, when are we leaving? It will take us about 40 days to get back if we travel at the same speed that we used to get here¡±. Asked the Princess.


    ¡°We can leave at any time and don¡¯t worry about the travel speed. Well use the castle¡±. Aaron said with a mischievous smile.


    The group felt their souls shake at the mana pressure waves coming from the heart of the castle and thought that this must be where the mana to power the whole castle is coming from.


    They are right, in the heart of the castle is a mountain sized chamber. It contains the complete bodies of 15 different coloured dragons and strange devices are drawing mana from the ever-present either through their bodies and mana cores. The mana syphoned from the dragons is then being channelled it into the rest of the castle.


    The Princess and soldiers all looked confused. Then the entire castle started shaking and trembling. With the intense shaking came 8 very loud sounds of something big hitting the ground from all directions around the castle.


    ¡°What was that?!¡± the Princess and the soldiers started panicking but looking at Aaron standing there calmly they knew it couldn¡¯t be anything too bad.


    ¡°That was the sound of me stretching by legs¡±. Aaron said with a smile as he closed his eyes.


    The spider bots quickly came in and took all the empty plates and the chairs everyone was sitting on as Aaron walked back to sit on his throne. His hair following behind him curled and twisted as if each one had a mind of its own and found a tiny hole in the stairs to fit into.


    The floor of the hall began lifting towards the ceiling using the pillars as guidelines and the ceiling opened to make way for the rising floor. As the floor became the roof everyone could see the huge holes in the ground around the castle. Out of those holes came rising huge metallic spider legs. The legs left craters in the ground where they stood and as Aaron opened his eyes the entire castle trembled as the 8 huge legs freed the castle from the ground and lifted it into the air. The group was amazed that the whole castle could be moved like this and finally understood why the castle was said to have appeared overnight. It walked here and buried its legs in the ground. The group looked back at Aaron, but he just smiled.


    The legs started moving one by one and the castle started moving forward. The Princess and soldiers thought the demons would manage to invade and destroy the Empire before they got there but decided not to say anything looking at the excitement on Aaron¡¯s face. Aaron looked at the Princess and asked.


    ¡°Which way?¡±


    ¡°There¡±. Slowly said the princess while pointing in the direction they came from.


    ¡°OK!¡± shouted Aaron as the legs began moving faster.


    The castle started speeding up and in seconds surpassed the speed of a galloping horse. The speed of the legs looked to be very slow but because of the size even the slow movements caused the castle to move very fast.


    ¡°If you¡¯re worried about the speed don¡¯t, this thing has once taken me around the continent in a week¡±. Said Aaron with a grin.


    Upon hearing this the group nearly fainted.


    [A week?! How fast can this thing be?! It takes a ship 2 months to get from Velde Port city in the centre of the east coast to Felita Port city in the centre of the West coast! There¡¯s no way it can be that fast!] nobody could resist screaming in their mind.


    A week to complete a 4-month ship voyage is too absurd for them to believe. No one could help but laugh. Even the Princess chuckled with a hand over her mouth.


    ¡°Lord Aaron, your jokes are top class even among nobles and royalty¡±.


    Aaron smiled and replied without blinking his eyes.


    ¡°That wasn¡¯t a joke¡±.


    ¡°What¡­¡±


    The Princess¡¯s words were cut off as the legs started moving even faster and after a few seconds the castle was already moving faster than the fastest ship the Empyrean navy could offer. This caused everyone to choke on the words they were about to say and stand quietly wondering why they didn¡¯t feel the wind. The speed of the castle was now so fast they couldn¡¯t even find anything to compare it to because they have never seen something moving this fast and even the huge legs were moving so fast one would think they could break at any moment.


    ¡°We should arrive in around 18 hours!¡±


    Aarons abrupt shout brought everyone back to reality and let them realise just how fast the castle was. A 40-day journey on the floating ship, which could ignore all terrain, done in 18 hours was something no one here has ever imagined possible.


    ¡°How do you know how long it will take us my lord? You just asked me for directions¡±. The Princess asked curiously.


    ¡°After you showed me the direction I remembered what this Triton Empire of yours is. The name Triton sounded quite familiar, but I couldn¡¯t quite remember. When you showed me the direction I realised where you were leading me. Isn¡¯t this Triton Empire just little old Triton kingdom that grew up and took over the continent? It must be. I guess old Balthazar really took my advice to heart and went and took over the entire place¡±. Aaron answered with a little nostalgia in his voice.


    ¡°Triton kingdom? Balthazar? That was the first Emperor of Triton Empire, the founder and conqueror of the entire continent!¡± the Princess shouted.


    ¡°So, he managed it in his lifetime? That¡¯s great to hear, he was a good drinking buddy of mine. I was only a few hundred years old back then and still hadn¡¯t found a place to settle down, just wondering from one continent to the next looking for some excitement and adventure¡±. Aaron reminisced about his past as a sudden shout interrupted him.


    ¡°A few hundred? You must be a least 200 thousand years old now, how is that possible?!¡± the Princess screamed.


    ¡°I think you¡¯ll find I¡¯m a little older than that¡±. Aaron said amused.


    ¡°The Empire has had 252 Emperors and the bloodline of the Emperor allows everyone in the family to reach the age of 800 year before the protection of the bloodline disappears leaving about half a year before death. So, if you knew the first Emperor who was said to have lived for over 1000 then you must be over 2 hundred thousand years old¡±. Said the Princess with a blank face looking at Aaron.


    ¡°That may be true. But I¡¯ve spent prolonged periods of time in different worlds and came back here mere seconds after leaving. What this means is that my body is a lot older by this worlds time¡±.


    ¡°Wow now I feel really old¡±. Said Aaron with a sheepish grin.


    ¡°Old is an understatement. Ancient would probably be closer¡±. Added Rodger.


    ¡°Ouch¡±. Laughed Aaron.


    ¡°But I heard crossing worlds and dimensions takes enormous amounts of mana and a high level in Space and Time magic¡±. asked the Princess looking interestedly at Aaron.


    ¡°It does indeed. In fact, crossing dimensions is exactly the reason I built this castle. The entire thing is made from a mixture of mithril, orichalcum and a combination of darkstone and gold for that shiny look¡±.


    ¡°Darkstone?¡± asked Rodger having never heard of the metal Aaron gust mentioned.


    ¡°It¡¯s a strange metal I found on my first trip to a different world. The planet I ended up on had this stuff under the planets crust instead of magma so the volcanoes over there spat tons of the stuff onto the surface. The interesting thing I found out about this metal is that it has the innate ability to absorb huge quantities of mana very quickly¡±. Explained Aaron.


    ¡°Absorb mana? How is that possible?¡± Asked the Princess.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell you. I tried everything I could on it, but nothing works. Even identification spells don¡¯t work on it because it absorbs the mana from them¡±. Aaron was very interested in the properties of the metal too but no matter what he tried the metal would not reveal its secrets.


    ¡°The only thing I know about it is that the inhabitants of the planet called it darkstone because it would absorb the mana from everything around it, including any nearby sun stones making the area around them darker. Want to try it out? We could do with a little entertainment along the way¡±. Aaron excitedly explained everything he knew and even offered a demonstration.


    ¡°That would be interesting to see¡±. The Princess was now equally interested in the foreign metal.


    Aaron turned around and shouted to Guardian.


    ¡°Get up here and bring out the Aegis¡±.


    ¡°Wait a minute. Aegis? Like the legend rank earth defence spell?¡± the Princess asked after heading the name of a very high rank and difficult to learn spell.


    ¡°Yeah, I couldn¡¯t think of a better name for it. You¡¯ll see why soon¡±. Aaron answered while watching Guardian arrive in front of him.


    Guardian turned on the spot to face the throne and lowered herself closer to the floor. A slight hissing sound escaped as the back of Guardian¡¯s carapace split open. Under the armoured exoskeleton was a detached arm looking like Aaron¡¯s current one. This arm however, unlike the arm he had now this one was several times larger.


    The arm had a huge hand and forearm making it look like the hand of a giant demon. The back of the hand and forearm were covered by innumerable spikes and thorns of varying sizes.


    ¡°Why so many spikes?¡± the Princess had previously seen a pair of brawling gauntlets and knew that some on the knuckles and on the back of the hand could help increase the damage done to the opponent and help with blocking and diverting strikes from the opponent. But the number and density of spikes on the large arm was too high to serve any practical purpose.


