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“Years in the making and waiting, will that man prove to be the one?” He stumbled his way towards the railing and looked down, where once her majesty sat. “Time will tell all.”

“One who dared speak my name, arise once more – we’ve arrived.” A soothing feminine voice broke the feeling of bewilderment. A forest, a river, floating rocks, everything changed. The one responsible stood beside him, her green hair flowed gracefully with the ever-changing background. She snapped her fingers at regular intervals. With each snap, they teleported to a new place, until finally, it stopped. The floor looked white, the sky above looked normal though two suns shone brightly than ever. From miles on end, it looked vague and empty, an open field of whiteness.

“Where are we?” he asked, the blinding sun rays getting reflected off the surface forced him to cover his face. “This is your proving ground.” She spoke and walked away.

“What do you mean proving ground?” seeing Staxius struggle, in a wave-like motion, the queen conjured clouds to help with his sight. Baffled, he stared in awe, she controlled everything here, making her the goddess of this plain. “Not even I know how this works. Is ancient magic that powerful?” She now stood away from him, a throne was conjured, the same golden throne she used back in Arda. “I sense a battle coming,” his senses heighten. On one hand, a small void-flame fireball was conjured, while on the other, he prepared a magical barrier.

“Having spoken my true name, you shall now face my true strength, in order to be able to call yourself worthy, you will need to first defeat one of my replicas.” Just as she finished her sentence, something shot out of her. It landed and soon took on her appearance, without missing a beat, said clone rushed Staxius down. “Prophecy, I summon thee to fight by my side.” A blinding light blocked his vision, out of instinct, he jumped back and held up the magical barrier. Three loud bangs were heard, the last one broke through and nearly pierced his right shoulder, unexpectedly, he reacted. “That was close,” with his body inclined to the left, he glanced below the smoke from the first assault. Another three-beam came charging for his head. *Bam,* he used the fireball to push himself out of

the way, he flew and caught a glimpse of his adversary. She wielded a bow, with a quiver that shone as brightly as the second sun of which it was amber in color. “This is harder than expected,” a barrage of arrow rained down, he repeated the same pattern. Dodging, blocking and desperately trying to get a shot across.

It was all for naught, when mages battle one another, the stronger presence always hinders the ability of the other. Thus, why mages from low-rank never try and attack high-rank mages. It was a worthless effort and they’d most likely end up getting killed. Despite that disadvantage that grows when two mages are unfairly matched, some people came out on top. It’s not advisable but isn’t impossible, just impractical. “That teleportation spell she used earlier took a toll on me, I can’t think straight.” His stomach turned upside down, it grew harder to keep up. “All you do is dodge and block with that feeble barrier, don’t you have a sliver of pride, fighting in such a cowardly way. All that talk earlier was naught but a useless ramble from an imposter, you’re not strong.” The real Xula spoke, she had enough.

.....

*Prophecy, weapon change: Holy-sword.* The glimmering light from the quiver morphed into the blade of a long-sword, it shone as brightly as ever. “I’m not that weak, don’t underestimate me.” She charged forward in a vertical strike stance. *Death element: Shadow-step,* He moved to the right, conjured a fireball and released it on her exposed back. It happened so fast only an explosion was heard and the sound of something metallic falling on to the ground followed. After the explosion, a giant cloud of smoke got released. “Void fireball does have it’s advantages,” he stepped out. “W-what are you doing here?” the queen stood up briskly. “I came to pay a visit?” he replied sarcastically. “No matter, your test has just begun.” She moved, disappeared and instantly stood face to face with Staxius. “W-what just happened, I kept my eyes on her, did she really move faster than

me?” he smiled. “Do you know why we call this test judgment?” She stepped away and looked up as

if the answers were written in the clouds. “Fairy are fallen angels, not rejected but fallen as in we lost our powers. Don’t get me wrong, we aren’t weak, our powers were locked away. As you probably know, gods are entities just like us, I mean, you’re the heir to Lord Death.” She glanced back at Staxius, “don’t look surprised, the moment you used your mana I knew you were his prodigy. Back

to what I was saying, gods are entities like us, they live and breathe but don’t die. Their power is so strong they can each create a new universe if they so wished. But that isn’t the issue, if a god’s power grows too strong, he would be seen as a traitor.” She took a deep breath.

