"Hey, I know you're in there! Open up, Ben!"
Vuella knocks on the door repeatedly, growing harder and harder after each knock. She keeps this up for a few more times, before the door flies open.
"Can you not shout my name in public? And why didn't you tell me you were on the way?" Says a tall young man with short, shaggy black hair.
"Sorry about that, but we were in a rush, and I thought of you last minute. Can we come in for a bit? I have a favor to ask."
"Fine, as long as we can make this quick." He walks back inside and Vuella follows with Rose in tow.
They walk into a cramped living area with a ceiling mere inches higher than the man's head. The room was dark and quite dreary, with the only light being a small glimmer of moonlight sneaking past the blinds.
Rose and Vuella sit on a couch opposite the man.
"Well, you're inside. What do you want?"
"So um… First, this is my friend Rose. She's about to leave the country for a while."
"Nice to meet you."
"You as well. My name is Benjamin Throrth, and I'm a messenger of sorts for some members of the underworld. If you know her, then you must be an assassin or some other not so savory profession."
"Not really. I'm just a runner for the mail center in town."
"Hmm. Interesting. So what is it exactly that you want?"
"I'm here to cash in that favor you owe us. I need you to link Rose and I together."
"Link? What does that mean?" Rose interjects.
"She's talking about my ability. I can link people together so they can talk through their minds. But as for that favor, your brother was one step ahead of you. To be more specific, Elajuel took all three of them."
"What do you mean he took all of them?!" Vuella explodes out of her seat.
"Can you quiet down please? I have neighbors."
She sits back down in her seat, still visibly upset.
"They weren’t all his. What did he ask you to do?"
"That's the kicker. One of the three favors was not to tell you about the other two. You specifically, so your other brother knows."
"And because of that, you can't help me?"
"If you're willing to owe me a favor, I'll do it."
"What exactly would you want me to do?"
"Not you, but your friend there. I know you're not just a mail runner. You work for the Royal Family. Next time, tuck the crest on your shirt."
Rose gives a nervous laugh and enters hyperspeed.
"I guess you caught me. Vuella told me to lie if I was asked about what I do, so I did. So, what happens now?"
"I'm not a fighter, so I'm not going to do anything too crazy. Just, whenever I call you, come to my side. It'll only happen once, but it'll be fairly soon. Agree to this, and I'll link you two like you asked."
.
.
.
The road to Kennis was peaceful. She admired the rolling hills and long stretches of forest with occasional areas of open road. It was definitely different from being surrounded by the bustling city streets of Rahu, but she appreciated the change. It was a beautiful sight, but she wished those two were here with her to see it.
"No! Don't think about it! We're better now." She says to herself, slapping her cheeks.
"Everything alright back there?" Says the coachman.
"Uh, yeah! Perfectly fine."
"If you look ahead of us right now, you can see the front gates of the Capital of Kennis."
They had just entered a massive clearing that unveiled the capital city of Kennis. There were giant stone pillars surrounding it with mana running between each one, creating a magic wall that wrapped around the city. In the center, there was a gap with guards standing in between the pillars, letting people come and go from the city.
While the horse drawing the cart trots along, Rose starts to feel the cart shake more than normal. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't the cart, but the air around it.
"Hey, mister, do you feel that?"
"The breeze?"
"No, like… some kind of shaking? Something like that, at least."
Everything in the area began to reverberate wildly, but only Rose could feel it. The coachman continued to hold onto the reins as if everything was fine.
The shaking grew increasingly intense until Rose saw a man emerge from nothing, walking alongside their cart. She makes eye contact with him briefly before he reaches towards her face through the window.
"Wa-"
"Stop."
Stillness. Everything just… stopped. Except them. He grabs her face and throws her out of the cart.
"What did you do!" The man says, furiously.
"I didn't do anything! Who even are you?"
The man stops and looks at their surroundings. A leaf suspended in mid-air. Rocks kicked from the cart were stuck in a similar state. Even the coachman remained frozen. Time itself had stopped.
"I only intended to stop your time, but it seems as though I didn't. Or rather, I couldn't."
"I swear I didn't do anything. Seems like you started it, so you also know how to stop it. Just turn it off, and we'll leave here."
The man dashes at her. He throws a wide right hook. Rose sees it, enters Hyperspeed, and dodges it. He throws a few more, keeping up with Rose's hyperspeed, grazing her several times before landing a clean hit, sending her reeling backward.
"If I can stop time at will, did you really think I wouldn't notice you speeding up your own time? This Era's warriors are laughable."
She increases her Hyperspeed to its limit and lets off a blast of light magic. The man is blinded as she comes to start her offense. Her first few strikes land cleanly, but he starts to regain his senses and counters with several heavy punches of his own. All of them graze her except the last two to her temple and liver.
She puts two fingers to her temple. Vuella! Hey, can you hear me? I need some help!