    ¡°Those are there to create as much surface area as possible. The more of the metal is in contact with the air around you the faster it absorbs mana. And I just thought it might scare some people into not firing at me in the first place¡±. Said Aaron as tiny robotic arms rose out of Guardian¡¯s back and detached his arm from his shoulder before attaching the Aegis.


    After Aegis was properly attached Aaron rolled his right shoulder and checked the movements of the arm. Him moving the shoulder joint, elbow joint and wrist joint at the same time created a strange image for the soldiers and Princess to see. After checking the arm, he moved to the hand, opening, and closing the huge hand repeatedly made slight grinding noises as the fingers rubbed against each other. Having finished his checks and finding the results satisfactory he nodded to himself and looked at his guests, who had been watching him the entire time.


    ¡°Now that I¡¯m done, why don¡¯t we have some fun?¡± he said with a smile.


    ¡°And this fun would be what exactly?¡± Rodger asked, slightly worried for the Princess¡¯s wellbeing.


    ¡°Just a few demonstrations¡±. Aaron waved his question away with a quick answer.


    ¡°Now then Princess, how good is your aiming with your basic level spells?¡±


    ¡°Better than most people in the Capital!¡± proudly exclaimed the Princess.


    ¡°Good, then shoot me¡±. Aaron said with a smile.


    ¡°Shoot you? But what if¡­¡±


    ¡°No but. Just shoot. You¡¯ll see what I mean¡±. Aaron¡¯s smile grew with every second already knowing the outcome.


    ¡°As you wish then. But don¡¯t blame me if you get hurt!¡± the Princess shouted while creating a half-metre wide fireball and launched it at Aaron.


    Aaron stood with a huge smile and extended his right arm. The fingers of the huge hand uncurled and the hand opened fully. The fireball started shrinking as it flew towards the palm and fizzed out of existence before even getting within a metre of Aaron.


    ¡°How??¡± the Princess asked disbelievingly.


    ¡°Darkstone. This arm is made mostly of darkstone meaning any attacks containing mana will be sucked dry just by getting near it¡±. The smile on Aaron¡¯s face was ever-present and only served to annoy the proud Princess. Her learning speed and rate of improvement were said to be legendary within the Capital. Losing to a piece of rock was out of the question.


    ¡°Another one!¡± the Princess was too proud to let it go.


    A slightly larger and hotter ball of fire conjured by the Princess flew towards Aaron while he simply stood with his arm still out waiting for it.


    The same scene played for over 20 times and the Princess was still no closer to hitting Aaron than when she started. In fact, the soldiers watching could see that the fireballs were disappearing earlier and earlier on their way towards Aaron. A clear indication to the fact that the princess was using less and less control on her fireballs to increase the rate at which she can create and fire them. After another 80 fireballs, the Princess was breathing heavily and the hand she used to launch the fireballs was shaking from exhaustion.


    ¡°That¡­ Is one amazing rock¡±.


    The Princess huffed tiredly while praising the metal.


    ¡°OK, I would say that is enough for today¡±.


    Aaron noticed the signs of mana exhaustion on the Princess and decided to stop her before she falls unconscious from lack of mana.


    ¡°I¡­¡±


    ¡°That sounds like an excellent idea¡±. Rodger interrupted when the Princess was about to refuse, giving her a meaningful look.


    ¡°Yes, it does¡±. The Princess sighed and gave up.


    Aaron thought of something to help her relax and recover. He had just the thing.


    ¡°So, you guys listen to music often?¡± Aaron asked with a smile.


    ¡°No, musical instruments are very rare and very few people know how to make them so music itself is even rarer. Singing is very popular among adventurers and travellers but again that usually happens without music. Why are you asking so suddenly?¡± the Princess asked confused once again.


    ¡°Well I¡¯ll be. Music is rare now? How is that possible? Including all the ones I made for Balthazar, there should be thousands of instruments in his personal collection. What happened to all of them?¡± asked Aaron in turn.


    ¡°Never heard of something like a personal instrument collection of the first Emperor. My guess would be that the first Emperor either forgot to tell anyone about it or it was lost in some kind of battle along the years¡±. Rodger answered with a pondering expression.


    ¡°You¡¯re probably right. He never was the kind to hide his entertainment from others. Especially family and close friends. That¡¯s how I found out anyway. He personally played on every instrument he owned just for me. Can you imagine my surprise? In 200 years, he learned how to play the guitar, violin, trumpet, sax, and flute. But what surprised me the most was how quickly he picked up the instruments I brought with me which he had never seen before. In just 2 years we were playing together as well as any traveling band¡±. Aaron laughs and sighs remembering the time he spent with the old king.


    ¡°Do¡­ you perhaps¡­ still remember how to play? I would love to hear someone playing music as old as the first Emperor¡±. The Princess asked with interest.


    ¡°Sure, I can. Let me just grab a few things¡±. Aaron said with a smile.


    Seconds later a spider bot climbed the walls of the throne room to where the group were and started looking at the stairs to the throne. Aaron tapped his foot on the floor causing one of the steps to let out a burst of steam and slowly open. Out of the hidden compartment came a guitar. The spider bot carefully picked it up and scurried up the stairs to Aaron handing him the guitar. Aaron looked at the guitar with nostalgic eyes and spoke softly surprising everyone.


    ¡°How you doing old friend? It¡¯s been a long time, hasn¡¯t it? Let¡¯s show our guests what you can do¡±.


    Aaron slowly pressed his left-hand fingers to the strings and strummed the strings with his metal hand. The strings vibrated and produced a sound so beautiful and clear it seemed to come from every direction at once.


    ¡°You like that? Huh? Doesn¡¯t sound too bad, right?¡± Aaron had a confident smirk while talking.


    The Princess and soldiers couldn¡¯t come up with the words to describe what they just heard.


    [Musical instruments can sound this good? Is this what a musical instrument sounds like in the hands of a person who knows what to do with it?]


    ¡°That¡­ was amazing. I¡¯ve never heard an instrument create sounds like that¡±. The Princess finally broke out of her daze and answered with interest.


    ¡°Do you have any other instruments here that you can play?¡± Rodger asked excitedly, after all he had never heard music before.


    ¡°Sure, bring me the violin¡±. Aaron answered as he tapped his foot on the floor again and another step opened revealing violin.


    The spider bot that gave Aaron the guitar took it back to its place and closed the step before shuffling in the direction of the violin which was now being inspected by the Princess and all the soldiers. The spider bot picked the violin out of its spot in the hidden space and lifted it to Aaron, who proceeded to play a calm soothing piece that almost put the Princess and soldiers to sleep.


    ¡°That was beautiful¡±. Sid the Princess with sleepy eyes.


    Voices of agreement sounded from all the soldiers, some already slumped on the steps ready to fall asleep. Hearing this Aaron nodded to himself in content and gave the violin back to the spider bot to put away.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you enjoyed it¡±. Aaron said with a happy smile.


    ¡°Come on guys, no sleeping, were nearly there¡±. Shouted the drowsy Princess at the soldiers.


    ¡°You can all take a nap. I can slow down or stop to let you guys rest for a while¡±. Aaron mentioned while looking at the half-opened eyes of the Princess.


    ¡°That would be nice but were already near the Capital of the Empire. how could we just stop in the middle of the road and sleep?¡± asked the Princess worried about the people living around the capital.


    ¡°Like this¡±. Said Aaron as the 8 huge legs supporting the castle slowed down and glowing turquoise rings appeared on them.


    ¡°What¡­¡± the Princess began to ask before being cut off by Aaron.


    ¡°A cloaking device¡±.


    ¡°Cloak? But it¡¯s not cold or snowing or raining either. What does that have to do with any of this?¡± asked Rodger not quite sure what this device was supposed to do.


    ¡°It makes the castle invisible from the outside¡±. Aaron casually said.


    ¡°Right¡±. The Princess said with a blank face.


    ¡°Another long-forgotten magic used just like that, as if it didn¡¯t mean anything¡±. Continued the Princess.


    ¡°Long-forgotten? It¡¯s very simple to do with an easy mix of Light and Water magic. It¡¯s nothing special¡±. Aaron answered confused.


    ¡°Really?¡± the Princess was surprised at the answer. Invisibility was supposed to be a top tier Space magic, hiding the caster or target in a fold in space. It is supposed to be very difficult to learn and even harder to use, requiring a lot of mana for just a few seconds of hiding. Yet Aaron used it to cover the entire castle like it was nothing and even said he knew a separate way to cast it without space magic. This was great news for the Princess. She could use Fire, Water, Earth, and Light magic but had never been able to learn Space or Time magic due to the difficulty. Out of the 15 elements of magic Earth, Fire, Water and Wind are the easiest to learn and master, next are Lightning, Ice, Light and Darkness. The hardest and most dangerous are Life, Order, Death, Chaos, Void, Space and Time. These, if mastered, could become very powerful or cause the caster many problems due to their unpredictable nature.


