23

  The dim light shattered the windows, bursting out of its seclusion, as the spring afternoon filled the air with uncertainty and tension. The windows of the lecture hall filled with demons of the past, and the monsters that still haunt the haunted to this day. Shadows followed the innocent inside the hall, towering themselves over the futures light. Gems that would seize the day and slay the monsters who seemed indestructible.

  The heart of Belkos casted an astray welcome. “Good afternoon class.” Hera’s voice echoed throughout the lecturing hall with over two hundred students sitting in their respective seats with note taking material out. She took her seat behind her lecture chair, with her slender fingers brushing through the manuscript of material.

  “Today for part of our lecture, we will have a guest speaker.” She clapped her hands excited.

  “This cannot be happening…”

  The students examined the speaker in all his mighty prowess. Each of them sitting in orderly rows, their faces in anticipation and curiosity of who stood before them. The windows shut, and blue mage lights sparked all around the hall with a force from Hera’s hand flickering. A warm glow filled the room. A glow majestic and beautiful with the kindling of a mother’s touch. Hera is the Master of the Magical arts. The one person who created the border wards that protected all of Edindale from the forces of evil.

  “Professor, if I may. There are two people here?” A bulky man with wave brown hair adjusted his posture.

  “Mr. Rosen, let me assure you, one is here to speak to you all for a moment.” Hera looked towards Omar, with a narrow glance questioning why he is here.

  She turned back to her students, dressed in her elegant navy blue and gold robes. Each step echoed years of her profound knowledge of magic. The light around her intensified the closer she approached a certain side of the hall. The students appealed to this. The professor they joined, is the greatest sorcerer of all time, so historians would say. Hera returned her stare back towards Omar’s way, as a large shadow overlapped him, accidently bumping his shoulder to enter the stage of the lecture hall.

  “Thank you for having me Mrs. Blade.” Leonidas took Hera’s hand, awarding a small peck.

  “Leonidas Greymoor, Kingsguard to King Phizer of Edindale.” Hera presented, as Leonidas let go of her hand, as she slowly took a backseat in her chair.

  “This is happening…”

  “So. I am not one for these speeches.” Leonidas laughed gingerly, his eyes morphed into a mystic blue, pulling whatever was left of Omar out of spite. “Mrs. Blade has asked me to come here to resort to speak about recent events in our realm.” His glance staggered to his side at Omar. Leonidas smirked before continuing further.

  Some of the students noticed the tension. The boy who spoke out earlier and others from the front row saw the despair on Omar’s face. He didn’t attempt to hide it, nor could he. Evil filled the room, around someone he cared deeply for.

  “Leonidas…” A snap vision of Leonidas’s face standing above him, when he brought Omar back to life haunted him. The absolute pathetic feeling Omar had standing beside him was certain.

  “The Diborn army as of late has somehow managed to enter the borders of out realm. The question of how they are getting in is becoming uncertain. We are losing countless soldiers through our borders, many casualties.” Leonidas spoke with a sliver of appreciation in his voice. “The Diborn army has only brought out a couple Shardbearers, but they still overwhelm us in the capital. We need defense. We need safety in numbers.”

  “Why are you lying to these kids? You are one of the Shardbearer working with Dragni. Why in the hell are you here?” Omar’s voice couldn’t ambulate his feelings. His brain circulated to whatever conclusion he could find.

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  “What is the capital doing to help the refugees who come to our realm seeking safety?” A blonde girl asked in the back.

  Omar and the rest of class turned to her, her nerves shattered her body. She dipped into her chair, but she saw Omar too. The only familiar face she knew that put her at ease. “Omar.” Amy mumbled and the soft expression rattled away her nerves.

  She threw her hair in a bun, dressed in the blue mage robes everyone else had, she made some minor changes to her face to seem, more normal to those around her. The royal dress up was gone. She looked to be another student in the lecture hall, no different than the others. Only she was the youngest princess of the realm.

  Leonidas didn’t recognize her. He wandered around the lecture hall pondering the question. “Yes. Well, we are allocating all of our resources, to better the help to our refugees and citizens.” Amy’s face screamed liar, but her body quivered seeing his response. “Oh. How lovely.” She whispered, as two of the students beside her busted in a smile laughter at her answer. She sunk back in her chair belittled.