“In order to keep the peace between gods, the first supreme god, Kronos, ordered everyone to limit their powers and relegate it to angels if it grows too much. That’s how angels are born, we’re just a god’s power who’ve got a shape and conscience. Fairies, on the other hand, are angels, but limited, we are more like a storage unit, we store up the excess and are sworn to never use it. There is an exception to that rule, a fairy can, in fact, break the oath and use those untapped strengths. However, a strong partner is needed, a medium, a conduit for the excess to flow out off. It’s like this, the excess power will flow through the chosen one, and if deemed unworthy, it will instantly kill him, both physically and spiritually; total annihilation. Either way, the fairy is released and has the chance to regain her angel status. That’s why our name is hidden, only a person strong enough to be a conduit can say it out loud, it’s the first test. The only one who has called their forbidden name is allowed in this dimension.” Her tone lowered, she looked exhausted, the queen was someone good by heart.

“Basically, I’m worthy to become your conduit?” he asked, while he approached her slowly. “Yes, but I’m afraid it might end up killing you, I’m not an ordinary fairy. My strengths are locked for a good reason, I’m destined to be defeated by the god-slayer and have all my powers stolen from me as well as my god. We’re martyrs in this ever-changing world, it’s all written in the prophecy.”

“Don’t act all helpless with me,” he grabbed her shoulder, “I care not for the rambling of one who says he can see the future, may it be angel or god, my life is in my hand, and I’ll do what I wish with it.” Her face changed, a small grin surfaced, her once animosity and doubt towards him subsided.

“Are you sure you want to become my conduit?”

“Nothing would make me happier.” He stopped, “I have a condition.”

“Is it money that you want?” She asked, her newfound respect for him faltered. Her belief about men being greedy resurfaced. “Of course not,” he replied as if offended. “All I wanted from you is to be able to call you friend, but I see that you don’t trust me.” He pouted, Avon’s mannerism was copied.

“I a-apologize,” she bowed her head. “Idiot,” he raised her head, “you’re truly the dumb queen aren’t you.” He smiled reassuringly. “I’ll put you to the sword,” she pulled out her tongue. “Shall we get on with the conduit thing?” Staxius asked.

“Yes,” her cheeks flushed. Her green eyes wandered everywhere, each step she took felt painful and sluggish. “What’s the matter with you?” Staxius asked but was cut short. It was the queen, she teleported again and kissed him on the lips. Her hair levitated, the pent up power she had locked away transferred over to Staxius. His eyes turned white, they burned with the same intensity as the fires of hell. Bit by bit, he felt it, the power wasn’t a spell or anything complicated, it was just mana. Mana so dense and injected with spells, and the ability to increase one’s magical affinity greatly. As the kiss prolonged, a heavy feeling grew around his chest, it burned, she wasn’t even half done yet and the power getting transferred only grew in intensity. The heavy feeling turned into burning, Xula ended the kiss. However, the transfer continued, her green hair turned to white, her green eyes lost all their vigor. A halo appeared over her head, wing sprouted from her back. They weren’t fully materialized, the more power she lost, the more solid they became.

It grew unbearable, he fell on his knees. She ran to his side and spoke, but all he heard was a loud buzzing noise. It amplified, and he finally lost consciousness. His body laid on the floor, it twitched as if pulsing. “I knew you weren’t strong enough to be my conduit, I’m sorry.” A few hours went by, it ended. The man she kissed had died before her eyes, he stopped moving, breathing, any trace of life went silent. The outcome was as she predicted, he couldn’t handle the power she kept hidden. “I guess it’s time for us to say goodbye,” Staxius rested on her lap, she waited for him to wake but alas that didn’t come to pass. Time had come to part ways, as carefully as a surgeon, she carefully placed his head on the ground and stood. “Heir to the god of death, you’ve freed this fairy from a heavy burden though you sacrificed yourself to do so, I humbly thank you.” She bowed her head. “Countless times I’ve said the same thing,” a faint mumbled came from below. “-don’t underestimate me.” Sharply he stood.