    ¡°Could you teach me how to do it?¡± asked the Princess curiously.


    ¡°Can you use Light and Water magic?¡± Aaron asked looking at the Princess.


    The Princess didn¡¯t say anything and instead closed her eyes. On her open palms appeared a small floating globe of water and a small light ball.


    She opened her eyes and with a smile asked.


    ¡°Can I?¡±


    ¡°Then you have yourself a nap¡¯s worth of time to learn a spell that takes about a day to learn to a usable level.¡± Said Aaron while opening his left hand to reveal tens of tiny water and light balls floating just above his palm.


    ¡°Better get to it then, Teacher.¡±


    ¡°First fuse the Light and Water.¡±


    ¡°But wouldn¡¯t that just make glowing water?¡±


    ¡°It does indeed. However, that is simply the first step.¡±


    ¡°So, like this?¡± Asked Catherine while holding up a small, trembling ball of glowing blue water.


    ¡°Yes, like this.¡± Mocked Aaron while surrounding himself in a nebula of glowing water.


    ¡°No fair, you already knew how to do it.¡± Pouted the princess.


    ¡°The more you make the easier it is to control.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    ¡°Ooh wow, your right.¡± Catharine said while increasing the size of the glowing water ball.


    ¡°Now you use it to create a shell around yourself and make it bend the incoming light around you.¡± Aaron covered himself in a water bubble and vanished.


    ¡°How do I make it bend the light?¡±


    ¡°Imagine the light as enemy arrows and the shell as a shield. The incoming arrows bounce off your shield and tell the enemy your behind it. But if you were to catch the arrows and throw them behind you they wouldn¡¯t know if they hit or missed.¡± Aaron¡¯s voice explained from behind her.


    ¡°Catch and throw behind instead of deflect?¡±


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I see. Thank you that makes a lot more sense than just being told to bend light.¡±

 Chapter 2-Meeting the Triton Family

    The invisible castle stood on a small hill overlooking a valley, in which Triton Capital stood proudly like a guardian blocking entry into the mountains beyond it.


    On top of the throne room where the floor had raised to replace the roof a group of 50 soldiers slept on the floor like corpses, put to sleep by the sound of the violin.


    ¡°I DID IT!¡± a sudden scream jolts everyone awake.


    ¡°What?!¡± Rodger, the Princess¡¯s personal butler and leader of her support team, was the first on his feet with his sword and shield ready. He looked around, trying to figure out what just happened and where he was. Then he remembered, he remembered the castle and Lord Aaron. He remembered the castle moving on its spider legs and the music Aaron had played for them. He looked at the throne only to find it empty. He also couldn¡¯t find the Princess anywhere.


    ¡°You did great. You¡¯re a natural at magic.¡± A voice sounded out from nowhere.


    ¡°You honour me with your words, my lord.¡± A second voice sounding like the Princess said.


    ¡°Princess? Lord Aaron? Where are you? I can hear you but cannot see you.¡± Rodger asked worried.


    ¡°Ooh sorry.¡± The Princess¡¯s voice came again and with it a blurry image of her body slowly crept into existence before him.


    At the same time, Aaron appeared on the throne catching all the soldiers off guard and scaring them.


    ¡°How did you do that Princess? I thought invisibility was one of the things you couldn¡¯t learn because it needed affinity with Space magic, which you don¡¯t have.¡± Rodger asked with excitement in his voice.


    ¡°Lord Aaron kindly showed me a different method of doing it using Light and Water magic. Can you believe it? I learned an invisibility spell!¡± the Princess¡¯s excitement could be seen radiating from her as she faded from sight again.


    ¡°That¡¯s great Princess. Thank you, Lord Aaron, for making the Princess this happy. It has been a long time since I saw her this happy about learning something new.¡± Rodger said as he bowed deeply towards Aaron.


    ¡°It was no big deal. She is a very good student and learns very quickly. I barely had to do anything. Just showed her how to mix Light and Water and told her how to use it to bend the light around herself.¡± Aaron answered with a smile, while his eyes were still locked on the Princess who turned invisible again, dancing around the soldiers. She was poking them and undoing the straps on their armour causing random bits to fall to the ground.


    ¡°OK Princess that¡¯s enough for now. The soldiers will never feel safe around you again if you continue with the pranks.¡± Aaron said as Rodgers pants fell on the ground with a clank.


    ¡°Yes Princess, please stop!¡± all the soldiers pleaded in unison.


    ¡°OK, I¡¯ll stop now.¡± The Princess said as her figure blurred back into reality and solidified back into her appearance.


    ¡°Ok, now that the fun is over I would like to ask you to look down into the valley and tell me if that is your Capital.¡± Aaron asked pointing at the huge white city bellow them.


    The Princess and soldiers turned to where he was pointing and nodded their heads in unison.


    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it.¡± Replied the Princess.


    ¡°Good.¡± Aaron now had a mysterious smile and clapped his hands twice.


    The floor beneath them began to slowly lower back into the hall and the roof closed again making it look as if nothing had changed since they came here the first time. With another clap, the mithril plates hovered in the air once more providing light to the hall.


    ¡°Now then, I know that if my castle suddenly shows up and heads for the Capital it would cause a panic. So, we¡¯ll do this my way.¡± Aaron smiled and produced a piece of parchment paper and feather pen handing it to the Princess.


    ¡°Write a letter to your father, say that you have investigated the castle and that the owner is here to meet him. And make it as believable as possible, we don¡¯t want him thinking you went crazy and saw a ghost or something.¡± Aaron smiled after saying so.


    ¡°Right. Give me a moment.¡± The Princess started writing quickly and finished in a few minutes.


    ¡°There. It¡¯s done. But how do you plan to get it there. It would be quicker to go there by horse.¡± The Princess asked curiously.


    ¡°Come with me, all of you.¡± Aaron said as he got up and walked to the main entrance of the throne room.


    ¡°Where you going to take us this time?¡± the Princess asked.


    ¡°Just to one of the towers with some long-range observation equipment.¡± Aaron said without a care.


    ¡°No idea what that means, but it sounds useful.¡± The Princess said.


    ¡°It is.¡± Aaron replied.


    After a few corridors and a lot of stairs they reached the top of one of the castle towers. Behind the heavy wood door was a room full of monitors displaying various parts of the castle and what looked like the amount of mana each section was producing or using. The largest monitor in the middle of the room showed a massive device with numerous pipes and thick cables running to and from it.


    The screen showed a small string of numbers fluctuating between 1 million and 3 million mana per second meaning that the thing on the screen generated as much mana as a battle mage would use in 300 lifetimes, of 500 years each, every second. The numbers scared everyone into shock.


    ¡°What is that?¡± the Princess asked in a shaking voice while pointing at the largest monitor.


    ¡°That? That¡¯s just the castles secondary mana generator. I use it when the castle is in low consumption mode and doesn¡¯t need the main generators output.¡± Aaron said something ridiculous again.


    ¡°And this main generator produces more mana than this secondary one?¡± asked Rodger.


    ¡°Ooh yeah. A lot more. But I only use it if I need the castle wide shield at full power or if one of my experiments goes wrong and I need to use the time reversing array to fix something.¡± Aaron didn¡¯t know why they were all shaking so much.


    ¡°So how much mana does this other generator produce?¡± asked the Princess having calmed down a little.


    ¡°Depends on my needs. But I¡¯ve also never tested the limits. The most I made it output was about 300 million mana per second. Why?¡± the moment Aaron finished speaking everyone in the room apart from him fainted.


    ¡°What the¡­¡± Aaron was confused. Was it the stairs? Were they that tired from the walk?


    ¡°Please enough with the ridiculousness.¡± The Princess said after she woke up an hours later.


    ¡°Why is it ridiculous? I needed to use the castles main cannon to clear a path through a horde of giant worms in another world, so I used the main generator to make sure it had enough power to get through them all.¡± Aaron said pondering and reminiscing about his past.


    ¡°I¡¯m not even going to ask.¡± The Princess said exasperated.


    ¡°So, back to the reason were here. Why don¡¯t you use this right here? Show me where your father is most likely to be.¡± Aaron said pointing at a small screen showing the palace in the middle of Triton Capital.