  “Anyways my appearance here is quick. With Mrs. Blade’s permission, we are offering a sort of internship at the capital with our guard, to bolster our strength, we need young mages like yourselves who are ready to fight the scourge that is the Diborn.” Hera shot a sorrow glance at Omar. Her face flushed in agony, as she saw those onyx eyes before she saw her child.

  “Are you saying all Diborn are evil?” Mr. Calum Rosen asked again.Leonidas smirked at the question. “You all tell me.” He leaned on Hera’s desk. “Do you suspect all Diborn are evil?”

  “Diborn are soulless beings made by the blade. They are born to be evil.” Calum suspected. Omar dropped his head, while the student cleared his throat, giving a devastating cold stare at Leonidas. “But just as is life. You can choose to use the cards you are dealt, or become something else. A royal doesn’t have to be King if that don’t choose to be, nor does a Diborn has to serve the lotus blade. That same being can become a hero of good.” The student finished, leaving Leonidas baffled.

  “Interesting perspective.” Leonidas grinned at the student. “That is how one of my comrades saw Diborn. His name was Rorke.”Another student shot their hand up quickly. The student waved their hand around, with a swirl of iridescent sparks flickering at every movement, forming small fireworks above her head. “So.”

  Hera tensed in anger. “Luca Henry. Will you control yourself!” Leonidas and Omar both backed away in disbelief. All the students in the classroom laughed at him, without hesitation. The student’s radiant blonde sun colored hair was extremely noticeable by the waking eye. As was his resemblance, that seemed to be undeniable. “Rorke?” Leonidas wanted to confirm.

  The student bundled himself tightly with all the eyes on him. “That’s my brother.” He hesitated. “Was… he was my brother. He joined the royal guard last year. But…”

  The room fell silent. Amy and Calum were the only students who didn’t laugh at him at all, so that spread across the room. A pen could echo like a bomb in this hall. Leonidas and Omar swerved glances at each other.

  “That’s how this all started.” Leonidas’s voice appeared in Omar’s head. “When you killed him, then when you killed me. You call me evil Marshall, but who really is the evil one here. The man who takes someone’s brother, or the one who wants to create a new era.”

  The telekinesis stunned Omar. Hera could see the two disfigured about Luca’s response. They played it off magnificently as Leonidas continued his lecture for awhile longer answering questions the students had in regards to the capital.

  “In my last regards, I do invite you all to our Spring Golden Ball Festival in the Capital if you are so inclined to consider our seek for aid.” Leonidas nodded his head. “Mrs. Blade will direct you on what to bring. Thank you all for listening to my short speech, and I hope to see you all part of our new Mage Guard soon.”

  Leonidas stormed out of the lecture hall without saying another word. Hera held her hand to her heart. Class was still in session, as she took one of her manuscripts and began a short reading. The rest of the class was unfocused from Leonidas. Omar stormed out shortly after, with a burst of anger right behind him.

  The door slammed open to the halls before the courtyard, and he could hear a putrid shout. “Omar. What the hell!” Maeve questioned him. “A knight. Did he come this way?” Omar asked. Maeve was confused her brother’s sudden anxious approach. “Did he come this way?” He demanded.

  “Oh he did.” Leonidas answered from across the hall. He was beside one of the portal sigils that transported people across the realm and others. He kept a sorrow glance, as the door behind Omar opened. It was Hera. She stood tall with her children, as they saw what Leonidas truly was.

  He hid his mystique and the long dark black hair and onyx eyes returned. “My lady.” Leonidas baffled. “See how easy it could have been to kill you all?” he laughed at Omar. “This is all because of what you did. You are the reason the entire realm and the world will fall to the Lotus Blade. You and your fucking father, will be the death of this world. I swear it.” Leonidas disappeared leaving them in disarray. Maeve and Hera saw it, they turned to Omar for confirmation, but only with a small nod did he confirm what Leonidas was. A member of the Specters inside the royal capital.