Heir to the Ultimate Power

CHPT 6

The freezing rain poured down heavily on the massive stone gates of the Valoria Royal Palace. Kael dragged his body through the wet mud, making sure his face was completely covered in black dirt. He forced himself to cough loudly, squeezing a pocket of fake blood inside his mouth to make it look like his chest was completely broken.

"Look what the storm dragged back!" a loud voice shouted from the top of the watchtower. Two royal guards rushed down the stone steps, their heavy metal boots splashing the muddy water right into Kael’s pale face. They looked down at him with deep disgust.

"Is this the useless dog who fell into the Abyssal Rift?" the second guard asked, kicking Kael hard in the ribs. Kael let his body roll into the wet dirt, crying out in a weak, shaking voice that sounded like a dying man. He had to hide his true power.

"Please, brothers, don't hit me," Kael wept, his entire body trembling violently as he clutched his stomach. "The chasm... the dark winds broke my soul. I can barely breathe. I only came back because I have nowhere else to go."

"You are nothing but a mana-less failure!" the first guard yelled, hitting Kael's back with the wooden end of his heavy spear. "You survived that terrifying hole by pure, pathetic luck. Get up and face the masters you offended, you piece of trash!"

They grabbed his arms brutally, dragging his limp body across the sharp cobblestones while Kael kept up his act. He let his head hang low, sobbing hysterically to make sure nobody could sense the hot, powerful energy currently waking up inside his bones.

The heavy golden doors of the grand audience hall flew open with a loud bang that echoed through the palace. The guards threw Kael onto the center of the floor, his iron chains clinking loudly against the polished white stone. He lay there, bleeding and shivering.

King Alden stood up from his high golden throne, his face completely red with an absolute, terrifying fury. Beside him sat Queen Eleanor and Princess Seraphina, whose face was completely covered in thick white bandages from the heavy punch Kael had delivered.

"You bastard! You absolute charity case!" King Alden roared, his deep voice shaking the beautiful glass lamps hanging from the ceiling. "How dare you show your filthy face in my sight again? Are you and your useless mother still breathing after everything?"

"Your Majesty, please have mercy!" Kael screamed, his voice cracking with a mixture of fake terror and real, burning hatred. He dropped his forehead against the freezing stone floor, letting his tears mix with the blood running down his cheek.

"You did not die with all the torment you went through!" the King spat, stepping down the royal stairs with angry strides. "You made my beautiful daughter unconscious and sick! You still have the effrontery to come back to my palace after committing such a crime?"

"You escaped death in that rift, Kael!" the King continued to yell, pointing his finger at the boy's head. "Instead of coming back here, you should be living inside the bush like a wild animal with your useless, dying mother! You do not belong among humans!"

"I beg you, King Alden!" Kael cried out, lifting his hands as the chains rattled together in the quiet hall. "My mother is at death's door! I don't care what you do to me. Just give me a single vial of the Spirit Cleansing Antidote to save her life!"

The surrounding nobles let out loud, mocking laughter, their expensive silk sleeves shaking as they enjoyed the pathetic sight. They looked at the son of the legendary General Raith as if he were nothing more than a broken insect crawling in the dirt.

"Look at him beg!" a high noble sneered from the side. "The great Raith family has truly become a bunch of miserable beggars." Kael kept his eyes on the floor, his teeth grinding together so hard they began to bleed inside his mouth.

Queen Eleanor stood up next, her long purple robes flowing behind her as she looked down at him with profound disgust. "Hold your tongue, you foul creature! You are smelling like a dead dog, and your presence is ruining my clean floors."

"You and your useless mother will die in agony," the Queen said, her voice sounding cold, sharp, and completely merciless. "My daughter is in sole charge of the medicine vaults now. She will never give you a single drop of that antidote, even if you wash her feet."

"Mother, make him pay for what he did to my face," Princess Seraphina mumbled through her thick white facial bandages, her voice sounding muffled and full of spite. "He broke my jaw. I want to see him suffer until he screams for mercy."