    ¡°That would be this room right here, it¡¯s a large room without walls. The ceiling is held up by the marble pillars and is used for meetings with the druid council. They had it built like that to let more nature in, is what they said.¡± Said the Princess after looking at the screen for a few seconds and pointed at a row of tall pillars holding up a decorated roof.


    ¡°Very good.¡± Aaron smiled.


    ¡°So why do you need this?¡± asked the Princess.


    ¡°Got your letter?¡± Aaron asked.


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s right here.¡± Said the princess as she pulled the rolled-up parchment paper out of the inside of her armoured gauntlet.


    ¡°Great.¡± Aaron tool the letter and snapped his fingers.


    The sound of skittering claws could be heard from down the stairs and a few seconds later a waist height spider bot walked into the room with a foot-long crossbow bolt and what looked to be a larger version of Aaron¡¯s original arm.


    ¡°And that is?¡± asked the Princess as she pointed at the arm.


    ¡°One of my other arms.¡± Answered Aaron as he neared the spider and extended his right arm taking the bolt and tying the letter to the shaft just behind the barbed head.


    The spiders back carapace opened letting loose a few thin mechanical arms that quickly reached up to Aarons shoulder and deftly detached his arm from it.


    ¡°That looks painful.¡± Whispered Ryan to Rodger.


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Rodger replied while staring at the little arms lift the second arm and just as quickly attach it.


    ¡°There we go.¡± Aaron laughed as he rolled his shoulders and walked over to the door to the rooms balcony. Once there he loaded the bolt into his arm through the hole at the end where the wrist should be and pointed towards the palace.


    ¡°Wait! You don¡¯t plan to¡­¡± the Princesses next words were drowned out by a loud hiss of air and the sonic boom of the bolt breaking the sound barrier.


    ¡°Yes, I do.¡± Laughed Aaron.


    ¡°Wow. He got it right in the middle of the hall.¡± Rodger and Ryan looked at the screen and then at each other. The princess heard them and looked at the screen. Aaron walked over and pressed a button on the side of the screen making it zoom in. On the screen, the image of a bolt imbedded in the floor in the middle of the large room could be seen. As well as the guards running around and the panicking nobles.


    ¡°Looks like my uncanny ability to mess up big meetings hasn¡¯t left me yet!¡± Aaron laughed as he saw the people in the hall.


    ¡°That was dangerous!¡± shouted the Princess with teary eyes.


    ¡°Yeah, it was. What if someone walked in before the bolt got there? Or if the Emperor stood up from his seat? The power behind that bolt was probably enough to pierce the shields and armour the shield bearers wear a few times over.¡± Added Rodger.


    Aaron just laughed and scratched the back of his head before speaking.


    ¡°The Emperor just sat down so he was in no danger at all and there was no one behind the door to the room either so, it was all fine.¡±


    ¡°How can you know that?¡± the Princess calmed down a little after hearing this but was still curious as to how Aaron could have possibly known that.


    ¡°I used the void sight of my right eye.¡± Aaron answered while looking at the group in the room showing his completely pitch black right eye.


    ¡°And what is this void sight?¡± asked the Princess having never heard of such a spell.


    ¡°It¡¯s a Void magic spell that allows me to look through the void at a distant target of my choice.¡±


    ¡°That sounds convenient.¡± Commented the Princess.


    ¡°It is, considering the fact the eye itself is blind.¡±


    As the Princess looked closely she could see the slight glint in the eye. This let Aaron see the world in a completely unique way. Instead of seeing things from his perspective, void sight allowed him to look at distant places through the endless void. Almost like looking through a keyhole. However, he could only see a narrowed image of the place he wanted to check.


    ¡°Why is the eye completely black?¡± the Princess asked not understanding what the eye had to do with seeing that far.


    ¡°It¡¯s what happens when you use too much Dark, Death, Void, Space and Chaos magic spells on your eyes. It takes your normal sight from the eyes and instead gives you greater control over magic spells.¡± Aaron answered with a bitter smile.


    ¡°But I learned the void vision spell beforehand, so it was not too bad. Plus, now I have my left eye. This left eye, which I got as a gift from a dear friend, can see perfectly.¡± Aaron said happily.


    ¡°A gift? The left eye? How does one get gifted a left eye?¡± Ryan asked a little disgusted.


    ¡°When the one bestowing the gift is a dying Dragon God, one can never guess what they will get.¡± Aaron answered with a little longing and sadness in his voice.


    ¡°Dragon God?! You met The Dragon God?¡± shouted the Princess disbelievingly.


    ¡°Not ¡®The¡¯. I met ¡®A¡¯ Dragon God.¡± Aaron corrected.


    ¡°A Dragon God? But the Dragon God is the god and creator of dragons. How can there be multiple?¡± the Princess asked no longer understanding what he was talking about.


    ¡°Not multiple. Just the same one repeatedly.¡± Aaron answered as simply as he could.


    ¡°Wait. So¡­ Reincarnation?¡± Rodger asked.


    ¡°More like the rebirth cycle of a phoenix. He dies, his body burns itself into ashes and he emerges from the ashes in a younger body with some memories missing.¡± Aaron corrected Rodger.


    ¡°How do you know all this?¡± the Princess was now very interested in the matter.


    ¡°I was there when it happened. So, I asked him what just happened, and he explained that there is no true immortality without complete mastery of Time magic. Even the body of a Dragon God can¡¯t survive for ever. So, he found a way to use Fire and Light magic to set up a never-ending loop of burning his old body to ashes using Fire magic and then quickly creating a new body from the ashes using Light magic.¡± Aaron explained briefly.


    ¡°Something like that is possible?¡± asked Rodger not quite believing something so strange.


    ¡°For him and a few others, yes. For anyone else, no. It has to do with his god level soul being able to quickly activate the spell formation branded on it before it disperses into the either.¡± Aaron glossed over most of the information to keep it simple.


    ¡°Anyway, it looks like the Emperor got your letter Princess. He is sending a company of knights towards the castle on horseback to guide us.¡± Aaron said as he looked through the void into the hall in which the Emperor was giving out orders.


    ¡°That¡¯s great, I knew he¡¯d believe me if I said I found a descendant of the owner.¡± The Princess revealed part of what she wrote in the letter.


    ¡°So, that¡¯s why he believed it so easily.¡± Aaron laughed.


    ¡°Yes, I tried sticking as close to the truth as possible but some parts of you have to be seen to be believed.¡± Answered the Princess with a smile.


    ¡°I guess after living for so long by myself a lot of the common sense of this world has escaped me.¡± Aaron commented dryly.


    ¡°Yes, it has.¡± The Princess added.


    ¡°A company of knights have just left the gates of the Capital.¡± Ryan shouted as he turned back from looking at the screen showing the outer walls and gates of the Capital.


    ¡°Good. Let¡¯s get ready to leave.¡± Aaron said lightly.


    The group left the tower and headed back to the entrance hall that the Princess¡¯s group used to get into the castle after landing the floating ship in the courtyard.


    The hall is devoid of any decorations save for a large diamond chandelier. The rest of the hall is empty and even the stairs in the middle lack any splendour. However, what the hall lacked in luxury it made up in the materials it was made from. The walls of the large entrance hall, just like the rest of the castle, are made of a combination of gold and darkstone. This gave the walls a solid black colour with golden lines running here, there and everywhere. The gold looks like golden veins on the black walls and gives the castle the look of being alive. Combined with the spider legs currently carrying it, it really looked like a gigantic spider. The floor of the hall is made of shiny, reflective mithril just like the rest of the floors in the castle. But the floor in the hall gives off a faint glow. The faint glow is spread by the chandelier all over the hall and reflected again by the shiny mithril floor creating a never-ending loop of light illuminating the hall brightly.


    Outside, the cloaking device on the castle¡¯s legs powers down. The castle is slowly revealed in all its black and gold glory to the incoming knights and soldiers on the walls watching for the guests that are supposed to arrive soon.


    The sudden appearance of the castle startles the horses, knights and soldiers on watch. The horses try to run away by throwing the knights off. The knights try to suppress the terror rising at the sight of the huge, creepy looking castle while trying to stay on the horses. The soldiers on watch are scared stiff, having never seen something like this happen before they had no idea what to do.


    They delivered the news to the guard captain who in turn reported the news to the Emperor. The Emperor read the letter and knew the castle was hidden on the hill top but when he arrived at one of the balconies facing the valley entrance, he was stunned at the sight. An enormous, creepy, black and gold castle carried on 8 equally huge and creepy spider legs. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight. He then spotted the floating ship belonging to the second Princess within the walls of the castle and couldn¡¯t help but be worried.


