From Trash to Their King

Our New King

The transition from the dirt of the academy to the zenith of absolute, unimaginable luxury occurred far faster than Kelvin could process his own breath.

He was escorted down the grand marble steps of the Academy, passing through rows of hundreds of silent, trembling mages and students who pressed their faces into the wet gravel. Guided by the Kingmaker himself, Kelvin was ushered into the rear passenger compartment of a vehicle unlike anything he had ever seen or imagined.

It was a hovering, obsidian-black limousine forged from enchanted star-steel, powered by a silent gravity-engine that glided two feet above the ground without a single vibration. The window glass was dark, privacy-shielded crystal, and the spacious interior was lined with crimson velvet, gold-leaf trimming, and crystal carafes of chilled, glowing nectar. It was a machine that made Earth's finest hypercars look like rusted, primitive toys.

Kelvin sat stiffly on the plush leather seats, his eyes wide with lingering shock as the vehicle tore through the capital city at blinding, silent speeds. Outside his window, a military escort of a dozen heavily armored imperial knights rode atop massive, majestic flying griffins, clearing the skies ahead.

When the heavy, gilded gates opened at the peak of the royal plateau, Kelvin gasped, leaning against the glass.

The imperial palace wasn't just a building, it was an entire mountain carved into towering, snow-white marble spires, suspended waterfalls cascading into cloud-filled abysses, and glowing, floating gardens held aloft by ancient gravity runes. It was gargantuan,the largest, most opulent structure he had ever laid eyes upon, dwarfing the entire academy complex.

Outside the grand courtyard, thousands of royal servants, court ministers, high-ranking arch-mages, and imperial guards stood in perfectly disciplined rows under the afternoon sun. The moment the hovering car glided to a smooth halt upon the gold-veined marble driveway, the entire crowd of thousands dropped simultaneously to their knees, pressing their foreheads into the polished stone with a deafening rustle of silk and armor.

“Welcome home, Your Royal Highness!” a thunderous chorus of thousands of reverent voices echoed across the mountain peak.

Kelvin stepped out of the vehicle, his knees wobbly beneath him. He held up his hands in sheer, wide-eyed panic.

“Wait, hold on! Everyone, please, just get up. I haven't accepted to be your king yet. I haven't agreed to any of this, I think there’s been a huge misunderstanding” Kelvin shouted, his voice echoing over the silent, bowing crowd.

The Kingmaker, stepping out of the vehicle behind him, merely bowed his head with a serene, knowing smile, “your incredible humility honors your noble bloodline, Sire, but destiny does not require permission. Please, allow us to wash away the stains and pain of your exile”

Before Kelvin could protest any further, a dozen high-ranking royal maids clad in pristine, hand-woven silk gowns stepped forward. Bowing respectfully, they gently guided him through grand mahogany double doors and into the palace's private thermal springs.

The bathing chamber was a vast, cathedral-like hall constructed entirely of translucent green jade, filled with naturally heated, aromatic spring water that steamed softly in the cool air. The fragrance of rare lotus flowers and soothing herbs hung thick in the atmosphere. As Kelvin stripped off his ragged, dirty clothes, two of the head maids stepped down into the crystal-clear water with soft sea-sponges and scented oils, reaching out to tend to his bruised skin.

Kelvin’s face flushed bright, violent red. He instantly jumped back into the warm water, splashing jade-tinted foam across the floor.

“No, no, no! Stop Please. I can take my bath myself, thank you very much, just leave the soap and step outside, I am completely fine on my own” Kelvin stammered, holding his hands up defensively.

The maids exchanged surprised, amused glances before bowing deeply with absolute obedience

 “As Your Highness commands,” the lead maid murmured, before the group retreated behind the thick silk curtains, leaving Kelvin alone to scrub away three months of accumulated dirt, blood, and dried mana-fruit pulp in peace.

When he finally stepped out of the steaming spring, refreshed and entirely healed, he found a majestic set of royal garments laid out upon a velvet table. It was a royal robe woven from pure, shimmering shadow-silk that felt completely weightless against his skin trimmed with liquid-gold thread along the sleeves and clasped at his chest with a deep black lotus brooch carved from solid midnight-gem.

Once dressed, he was led down a grand, high-arched corridor to the imperial dining hall. Resting upon a fifty-foot table carved from a single piece of ancient dark mahogany was a lavish feast fit for an entire army. Roasted manticore loins glazed in honey, dishes of shimmering crystal grapes, steaming silver bowls of spiced sea-dragon stew, golden-baked pastries filled with sweet fruit nectar, and crystal goblets of aged star-wine stretched as far as the eye could see. Kelvin, who had survived on stale bread crusts, dirty floor scraps, and pure spite for ninety days, stared at the spread in absolute, mouth-watering disbelief before sitting down and eating with ravenous intensity.

After the extravagant feast, the Kingmaker personally escorted Kelvin down a hidden, heavily fortified spiral staircase beneath the palace's bedrock. They passed through twelve magical security wards before stopping before a colossal vault door forged from impenetrable zero-metal, stamped with the same six-petaled black lotus seal found on Kelvin's back.

As Kelvin approached the threshold, the massive vault reacted to his presence, humming softly with a deep, ancient resonance before swinging open with a heavy, echoic rumble that shook the floor.

Kelvin froze, the air leaving his lungs.

The cavernous vault inside stretched on for miles, glowing with the blinding, dizzying radiance of unimaginable wealth. Mountains of pure gold trade-bars reached fifty feet into the air like glittering hills. 

Chests overflowing with raw, uncut diamonds, platinum sigils, and polished silver coins lined the stone walls as far as his eyes could register. Weapon racks held legendary divine swords, enchanted shields, and ancient artifact staffs that radiated immense, primordial energy into the cool air. It was an ancestral inheritance capable of buying entire kingdoms ten times over. Kelvin stood at the threshold, clutching his silk robes, utterly unable to reconcile his ninety days of backbreaking misery with the astronomical, god-like fortune laid out before his eyes.

The Kingmaker stepped up beside him, dropping low into a deep bow as the royal court ministers gathered respectfully at the top of the stairs behind them.

“Everything in this realm, from the ancient dust beneath your boots to the very sky above our heads, belongs solely to you, Your Royal Highness” the Kingmaker spoke softly, his reverent voice echoing in the vast, golden vault. 

“Tell us, Sire, when should we begin planning your grand coronation as our new King?”