No answer. Her message to Vuella wasn't getting through. This random encounter was shaping up to be quite dangerous for her. Before it can get any worse, she teleports to the gates of Kennis's Capital. But the man was far too fast and chased her there in an instant, tackling her to the ground. He mounts her and starts to swing. She kicks her legs up to grab his arms but he swats them away. The punches begin raining down on her. She manages to dodge some of them, but after a few of them connect, the damage sets in, and she slows down. Even her hyperspeed starts to wane. Every hit was immensely powerful.
This is it. I'm really about to die here. I didn't even get to do what Mr. Hiro asked. Man, I suck. I really am weak.
Shaking. Vibrations similar to ones she felt during the man's initial appearance. The punches cease. At this point, her eyes can barely open. However, what she manages to see is a hole opening in time itself.
"Who… are you?"
"You're still alive? Out of respect for even trying to fight me, I'll let you live. I'm Ellul, a time traveler. State your name."
"Rose… Azor"
Ellul's eyes widened as he heard her.
I hope Mrs. Vanessa was right about this.
She gathers up as much mana from the surrounding area and releases it directly above her. The result was a massive pillar of light reaching above the capital walls and blinding Ellul in the process.
"It's always Rose… if I can't kill her there, I'll kill you now!"
Ellul's sight returns even faster this time, and he dashes towards her.
Another bright light. Intense heat. The silhouette of a man. Even through her closed eyes, the light was unbearable. Her already shallow breaths were getting harder to manage. The loose ends of her clothing began to ignite.
"I suggest you stop here, Ellul."
"Don't think that I can't kill both of you. However, I will take my leave."
Rose musters her eyes open, revealing who her savior was. It was the King of Kennis, Faust Von Tyrol. The source of the heat and light was an artificial star created by Faust, beaming down on the three of them, setting the surrounding plants ablaze.
Ellul turns around and steps into the time hole. Once in, he turns back to Rose.
"You both get to live today, for I have another flower to wither."
And with that, he was gone.
After he leaves, Faust dismisses the large star behind him and casts a water spell to put out the fires in the affected area.
"Rose! Can you hear…"
As her consciousness fades, his voice gets more and more muffled. The last thing she sees is Faust's concerned face while he picks her up.
.
.
.
"Ah, Aega. What's her condition?" Faust says to a young woman a few years older than Rose. She has long, messy light blue hair, pale skin, and wears the same white coat that Faust wears, but with a caduceus on each corner and cuff link.
"What happened to her? Severe bruising, multiple broken ribs, and numerous other fractures. My ability didn't work on her, but healing magic did. Even then, I could only heal the smaller injuries.
"I had a feeling that would be the case. Is she awake?"
"Yes, but she's still not at 100% yet. Of those, her ribs are the only things that haven't fully healed. Be careful with her for a while."
.
.
.
"That's what happened." Rose says, explaining her battle with Ellul.
"That man… He was a relatively new member of my research team. I wouldn't have thought he'd be an enemy, nor be that strong." Faust says while pacing around the room.
"Maybe he wasn't that strong. Maybe I was just weak." She says with her lip stuck out.
"I doubt that. You're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for."
"Whatever you say. Can we read Mr. Hiro’s notes already?"
Faust grabs the stack of papers off of a nearby desk and begins to read.
If you are reading this, you should be together already. If you're not, stop here. If you are, good job. Based on the personal letters that you have received, you should know how much faith I have in you two.
Since Rahu is kingless at the moment and at risk of an attack from another nation, likely Madu, at any time, we need to secure allies. More specifically, we need to request some kind of aid from the other kingdoms."
The plan I have in mind would place Rose at the focal point. You need to go to each nation and speak with their kings. They don't have the right to deny you a meeting due to your status as royalty, so that should make it a little easier to ask.
In the following pages, you'll see more instructions for how to navigate each country and help negotiations go along smoothly. I would rather you read those notes as you go along, but I'll leave that decision up to you two.
"Why me? Why not have you do it? You're not just royalty, You're an actual king."
"After reading this, I partially agree with you. I, myself, wouldn't do it because I'm not a citizen of Rahu, nor am I a member of their royalty. However, I don't quite understand-"
Faust stops speaking abruptly. He thinks to himself for a few moments.
"Lord Tyrol? What were you just saying?"
"Maybe this will work... If I'm thinking what Hiro was thinking, that man has an unshakable confidence in you."
"As long as one of us knows what to do here, it's fine by me. So, what's our first move?"
"The first thing we need to do is make you stronger. You are in the Magic Capital of the world, and your teacher will be none other than the strongest living sorcerer on the planet." Faust says with a smirk before getting up from his seat.
"Gotcha. When do we start? We don't have much time after all. I think about 50 days or so."
"That's fine. If you pick it up fast enough, you could be done in a week. Let's get to work."
ns 172.71.223.165da2
and then Add to home screen.