    What had she seen? Who had she met? Who could be the owner of such a strange looking place? All his thoughts were directed towards his second daughter¡¯s safety when he spotted the knights he sent with the instructions of guiding the Princes and the guest to a place where they could leave the castle.


    ¡°There¡¯s no areas large enough for that monstrosity of a castle anywhere near the Capital. Where should we tell him to settle? This is going to be troublesome.¡± Sighed the Emperor.


    At the same time in the castle.


    The Princess¡¯s group waited at the gates for the knight escort to arrive and lead them to a place they could leave the castle.


    Aaron was in a different tart of the castle. In a room in the centre of the castle¡¯s basement Aaron was looking at the approaching knights with his void sight while using a console in the middle of the room. He was pulling levers and pressing buttons on a large console in the white room. The lights on the console turned from red to yellow, indicating that whatever it is, it is ready to use but not on. The room became noisy as the sound of devices powering on reached into it from a corridor leading to a bigger room. Inside the spacious room sits a strange device. The device is a mixture of rocks, crystals and metal parts. The whole device is connected to thick chains leading straight into the floor of the room as well as several spell formations engraved onto the floor, walls and ceiling. The chains also had strengthening runes and resistance runes carved into each separate link making the chain virtually unbreakable.


    As the device awakens from its dormant state the sealing anti-gravity spell also activates, keeping the effects of the device within a close proximity of itself. The anti-gravity spell used on the device was a powerful and annoying spell if used against an opposing mage. The gravity well created by the spell is powerful enough to stop even the strongest of physical fighters in place. In addition to the power of the gravity well the spell is also self-sustaining, sucking in mana from the surroundings and the target making it impossible for enemy mages to escape. The spell in the large room seems to be sustaining itself just from the device it was enclosing.


    The group at the gate finally met with the knight escort and began talking while waiting for the most important person, Aaron, to arrive.


    Seeing the knights at the gate Aaron used a combination of Void and Space magic to instantly teleport into the entrance hall before making his way over to the gate to meet the knights.


    Meanwhile in the royal palace in the Capital.


    ¡°Father! I heard sister Catharine is back! Where is she?¡± a cheerful yet mature female voice rang out from behind the Emperor.


    ¡°Over there.¡± Said the Emperor as he lifted a hand to point at the huge castle on the hill at the entrance to the valley without turning to look who it was. He knew the voice of his first daughter, Jade, very well.


    ¡°Eeek! Such a creepy thing. What is that, Father?¡± asked Jade.


    ¡°Apparently, it¡¯s the castle that belonged to the man who helped the first Emperor conquer the continent.¡± Answered the Emperor, not quite believing his own words.


    ¡°Wow. That thing must be old then. Right? Like, at least 200 thousand years old. How is it still in one piece and in such undamaged state? And more importantly, why is it at the valley entrance?¡± Jade flooded her father with questions.


    ¡°Jade, calm down. Remember what we agreed on? One question at a time.¡± George sighed, not knowing what to do with his overly enthusiastic daughter.


    ¡°I remember father. Ok then, why is it here? I heard it would take little sis 40 days to get near it even with the speed of the floating ship.¡± Jade, now less giddy and with slower words, asked.


    ¡°Well, the letter, delivered by what we called express air delivery for lack of better words, sent by your sister said that¡­ well, it walked¡­ or rather ran here, and very quickly too from what we read.¡± The Emperor had to take a few pauses to finish telling Jade the story.


    ¡°Walked? Ran here? That¡¯s ridiculous. Don¡¯t tell me sis has gone crazy¡­¡± Jade¡¯s sentence was cut short by the sight of the castle on the hill slowly making its way down into the valley using its 8 huge legs.


    ¡°¡°Ooh¡±¡± Both father and daughter let out a weird sound at the same time after witnessing the castle walk with their own eyes.


    ¡°Well¡­ Looks true enough to me.¡± Said Jade with a small voice as if still processing what she just saw.


    ¡°Well¡­ It is true. The whole damn thing moves like a spider. Interesting.¡± The Emperor muttered lost in thought.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    ¡°Jade? Where should we tell them to leave the castle? It has to be close enough so they can get to the palace quickly but also has to be out of the way.¡± Asked the Emperor, not sure if he could come up with an idea quickly enough.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid there is no such place within the Capital father. It¡¯s too big and the Capital is too densely populated for that to even take a step in here without destroying at least a few houses with each move.¡± Said Jade worried.


    ¡°True. It¡¯ll have to stay outside of the Capital. Otherwise there¡¯s no telling the damage it would cause.¡± Said the Emperor.


    As the castle slowly followed the knights on horseback and got closer more details of the castle became visible. The 12 towering spires. The low, no more than 10 metres tall, castle wall. The enormous size of the castle itself. Adding in the fascinating materials the whole thing was made of, this castle was like a walking treasure. In functionality, design and value of materials it was created from the castle could beat any royal palace, castle or keep without trouble.


    The closer it got to the Capital, the clearer and louder its footfalls sounded. This got the attention of many residents of the Capital as the valley was normally very peaceful and quite due to the fact the Triton Empire controlled the whole continent. No enemies meant no war. This made the citizens very happy. No sending husbands and sons to never see them again. No loosing relatives in bloody conflict. Low taxes thanks to the growth and stability. These are all the things they thanked the hero who helped the First Emperor for. Who would have thought that the hero would return after such a long time and on top of it all have no idea how he helped the first Emperor?


    The castle neared the 100-metre-tall castle wall and stopped. The legs lowered to let the gate rest near the ground and let the princess¡¯s group out.


    ¡°I will be joining you soon, I just have something to take care of before leaving the castle.¡±


    Aaron told the Princess as he turned around from the departing group and headed back into the castle.


    ¡°Ok¡­¡±


    The Princess at this point was talking more to herself than anyone else as Aaron had already left and teleported back to the centre room in the castle basement.


    When the Princess and her group of soldiers and knight escort were on the ground, the castle raised itself back up onto its legs and shook slightly.


    The castle began to slowly rise into the air. First it was only a tiny bit with the bottom of the legs just above the ground. But as the legs folded under the castle and glowed a slight purple colour the castle began rising higher and higher. When the castle reached a height that allowed it to safely pass over the wall it stopped its upward movement and slowly floated towards the royal palace. That day the entire Capital stopped and stared at the strange sigh seen for the first time ever.


    The second Princess was the first to break out of stupor and realised the now floating castle would get to the palace before them if they didn¡¯t hurry.


    ¡°We have to go! Otherwise lord Aaron will get there first!¡±


    If Aaron got to the palace first and was found by the Emperor, Jade or any of her brothers she probably wouldn¡¯t get to see him again.


    After the Princess¡¯s shout, the soldiers and knights quickly began moving in the direction of the palace. The castle¡¯s air journey across the Capital¡¯s sky was closely watched by the Emperor and Jade next to him.


    ¡°¡± Wow¡±¡± the Emperor and Jade were awed by the capabilities of the strange castle.


    ¡°Can I¡­¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    The Emperor cut of Jade who was about to ask something stupid again.


    ¡°But¡­¡±


    ¡°We said no.¡±


    The Emperor was still calm even with the persistence of his oldest child.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s still a no.¡±


    The Emperor left no room for Jade to argue.


    ¡°Fine.¡±


    Jade left after one last look at the castle floating leisurely, like a cloud, towards the palace.


    ¡°Jeffrey, bring us all the ancestral records left by the first and second Emperors.¡± The Emperor spoke, seemingly to himself.


    ¡°As you wish, Sire.¡±


    A gruff voice came from a shadowy corner behind the curtains covering part of the doorway leading to the balcony.


    Seconds later the sound of a book falling on a desk is heard from behind the curtains. The Emperor turns his back on the floating castle with some difficulty and heads to search in the book. He is searching for any clues to the castle¡¯s ability to float. The book has no mention of a castle at all. When the hero arrived at Triton Kingdom he had nothing with him and arrived on foot. The book describes him as a large man with long gold hair and a strange metal right arm. No mention of a castle.


    ¡°The castle was built after the battle with the demons.¡± The Emperor concluded after finding nothing in the book of the second Emperor.


    ¡°It would appear so, Sire.¡±


    ¡°Have you read these before?¡± asked the Emperor curiously.


    ¡°Only parts I managed to glimpse from your reading, Sire.¡± The butler answered after a pause.


