City of Herdurand, Dulan Province…
Ninther Mino stomped his way into the brightly lit city hall, the light of the burning sun bouncing off the finely polished floorboards and his glimmering knight's armor.
Standing at an impressive 2 meters tall, the only Spellbreaker Knight to ever advance in this city filled every inch of his heavy armor, his handsome face and prince-like demeanor making him the dream man of many noble ladies.
The crisp of wood against metal ceased when he and his entourage stopped in front of the table where the city officials had stopped their meeting due to the intrusion.
Seated at the head of the table, Grand Duke Lington pushed down a golden bell on the table in front of him and directed his increasingly reddening face towards the pompous knights.
"Ninther! This is the city hall! Not your witcher knight barracks. You can't just barge in here whenever you want."
Ninther in fact, could.
Even though the Grand Duke owned the entire Dulan Province and the 5 major cities, 16 minor ones, and the uncountable number of towns and villages within it, the witcher knights who stood before him each had a much higher level of authority than he did.
As the main and dominant force trained to find and eradicate any trace of "evil spellcasters" on this plane, this powerful group of knights had every right to be overbearing and arrogant since they took orders directly from the king.
Any and everything below him had no right to refuse them should they want something. Not even nobles like the Grand Duke, and he was one of the most powerful in the Central Kingdom.
Well aware of the kind of status he had, not just as a witcher knight but as one that had advanced to become a Spellbreaker Knight, Ninther's reaction to the duke's was well within expectations.
He stood there and held his helmet by his side, unperturbed by the frowning guards behind the duke and the red faced noble's rant, the words entering one ear and going out the other.
"Grand Duke, I heard you have a subordinate called Sage Goth. I'd like to see him."
Perhaps frightened of what Ninther implied with his words or infuriated by the demanding tone of the "request," Duke Lington waved his scepter about and yelled.
"Goth is my daughter's tutor. He's no sage. If you think otherwise, then you're mistaken…"
His stance and tone unchanged, Ninther ignored the toothless protests and said, "I'm not here to bother or arrest him. In fact…" he paused, hints of struggle on his face, "...we may need his help."
Surprised by the hesitant look on the pompous Spellbreaker Knight's face, Duke Lington processed the impossible sight and words before regaining his senses.
Still unwilling to give them more leeway than they'd already grasped, he raised his scepter again to refuse Ninther's "request" only for a charming and sweet voice to echo in the hall.
"Teacher Goth is this way. Please follow me."
All heads turned to the rightmost corner of the hall, where a young, sixteen year old girl in a straight yellow dress stood in front of an open door.
"El? What are you doing here? Leave! Quickly," the Grand Duke said with slight, barely detectable panic.
The girl, Elena, shook her head at her father's words. "Don't worry father. My teacher asked me to bring Sir Ninther to him."
"This… if Goth says so, then it's fine," he calmed down in acceptance and switched his attention to the knight in question. "You may go, but your men have to stay here."
Finding this development acceptable, Ninther left a few words behind for his men and followed the duke's daughter to his quarry.
She led him to a tall stone tower and started to climb it. Due to his large build and heavy metal armor, his movements generated a lot of noise behind her.
His metal boots clattered against the spiral staircase with every step and his shoulder pads clinked and scratched against the wall with every turn.
Clearly unbothered by this, he observed the young girl in front of him, sneering at her "timely" appearance.
And to think the Grand Duke tried to claim otherwise.
He would tolerate the "Sage" this time and dutifully carry out the mission he'd been sent here to accomplish. At a later time when things had settled down, he'd return and fulfill his oath to protect people and vanquish this demon spawn.
Still, after years of indoctrination and someone of steadfast belief in the "truth," Ninther couldn't help himself. He gave in to the desire to know more about the Sage's evil abilities.
"My lady, what kind of lessons do you learn from Sage Goth?"
"Language, Ancient Scripts, and History," the girl curtly replied and kept her gaze forward, her aloof tone betraying her desire to answer no more questions on the topic.
As someone who always got his way even against nobles, how could a mere teenager deter him?
"He also teaches you astrology, right?"
The little girl trembled visibly, but she kept climbing. "Even the King acknowledges that it has its uses. That means not all knowledge is evil. Do you plan to kill everyone who knows something about astrology?"
Ninther kept silent, his thoughts a resounding yes.
A short while later, the duo arrived on the fifth floor where the Sage waited for them.
Ninther observed the wise looking old man; his long, snow white hair, the wrinkles on every inch of his face, the monocle on his nose, and his calf length red robe.