“D-Didn’t you die?” she yelled. “Is a queen supposed to act so childishly?” nonchalantly, he dusted off his already dirtied suit jacket. “I apologize, I shouldn’t have acted that way.” Her tone regained the composure it usually held. “Much more like it,” he gave a thumbs up. “Back to your question, have you already forgotten who I am?” he paused. “…” silence befell both of them.

“Excuse my rudeness, I’m Staxius Haggard, heir to the god of death.” His right hand pressed tightly on his chest, he bowed courteously.

“I’m Xula Elmbush, queen of Arda.” She returned the greetings. “With this, judgment is complete, you’ve been blessed by me as well as the god I serve under – your worthy to call me by my real name, hence today forth, we shall be known as friends.” She clapped.

The background changed once more, they teleported to her throne room. Nothing had changed for the people staying there, time past was only a few seconds but for Staxius and Xula, it had been hours. “Hence today forth,” her speech wasn’t yet done. Instead, she now stood with Staxius kneeling, as if being knighted. “you shall be known as a friend and given the right to come and go as you please. If you so choose, Staxius Haggard, I, Shanna Islegust, queen of Arda, I’m willing to form an alliance with you and only you, not Dorchester nor the council you preside in, but you personally. What do you choose?”

“I’ll humbly accept your offer, your majesty.” The outcome was far better than he had hoped for; all that he wanted was to meet the ruler, but instead, after granting her the only wish she wanted, to regain her status as an angel, her mind was cleared of doubt and she trusted him fully.

Hearing her grace Staxius with such honors, the council didn’t standstill. They revolted, they were against it, her many counselors rushed to her side. Staxius still knelt, paying no heed to him, they ran and pushed him aside. “You can’t be real, your majesty. A human considered as our friend will send the populous in a riot. The nobles from the vampire clans won’t sit idly by as you do what you wish. They might try to overthrow you, please reconsider, that vile thing isn’t worth standing by your side.”

She slowly got overwhelmed, “how foolish am I? of course it would be a problem, creating an alliance isn’t that easy. In that case, there’s only one option.” He stood.

“Your majesty, or rather, Xula Elmbush, I don’t need any privileges nor favors that may ruin how you rule your kingdom. I say this as a friend and not a noble, don’t do anything rash and uncalled for just for the likes of me, I’m but a wandering mage. I swear if that is what needs to be done for me to never step foot in Arda ever again. Then that is what I shall do to calm your council. I’ve done my job and have made you happy even if it was but for an instant. A smile really suits best on your always stern face. Say the word and I shall leave.”

“How dare you speak so openly to the queen, guards.” A mustache paired with a bald head; the main counselor spoke. His stature was small in comparison with the other elves present. Though he looked weak and feeble, the vampire’s teeth showed a great deal of strength. Shanna’s eyes lowered, she gave in to the people’s word around her.

“Listen to your heart,” a whisper came from behind, it was the sage. Her eyes regained confidence.

“Thank you, old friend,” she whispered. “Silence, I shan’t hear any belittling comments made to Staxius Haggard here. If it’s him human that is an issue, then I’m pleased to say that, he who stands in front of us, isn’t least bit human. Though I guess that it’s his standing as a noble that troubles you. If that’s an issue, then,” she took off her glove and threw it at Staxius’s feet.

Confused, he leaned and picked it up with his right hand. “Why did you do…” the moment he looked up, the people who were spouting nonsense about him earlier on, knelt. Shanna smiled with her cheeks brightly lit.