    ¡°Well¡­ Don¡¯t just stand there, help an old man find some clues.¡± Said the Emperor with a jolly tone.


    ¡°As you wish, my lord.¡± The faithful butler answered as he walked over to the Emperor¡¯s side to pick up one of the other books to aid in the search.


    In another part of the royal palace.


    ¡°Big brother, do you see that? What do you think it is?¡± A young, around 15 years old, violet haired boy shouted while hopping around and pointing at the floating castle.


    The man beside the boy looked like an older, more mature version of him with similar but shorter violet hair and a small violet goatee.


    ¡°It must be the present father prepared for my 25<sup>st</sup> birthday. I¡¯m sure of it. It must be.¡± Said the older one with a hand on his hairy chin while talking and nodding in admiration.


    ¡°Wow! It¡¯s so cool! How does it do that?! It¡¯s just like a cloud! Accept black and metal and scary looking and fast!¡± the boy kept going on and on without pause.


    ¡°It sure is. Father must have had it made with intimidating enemy forces in mind.¡± The older one said nodding again.


    From the door to the room another male voice sounded. This one slightly deeper and more mature than the young boy, who was currently hopping around the room trying to float like the castle outside, but not as much as the older males. His looks were somewhere between the oldest and youngest princes, not as rough as the oldest but not as immature as the youngest.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be so sure Leonard. Catharine just got back from her mission and arrived at the same time as the castle appeared in the sky. I would hazard a guess that it has something to do with her.¡±


    ¡°Nonsense! It must be for me! Look at the splendid architecture and decorations! It must be for my birthday!¡± the oldest, first Prince Leonard, shouted, being very sure of his own words.


    At the same time as Leonard was denying the new arrival¡¯s words, the youngest boy hopping around the room tripped on the corner of the desk in the middle of the room and fell flat on his face. As if not feeling the pain of the broken nose and not realising the blood flowing out of it the boy lifted his face and continued giggling. Looking at the scene the newly arrived young man strode over to the boy. Looking at the beaming face the previous mocking grin was replaced with a genuine smile as he lowered himself onto one knee and lifted the boy onto his feet.


    ¡°Thank you Will!¡± the boy beamed a smile at William, the 20-year-old second Prince.


    ¡°Now hold still for a second.¡± William said with a gentle voice as his hand lightly glowed with the light of a healing spell as it neared the boys nose. Lightly poking the tip of the boy¡¯s nose, William made a funny face with his tongue hanging out causing the boy to giggle again.


    ¡°There, all better. Now Zion, make sure to tell me if anything feels strange, ok?¡± William asked the boy to make sure the healing spell was cast and used properly.


    ¡°It¡¯s ok big brother, thank you, your healing spells are always the best.¡± The boy hugged William as he thanked him for the healing.


    ¡°Wow Will, did your healing skills improve again? I don¡¯t think I heard a chant.¡± Leonard asked with clear mockery in his voice.


    ¡°Why thank you Leonard. Yes, it did indeed, I can now use it without a chant and it also takes less than 2/3 of the mana it used to.¡± William replied as if not noticing the mocking tone.


    ¡°Hmph!¡± Leonard ignored William¡¯s words and turned back to looking at the castle approaching the palace.


    ¡°Come on Zion. Let¡¯s go greet sister Catharine.¡± William said, holding out a hand for Zion to grab.


    ¡°Yey, sis Cat is back!¡± Zion held William¡¯s hand and pulled him out of the room.


    Leonard looked at the departing duo and coldly laughed.


    ¡°You¡¯ll see soon. I¡¯ll get what I want. I always get what I want.¡±


    At the palace gates, the second Princess¡¯ group just arrived. The castle slowly came to a halt, floating gently above them.


    ¡°We made it in time with the castle. Damn that thing is fast!¡± Rodger sighed, tired from having to run all the way to the gates just to keep up with the castle.


    ¡°The Emperor has requested your presence in the throne room, Princess. He asked you bring your guest with you.¡± A guard at the gates informed them as he opened a small side door near the main gate.


    ¡°Thank you, soldier.¡± The Princess having thanked the guard looked up towards the castle, a little concerned as to how to contact Aaron and tell him to come to the throne room.


    The floating castle trembled slightly and momentarily shot up into the sky, stopping only after disappearing above the layer of clouds lazily drifting above the capital.


    ¡°What?!¡± everyone present was terrified at the speed the castle just moved at. If it could move so fast across the ground why would it need to fly so fast? No one considered the speed it maintained before was for the Princess¡¯ group. Aaron intentionally slowed down to get to the gate at the same time.


    From above the capital, a short scream was momentarily heard before being replaced by the sound of an object piercing the air around it at extreme speed. A small hole popped open in the layer of clouds and a small shiny object could be seen falling directly towards the Princess¡¯ group.


    ¡°Did he just¡­¡± the Princess didn¡¯t finish her question as every one of her soldiers nodded their heads at the same time. They had come to expect crazy actions from Aaron by now.


    ¡°Sigh. Let¡¯s just wait here, shall we?¡± the Princess asked without looking up anymore and stood slightly away from the gate.


    Up in the air above the capital, Aaron fell and laughed like a madman.


    ¡°Sitting in the castle for so long, I forgot how fun the outside world is!¡±


    He plummeted towards the ground, headfirst, laughing and waving his arms around like a child. His hair, like a banner spread and followed behind him. It made him look like a shiny silver shooting star with a huge golden tail.


    The Emperor and his butler looking outside at the falling Aaron couldn¡¯t find their tongues, staring silently at the falling man. The first Prince looked slightly amused thinking one of the servants fell off his new castle while hanging a golden welcome banner. The second Princess looked slightly tired just thinking about what bizarre method he will use to stop himself before crashing into the ground. Zion, dragging William behind him, having spotted the falling man through a window in the corridor leading to the Emperor¡¯s study, glued his face to the glass. He was excited and curious to see someone so high up and why the castle was nowhere to be seen. William, following Zion¡¯s line of sight also spotted the falling Aaron and thought someone had fallen from the castle which had now disappeared.


    ¡°Come, Zion, let¡¯s go see sis Cat at the gate.¡± William was worried for the falling person and wanted to be there when they landed to see if he could help in any way. Although he had never seen someone fall from such a height, he knew that if they weren¡¯t at least at the level of a grand knight they would most likely die from the impact. A grand knight level human could survive a fall from the top of a flying mount at the height of the highest tower of the palace with only a few broken bones. Anyone below that level would die upon contacting the ground.


    Meanwhile, Jade, having heard one of the servants talking about someone falling from the sky was instantly interested and headed for the gate where Catharine was waiting.


    The Emperor, having felt that all but one of his children were at or going towards the gate decided to also go there himself.


    ¡°Come, everyone is waiting at the gate. Let us meet this ¡®important guest¡¯, as Catharine said.¡± The Emperor spoke to the butler who just came back from the putting back the Empyrean records.


    ¡°After you, my lord.¡± The butler bowed at the waist holding the door open for the Emperor.


    Through the Royal Blood Bond, Leonard felt his father also heading towards the gate.


    ¡°Strange. Is he going to meet Catharine?¡± Leonard could not figure out why the Emperor himself would head towards the gate for no reason.


    At the gate, Jade, William, Zion and the Emperor arrived at Catharine¡¯s location and greeted each other after not seeing each other for over a month.


    ¡°Catharine, my child, how has your journey been? Smooth sailing, I imagine, with the floating ship. Even I wouldn¡¯t mind going on a trip around the continent.¡± The Emperor smiled and said happily as he greeted the second Princess.


    ¡°It has been very leisurely indeed, Father. Thank you again for agreeing to get it.¡± The second Princess smiled.


    Next, Jade greeted her sister with a hug.


    ¡°You know I¡¯m really interested in the guy you brought back with you, right? So, tell me all about him.¡± Catharine couldn¡¯t keep a straight face as she burst out laughing.


    ¡°For one, he¡¯s way too old for you. And second, he acts like such a child you wouldn¡¯t believe his actual age.¡±


    Jade didn¡¯t understand why her sister was suddenly laughing so much and neither could anyone save for the soldiers who had also spent a bit of time with Aaron.


    ¡°What could be so funny, Catharine?¡± the Emperor asked curiously.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry father. What I wrote in the letter was not quite right. The person I found in the castle is not the descendant of the hero.¡± Catharine answered while looking up towards the man now close enough to be able to make out some more detail of his body and attire.