He gave off an air of someone wise and refined, the sensation potent enough to sway the minds of most people. But Ninther was anything but normal.
He cast his gaze across the small room, noting the messy arrangement of books and parchments—some opened and others closed—and how they all seemed perfectly positioned.
A chaotic order, if you will.
Narrowing his eyes at that and the sheer amount of knowledge in here, Ninther brought his attention back to the person he was here for. "I am Ninther. You must be Sage Goth. I am here by the order of—
"Yes, yes, I know. Wells sent you. Do you think you would have found me if I didn't want to be found?" Goth said with a strange smile. "He sent you to ask about the nightmares didn't he?"
Ninther couldn't stop his face muscles from twitching. He'd personally received the message from headquarters less than an hour ago, yet this heretic already knew about it.
"Is that the ability you awakened? Precognition? Divination? Soul enslavement? Which is it?!"
Making sure to lace his words with as much disdain as possible, Ninther placed his hand on his sword and stared down the old man. The heretic wouldn't be first of his kind that he'd judged and eradicated.
Sage Goth laughed in response to the knight's provocation for a few seconds before reaching into his long and wide sleeves to retrieve a crystal ball the size of a child's fist from within.
He held it out towards the frowning knight and said, "Deliver that to Sir Wells and tell him that all he wants to know is in there."
Meanwhile, Elena had gone wide eyed at her teacher's actions.
So long as she, her father, and the sage remained insistent of their innocence, the witcher knights wouldn't be able to prove any of their suspicions and come down upon them.
Yet just now her master had willingly handed over proof of his status as a medium, as an "evil spellcaster."
Without missing a beat, Ninther ignored the crystal ball and unsheathed his sword, pointing the tip at Goth's heart. "I knew it! You're a heretic."
Elena ran forward to shield her teacher, but he waved his pale, bony hand and stopped her. His face had not the slightest hint of fear as he regarded the ardent knight. "Ah, the evil-loathing Ninther. Your reputation is well deserved. Tell me something. How old do you think I am?"
Bewildered by the calm demeanor of the exposed heretic, Ninther reaffirmed his grip on his sword and he answered in an unsure tone of voice. "Eighty?"
"Twenty seven. I'll be twenty seven this year."
Elena's gasp of surprise echoed right after his statement, overshadowing the noise of Ninther swallowing nervously.
"My powers awoke when I was 13, and I have aged several times faster since then. Everytime I peer into the future, I lose a little bit of life.
Five years ago I started having this nightmare. A group of demons, powerful demons, descend into our world and take everything, even the people, turning them into slaves."
"I did not seek this future out. The world showed it to me several times, and I had no choice but to pass it on to Sir Wells. He might be the only one powerful enough to lead us and repel those demons."
Ninther's complexion had long faded.
He had no way to determine the truth of what he just heard, and the instincts he'd honed over the years hunting and chasing down heretics rebelled with every fiber of his being.
Yet, there was a tiny part of him that believed the sage's words and even found him a bit trustworthy.
As he stood there hesitating, Goth pushed his trembling knight's sword out of the way and placed the crystal ball into his gloved hand.
Moving over to the window afterwards, the aged seer spread his arms wide and shouted at the top of his voice. "Mother World, I've done as you wished. Ever since you showed me this terrifying future, I've always wanted to ask? Does our world have a future? Please, tell me…"
To Elena and Ninther's surprise, a milky white light engulfed Goth, the man himself unaware of the phenomenon as he stumbled backwards. "No…no...no! Why is it like this? Our world... mother world… Please, show me their faces. Show me where the demons are…"
Goth shook violently when his request was answered. "So this is how you look! Demons... I've seen you…" His face turned red with excitement as he turned around. "Hurry up and tell Wells. You'll find them in the wes—aaagghhhhhh!"
Goth's eyes exploded, leaving just hollow, bloody sockets. Following this, his body shriveled rapidly, his hair and skin withering to nothing until only bones remained.
And even they weren't allowed to touch the floor as what remained of them devolved into a gray power and gathered in a small pile on the ground.
Adding more fuel to the fire that was Ninther's and Elena's horror, a sinister, hair raising voice reverberated through the room.
"Insolent worm."
In a place far west of here, 200 miles away to be exact, the heavily bound form of Lord Sarubo's projection opened its eyes, poked the air before him twice before exhaling lightly.
It then grunted and exerted a lot of its energy, using it to fight back against the plane's retaliation against its actions and to stabilize its form.
After a long arduous battle, it emerged victorious and shut its eyes, returning to its eternally silent state.
****
Author's note:
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