"Do not worry, my love," the Queen replied, turning back to the King with a cruel smile on her lips. "Your Majesty, order the guards to let him go for now. Let him join the lowest servants in the dirt and start working until we are ready to kill him."

"Take him away!" King Alden commanded, waving his hand as if he were dismissing a fly. "Throw him into the Imperial Alchemy Greenhouse. Let him work like a slave until the day of his execution. If he stops moving, beat him to death."

"Please, no! Have mercy upon me!" Kael screamed as the heavy guards grabbed his iron chains once again. "My mother must not die in vain! Just give me the medicine! I will do anything! I will be your slave forever!"

They dragged him out of the grand hall while he continued to cry and scream like a helpless child. The doors slammed shut behind him, cutting off the cruel laughter of the court, and Kael’s weeping stopped instantly as his face turned cold as ice.

The guards threw him into the damp, dark slave quarters located right beneath the massive greenhouse. The air inside smelled heavily of rotten leaves and bitter, poisonous herbs that made it incredibly difficult for a normal person to draw a breath.

Kael pushed himself up from the wet straw on the floor, wiping the fake tears from his eyes. He noticed an older man sitting in the dark corner of the room, his hands covered in deep, bleeding sores from working with sharp plants.

"You shouldn't have come back, kid," the old man said softly, his voice sounding tired and completely broken by years of hard labor. "Once you enter this specific greenhouse, the royal family never lets you leave here alive. We are just fertilizer for their plants."

"Who are you?" Kael asked, stepping closer to the older man while keeping his voice low and natural. "How long have you been trapped in this terrible place? Why are your hands bleeding so badly?"

"My name is Jared," the old man replied, lifting his raw, scarred palms to the dim light of the single candle. "I have been serving as a slave in this palace for fifteen agonizing years. I have to pay off a heavy debt."

"A debt?" Kael frowned, sitting down on the wooden bench beside him. "What kind of debt takes fifteen years of your life to pay off? Why don't you just run away from this place during the dark night?"

"My mother was very sick years ago," Jared whispered, a tear forming in his tired eyes as he spoke. "She needed rare medicine, so I borrowed money from the cruel Queen. I had no means to repay the astronomical interest they charged me."

"They forced me into lifetime slavery to clear the debt," the old man choked out, his shoulders shaking with deep sorrow. "And the worst part is, my poor mother died in her room anyway while I was stuck working here. They took everything from me."

Kael felt a sharp pang of deep, emotional pain in his chest as he listened to the old man's tragic story. The royal family had been destroying innocent, regular families for generations, using the exact same cruel tricks they were using on him.

"Jared, look at me," Kael said, his voice suddenly becoming serious and incredibly steady as he clasped the old man's trembling hands. "We don't have to suffer under their boots anymore. I need you to help me tonight."

"Help you? With what?" Jared asked, looking at the young man with a sudden sense of deep confusion. "You are just a broken boy in chains. What can we possibly do against the rulers of this massive empire?"

"I need to get the Spirit Cleansing Antidote for my mother," Kael explained, his golden eyes flashing with a hidden, powerful light in the darkness. "Join me to take revenge on these monsters. Help me find where they keep the medicine."

"Are you insane?!" Jared panicked, trying to pull his hands away in pure terror. "I cannot help you steal from the royal vault! I don't have any magical power to fight those heavy guards! I am just a normal servant!"

"Please, listen to me," Kael urged, tightening his grip gently so the old man wouldn't run away. "You know every single corner of this palace. You have the layout of this entire place at your hand. You know where they keep it."

"No, I won't do it!" Jared cried out in a ragged whisper, his face turning completely pale. "I only have a few days left until my contract is finally free! I don't want to commit a crime that will make them prolong my years of serving them!"

"If I fail to work, or if they catch me slacking off, they will kill my remaining family!" the old man wept, his body shaking. "I cannot risk their lives for your crazy plan. Leave me alone, boy. Go away."

Kael looked into the old man's terrified eyes, his heart filling with a deep, solemn determination to protect this fellow victim. He leaned in closer, his voice sounding incredibly warm, human, and completely filled with an unbreakable resolve.