    ¡°Who is he then?¡± the Emperor, a little dissatisfied at being deceived by his daughter, asked in a slightly lowered voice.


    ¡°He is the Hero himself.¡± Catharine said as Aaron shouted.


    ¡°Hello! Nice to meet you all!¡±


    About 10 metres above the ground a pair of wings erupted from beneath Aaron¡¯s hair that up to this point had been always hidden by the long flowing river of gold.


    The left wing looked like a human sized dragon wing. It¡¯s scales shining a dazzling scarlet colour as they reflected the sunlight. The right, as if to match his arm, was made completely out of metal and looked like an angel wing with blades instead of feathers.


    As the wings unfolded and opened fully Aaron stopped mid-air, letting his hair catch up to him and arrange themselves while dropping to the floor, before slowly lowering himself onto the ground.


    Everyone at the gate, the Emperor included, stared at Aaron¡¯s wings. The wings shook slightly as they folded and retreated behind the river of hair and folded neatly against his back. Aaron rolled his shoulders and scratched the top of his head with his right hand. Everyone¡¯s gazes followed the metal hand to the top of his head. Upon scratching his head, his hair slightly parted. From under the parted hair a pointy, golden furred fox ear popped out. It twitched from side to side before falling flat against Aarons head and being covered by hair with his hand.


    Everyone was stunned into shock and silence. Gold fur? The only animals with gold fur are Divine Beasts.


    The only possibility of gold fox ears could be the Legendary Divine Beast Golden Flaming Nine Tailed Fox. Have they not heard of the Divine Beast, the Golden Flaming Nine Tailed Fox? The legendary Divine Beast wielding the Golden God Flame capable of burning everything from solid matter to even incorporeal matter like the very souls of beings to mana itself. The same as everything in the material plain being made of atoms, everything in the immaterial plain is made of mana. All magic if fuelled by mana in one form or another. Either mana or mana infused substances, like mana infused blood for blood magic. Having the Golden God Flame means having the ultimate weapon and defence in one. Destroying anything the enemy attacks with or defends with, that is the nature of the Golden God Flame. Sometimes referred to as the All-Consuming Inferno in legends, this flame could burn the very fabric of time and space. The Golden Flaming Nine Tailed Fox is a legend within a legend to those who knew about it and practically didn¡¯t exist to those who didn¡¯t.


    Every Emperor spent his last years writing down his life for the next generations to have a record of history within the Empire and the family. They naturally knew of the Divine Beasts their forefathers encountered and were helped by.


    The Golden Flaming Nine Tailed Fox was a special case as it did not directly help the Empire. Instead it was recorded as having helped the hero who helped the first Emperor defeat the demons.


    The question in everyone¡¯s minds was clear.


    [Was the Golden Flaming Nine Tailed Fox and the hero on and the same being?]


    ¡°Do you¡­¡± the Emperor stopped himself mid question as Aaron turned to look at him.


    [That eye!]


    The Emperor couldn¡¯t help getting lost in the right eye of Aaron, as if peering into the infinite abyss and having it look back at you.


    ¡°Do I?¡± Aaron answered as if he heard the entire question and slightly turned his body to the side. Out from under his hair around waist level one white tipped golden fox tail popped out, followed by another and another, until nine white tipped golden fox tails slowly flowed up and down. After all the tails appeared a small sun like golden flame lit up at the white tip of each one.


    Seeing the tails Zion began pulling on William¡¯s hand. William looked at Zion who had the eyes of a puppy begging for a treat. William couldn¡¯t figure out what little Zion wanted so he let go of his hand and lowered himself onto one knee to ask him what he wanted.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? What do you want so suddenly?¡± William asked in a hushed tone not to disturb the rest of the people.


    ¡°Tail.¡± Zion said in a little voice, almost too quiet for William to hear.


    ¡°Tail?¡± William asked as he looked at Aaron¡¯s tails.


    ¡°Zion!¡±


    As soon as William took his eyes off Zion the later turned and ran towards Aaron. William was a second too late to grab the child and by the time he stood up to chase him, Zion had already neared Aaron. Aaron of course heard the short conversation and knew what was happening around him.


    Even with his ears folded down and hidden under his hair his hearing was still much better than normal people could imagine. The reason he folded and hid his ears was so he didn¡¯t hear as much because it distracted him from his work. Hearing everything within 100 miles wound distract even the most focused and he was not one of the.


    Zion jumped and tried to grab one of Aarons tails. The later, without even looking, moved the tail slightly up causing Zion to miss it. Seeing Zion so close to the sun like flames at the ends of the tails the Emperor almost had a heart attack. He immediately used a strand of mana to pull the boy back, away from the flames. However, as soon as the mana reached near Aaron it was wrenched from his control and devoured by the flames. This scared the Emperor even more. At that moment, Aaron glanced at the Emperor again and let the hopping boy grab one of the tails.


    ¡°Fluffy!!!¡± Zion screamed in a childish voice as he buried his face in the tail, tip still burning with golden flames hugged tightly against his chest. Everyone stopped. It would have looked like time itself stopped if not for Zion¡¯s little legs flailing around as he was lifted off the floor by the tail he was hugging.


    ¡°What? ¡­ But¡­ What?¡± the Emperor couldn¡¯t believe his eyes. No one looking at the scene could. The All-Devouring Flame pressed to the boy¡¯s chest didn¡¯t even singe the shirt he was wearing.


    The tails spread out into a ring in the air leaving the boy hanging off the highest one.


    ¡°Let go for a second, would you, little Zion?¡± Aaron asked with a smile as he looked at Zion.


    ¡°Ok.¡±


    As Zion let go of the tail everyone was surprised as instead of dropping to the floor like he should, he stayed hovering mid-air.


    ¡°Swim.¡± Aaron smiled as his tails started slowly turning.


    As everyone watched, Zion began floating between the tails. From one to another, like swimming under water. Like a fish his body naturally twisted and turned between the tails, never leaving too far from one or getting too close to another.


    Out of everyone present the second Princess, Catharine, was the most interested in the tails themselves. She quietly walked closer to Aaron and pounced on one of his tails, claiming it for herself. The other 8 automatically moved to compensate Zion¡¯s field of movement after losing a tail from the ring. Aaron looked at the Princess and asked.


    ¡°And what might you want to do with that one?¡±


    ¡°I want to fly too.¡± The Princess answered meekly.


    ¡°Sure.¡± Aaron lifted her using the tail she was holding and brought her into the anti-gravity field he created between his tails. Catharine began happily swimming along Zion as they both giggled like little kids. Aaron looked around everyone and asked with a smile.


    ¡°Anyone else?¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡± the Emperor was about to ask, when a glare from Jeffery reminded him of his position.


    The Emperor coughed to clear the thought from his mind.


    ¡°I would appreciate if you could let them¡­¡±


    ¡°Unhand my siblings, dirty beast!¡±


    The Emperor¡¯s words were interrupted by a loud shout and a fireball from the direction of the palace.


    One of Aaron¡¯s tails extended to his front before setting completely ablaze to meet the fireball. As the fireball neared the fiery tail it started shrinking and shortly after fizzed out of existence.


    ¡°Ooh, your good. I¡¯m going to enjoy this!¡± Leonard¡¯s voice once again sounded as he walked towards Aaron from the palace.


    Leonard was the only one from the royal family, excluding Zion because of his young age, who had not read the Empyrean records and therefore didn¡¯t know about the hero or the Divine Beast. Naturally, he also didn¡¯t know just how fearsome the golden flames could be.


    Everyone present looked at Leonard like he was an idiot. Winning against the Golden God Flame with magic? What kind of stupid idea was that? The Emperor was about to shout at Leonard but after meeting eyes with Aaron and exchanging a nod, he stopped himself.


    Leonard stopped just in front of the line of people outside the gate. Leonard always tended to be hot headed and stubborn. Unfortunately, he was also part of the human supremacy group who thought humans should be the only ones on the continent. They didn¡¯t like sharing the land with other races like the elves, dwarves and beast people. To them the other races were inferior and impure, leading to the creation of this human only faction within the Empire. The group consisted of mostly nobles, but also had some regular people and Leonard who had recently found them joined.


    The flames died down and the tail retreated to reveal a mildly amused Aaron. Behind him, still floating in the air, Zion and Catharine stared daggers at Leonard for disturbing their fun.