"Don't worry about a single thing, Jared," Kael promised, his words hitting the mark with deep emotional weight. "I swear to you that nothing will happen to you during this night. I will make sure of it with my own life."

"How can you promise that?" Jared asked, looking at him through his tears. "The royal guards are ruthless killers. They will butcher us both the moment we step out of this room."

"I will protect you from the shadows," Kael said, his voice sounding deep, natural, and completely confident. "The monsters will never see the blade that strikes them down. Your family will live, and we will both be free from this hell."

"Do you really mean that?" the old man whispered, staring at Kael’s face as if he were looking at a savior. "You are not lying to an old man who has nothing left to lose in this world?"

"I never break a promise," Kael replied, giving the servant's hand a firm, reassuring squeeze. "We have bled enough for their amusement. It is time to make the royal family bleed for a change. Will you guide me to the vault?"

Jared took a long, deep breath, looking at his own bleeding hands before looking back at the intense young man sitting before him. The raw, heavy emotion in Kael’s voice had finally shattered the thick walls of fear inside his heart.

"Okay," Jared whispered, his voice trembling but suddenly becoming firm with a new purpose. "I will help you. I know every secret path, every guard rotation, and the exact location of the spiritual antidote vault in the castle."

"Then let's go," Kael said, standing up straight as the heavy iron chains around his wrists began to feel lighter. "Lead the way, Jared. I will be right behind you, and I promise no guard will ever touch a single hair on your head."

The older servant stood up, his legs shaking with a mixture of terror and sudden excitement as he walked toward the heavy wooden door of the slave quarters. He pushed it open slowly, looking out into the dark, rain-soaked hallway of the palace.

The storm outside roared loudly, providing the perfect cover for the two oppressed souls as they stepped into the shadows. Jared took the lead, moving quickly through the narrow corridors while Kael followed closely behind him like an invisible guardian angel.

They moved past the initial storage rooms, their footsteps making no sound against the cold stone floor as they headed deeper into the core. Jared stopped suddenly at the corner of the main hallway, his hand pointing toward a pair of heavily armed guards.

"There are two elite sentries guarding the western entrance," Jared whispered, his breath coming in short, panicked gasps as he looked back at Kael. "We cannot go through here. Their armor is too thick, and they will see us instantly."

"Keep moving forward, Jared," Kael commanded softly, his voice sounding completely calm and steady as he stepped into the light. "Don't look back, and don't stop walking. I told you I would protect you, didn't I?"

Jared swallowed hard, his heart hammering against his ribs as he stepped out into the open hallway right in front of the guards. The two sentries immediately noticed his movement, their heavy spears lifting up as they prepared to shout an alarm.

Before a single word could leave their mouths, Kael moved with blinding speed, his hands extending toward their necks from the dark shadows. A strange, silent pressure filled the small space, and the two heavy guards suddenly collapsed onto the stone floor like empty sacks of grain.

Jared looked back in pure, unadulterated shock, his eyes widening as he saw the elite soldiers lying completely motionless in the dirt. He looked at Kael, who was already dragging the bodies into a nearby storage closet with a completely expressionless face.

"How... how did you do that?" the old man gasped, his voice shaking with a mixture of profound awe and sudden terror. "You don't have any mana! You are supposed to be a useless, crippled boy!"

"I told you not to worry about the guards," Kael said, stepping back onto the path and gesturing for him to continue leading the way. "Our enemies have plenty of power, but they don't know that the real storm is already inside their walls."

They continued their dangerous march through the dark palace, leaving a silent trail of unconscious guards behind them as they drew closer to the vault. Jared felt a strange, soaring sense of hope growing inside his chest with every single step they took.

They reached the massive silver doors of the inner sanctuary, the glowing runes on the metal indicating that the antidote was just a few feet away. But right as Jared reached out his hand to touch the lock, a loud, ringing bell echoed through the entire castle.

The main alarm had been triggered, and the sudden sound caused Jared to freeze in absolute terror as heavy footsteps began to echo from every single direction.