    ¡°I must say¡­ Rude! No introduction¡­ No greeting? Just a fireball? And not a very strong one either? Let me guess¡­ As the oldest son, you were left to your own devices as your parents took care of the younger children? Daddy issues and an inferiority complex fuelled by younger siblings better than you and your own inability to do something worth daddy¡¯s time? No wonder you turned out like¡­ this.¡± Aaron loudly mocked and gestured towards Leonard in front of everyone.


    A giggle escaped Zion and Catharine looked like she couldn¡¯t hold it in much longer. Everyone from the royal family tried to suppress their own laughs and the guards and knights turned around, escaping the scene after getting permission from the Emperor. They didn¡¯t dare show the happy and approving expressions on their faces. Especially the beast people and elves among the guards were happy to see Leonard finally being stood up to. He had caused them a lot of problems in the short amount of time that he joined the human faction. No one could ever accuse him of being unreasonable as he always seemed to have evidence and witnesses against every non-human he had fired and replaced with human faction members.


    ¡°How dare you?! I am Leonard von Triton, crown prince of the Triton Empire. I will have your head for disrespecting the Empire!¡± Leonard was enraged as he shouted at the unknown beast man who insulted his pride.


    ¡°Idiot.¡± Catharine laughed behind Aaron.


    ¡°Why?¡± Zion innocently asked, not quite understanding the reason Catharine called Leonard an idiot.


    ¡°If he wanted to, Lord Aaron, this person here, could wipe the entire continent off the face of the planet. Just one of his so called ¡®toys¡¯ could destroy the Capital leaving no traces of ever existing.¡± Catharine said with a little fear in her voice remembering a few of the small spheres.


    The demonstration for the grenade involved Aaron creating a huge pocket dimension with his space magic. The size of the pocket dimension turned out to be just smaller than Triton Capital and the grenade, thrown by Aaron to make sure it landed far enough away, covered nearly the whole field in scorching nuclear fire. The flames produced by the grenade had a green tint and ate their way through everything from organic matter like plants to rocks and even metal.


    ¡°Ooh? My head? That¡¯s not going to be that easy you know?¡± Aaron said with a smile.


    ¡°Guards! Take him away! The charge is insulting the Empire.¡± Leonard said with a smile, so sure of himself he didn¡¯t even realise that all the guards, soldiers and even servants had left at some point.


    Not seeing anyone move to take Aaron away, Leonard shouted for the guards again yet received no answer.


    Leonard looked around to find all the guards gone and the whole family looking at him as if he was stupid.


    ¡°What?¡± Leonard asked puzzled by the lack of guards and the looks.


    ¡°He didn¡¯t insult the Empire. Just you, you idiot.¡± William couldn¡¯t take it any longer and explained while laughing. This in turn caused everyone else to laugh.


    ¡°William!¡± Leonard angrily roared at William.


    ¡°Do shut up. If you haven¡¯t noticed yet, even daddy dearest is looking at you without saying a word.¡± Aaron said while sharing a knowing look with the Emperor.


    ¡°But¡­ Father! How can you stand there and let him insult us all?¡± Leonard asked slightly hopeful.


    ¡°We have been here the entire time and have yet to hear any insults towards myself or the Empire.¡± the Emperor spoke with a straight face, not even willing to support Leonard.


    ¡°The only insult to the Empire is you being the crown prince.¡± Aaron muttered just loud enough to let everyone hear.


    Zion giggled again, still not quite understanding the fact the words were an insult towards Leonard, while Catharine and Jade erupted into laughter.


    As Leonard was about to explode with rage, a grinding noise pierced the heavy atmosphere. All eye fell on the source, Aaron. Aaron rubbed his right shoulder with the scales of his left palm producing the noise of 2 pieces of metal rubbing against each other.


    ¡°That¡¯s all nice and all, but I¡¯m sure the Princess here invited me in the name of the Emperor to help with some pressing matters, no?¡± Aaron, after having everyone¡¯s attention asked while pulling Zion and the Princess out of the air and deactivating the anti-gravity field.


    ¡°Indeed, she did.¡± The Emperor answered while stroking his beard.


    ¡°In that case, I would say it¡¯s time for the adults to talk. And kids should stay quite while adults are talking.¡± Aaron said while looking at Leonard through the corner of his eye.


    ¡°Shut your mouth, filthy beast. If there¡¯s no guards to do it, I¡¯ll do it myself.¡± Leonard shouted, sure of himself due to not understanding the difference in ability.


    A powerful lightning bolt charged up and crackled in Leonard¡¯s hand before shooting towards Aaron. Looking at the bolt, as if time slowed, everyone had different thoughts.


    [The idiot will hit Zion and Catharine if he¡¯s not careful.] the Emperor couldn¡¯t help but be worried about his other children.


    [How will you deal with an attack that fast?] Leonard mocked in his mind.


    [Zion! Catharine! This idiot!] Jade couldn¡¯t be more worried for her siblings wanted to do something, but even with her speed she couldn¡¯t catch up to lightning.


    [If that idiot hits Zion or Catharine I¡¯m going to kill him!] William stared daggers at Leonard.


    [Pretty!] Zion, not getting how dangerous the lightning bolt heading towards them was, thought the lights produced by the bolt looked nice.


    [This mana?] Catharine, being the only one close enough to Aaron that could sense mana, was shocked at how dense and quick the mana emanating from Aaron wrapped around all 3 of them.


    The bolt contacted Aaron¡¯s outstretched metal arm causing a large bang and a big dust cloud.


    ¡°Haha! Dirty beasts should do as their told!¡± Leonard, sure of his victory. Laughed and shouted.


    ¡°Really? Then I guess I should give you an order, huh?¡±


    A cold voice sounded from behind Leonard as he fell to his knees, a wet patch spreading in his pants.


    Just behind where Leonard was standing, Aaron stood with his right hand raised. The extended palm having just been in contact with Leonard¡¯s back. In the brief time, Aaron had extracted all of Leonards mana and deprived him of control over his body causing him to fall asleep and piss himself.


    ¡°How?¡± the Emperor asked, looking between the dust cloud and Aaron¡¯s new position.


    ¡°Nothing much, just a short-range teleportation.¡± Aaron replied light-heartedly.


    ¡°You¡­ can teleport?¡± the Emperor asked. Having read the Empyrean records, he knew of some spells the ancient mages thought of as basic that could no longer be found in the world. Having just witnessed one of such spells, the Emperor was inclined to believe his second daughters words.


    [Could this really be the Hero. The one said to have defeated most of the beasts on the continent by himself?] the Emperor couldn¡¯t help but be doubtful before. How much time had passed? How long has it been since the records were written? No one could be expected to believe the person was still alive.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we move somewhere more suitable for a discussion?¡± Aaron asked while casting glances at everyone present.


    ¡°That would be a great idea. Let¡¯s forget anything happened here and move on.¡± The Emperor said a little nervously.


    Aaron nodded and bowed at the waist.


    ¡°My name is Aaron. I have forgotten any other names I might have had in the past so please, just call me Aaron.¡±


    ¡°A pleasure to meet you, Aaron, we are the Emperor, George von Triton and these are our children.¡± The Emperor introduced himself while gesturing at everyone else to do the same.


    ¡°Greetings Sir Aaron, I am Jade von Triton, First Princess and oldest child of the Emperor.¡± Jade was the first to speak, greeting Aaron with a light of admiration in her eyes.


    ¡°Greetings Sir Aaron, I am William von Triton, Second Prince and Head of the Council. It is a pleasure to meet someone with so much insight into the world of magic, I hope to bother you later to ask some questions I have had for some time.¡± William greeted Aaron with a straight back and bent waist asking to meet later and discus magic.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not. Find me after the meeting with your father has finished and we can share some knowledge.¡± Aaron answered with a smile.


    William just bowed again and smiled back.


    ¡°As you already know I am Catharine von Triton, Second Princess and leader of 50 of the finest elites the Empire has to offer.¡± Catharine said, trying her best to look dignified while floating around with Zion behind Aaron¡¯s back.


    Aaron just turned his head and chuckled.


    ¡°Zion, Introduce yourself to our guest.¡± Catharine said, prompting Aaron to slowly drop them onto the ground and retrieve his tails back under his hair.


    ¡°I¡¯m Zion von Triton, nice to meet you mister fox.¡± Zion bowed slightly mimicking William and beamed a smile at Aaron.


    ¡°The one on the floor, as you already heard, is Leonard. Our oldest, and seemingly least intelligent, son. We apologise for his words and actions.¡± The Emperor Bowed his head.


    ¡°No need for that. He was clearly acting out of his own will.¡± Aaron simply smiled and waved the problem away.