I'd Give Up The World For You

Lucien's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You're telling me one of them survived the fall of Katalya and is taking revenge?"

Juliet nodded seriously. "That's exactly what I'm telling you. I've met him and he's seriously twisted. His name is Rukelion Blaze and at this point I'm fairly certain he's taken over this country. The night I fled the capital he attacked the castle and there isn't a doubt in my mind he was successful."

"But how would he do that? Even the strongest mage couldn't take over a country on their own!" 

"I don't think he was on his own. I recently discovered he may have been working with Zelish wind mages on top of military allies. He used to be an officer in the Mirean Royal Army trying to tear them apart from the inside and he was involved in the war with Zel. I think he did something preventing them from all being killed in order to gain them as allies for when he planned his coup. 

"I saw him plant spies in the castle by winning a tournament meant to decide who the new royal guards would be. I knew he was planning something but I didn't expect him to be able to pull it off as soon as he did. 

"He's been warped by a desire for revenge after what happened in Katalya. I'm worried about the people I left behind but I had to try and find someone who could stop him! Goodness knows I can't do it myself," Juliet said, anguished. 

Lucien seemed at a loss for words. It took him several moments to be able to respond. "How did you find out about all of this?"

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"No, I do. What you've said would explain several things I've seen and heard in my travels. What I don't understand is how you came to know about it. I doubt someone plotting revenge would be so willing to share his plans with just anyone."

Juliet sighed. He had her there. How was she supposed to explain her foreknowledge without saying she had been the one to create the monster that was currently in control of this country?

"Do you believe in magic outside of the eight elements?" she asked hesitantly. 

Lucien blinked at her for a moment. "I've never seen such a thing for myself but there are so many unexplainable things in the world that I consider myself fairly openminded. Are you able to read minds or something?"

"No but I suppose you could say I have visions. I knew that Rukelion Blaze, third prince of Katalya, was out for revenge but my visions aren't always accurate. I was keeping a close eye on him once I found him trying to figure out what to do to prevent him from hurting people but his timeline accelerated. 

"According to my vision, he was supposed to take over the world in 1181 and completely burn it to the ground. I panicked when he managed to be successful earlier than expected and came straight here. 

"I don't know what he's doing right now but I do understand how his mind works and how deep his resentment runs. He'll get rid of anyone who conflicts with what he wants and that is what worries me most," Juliet confessed. 

She looked up nervously, afraid to see whether or not he believed her. Visions of the future were less farfetched in a magical world than them being inside the world of a novel she had written even if it was the truth. She desperately hoped he was openminded enough to accept this much. 

Lucien seemed more fascinated than skeptical. "How do these visions work? How did you find him? Can you tell me your story?"

Juliet was so relieved he was willing to hear her out that she wanted to cry. "It's a bit difficult to explain how they work. I just…know things sometimes. My original vision involved Rukelion Blaze becoming a mercenary and traveling the continent gaining allies that he later destroyed after getting what he wanted and losing what little was left of his sanity. 

"In my vision he wore an eyepatch to hide his heterochromia and kept his hair shaved off so no one could see it was bright red. I never would have dreamed I would meet him in the capital, especially since he seemed so different from what was in my vision at first, but he did have an eyepatch and he was using the same alias I saw him use. 

"He seemed like a completely different person so I was skeptical for a while until I saw him at that tournament. When one of his military underlings won…the look on his face…it was unhinged. He looked exactly as he had in the vision. 

"I tried warning a friend of mine since she was close to him but I failed. No one else would believe me so I had to come here and try to find the people I saw were capable of defeating him. The problem is that they don't manage to pull that off until 1184." 

Lucien mulled this over. "So parts of your vision were correct but other parts weren't. What do you think changed things?"

Juliet let out a heavy sigh. She knew exactly what changed things but couldn't bring up the whole transmigration thing. She was going to have to work around that as best he could. 

"The friend I mentioned. She married him. The Rukelion Blaze I saw in my vision went mad after being alone and consumed by revenge for too long following the destruction of Katalya. I saw that too and…it wasn't pretty. He witnessed his entire family be killed right in front of him in a rather gruesome way at age twelve. He never had a chance.

"Or so I thought. The first time I officially met him he was so in love with his wife it was ridiculous. I dismissed my suspicions about him until I saw him again at the tournament. I had previously thought that she might have changed his fate but I was wrong. 

"He attacked the castle using his inside men and was fighting the king of Mirea when I escaped. I don't know what has happened for sure since then. I only have my visions to go off of. The one thing I'm certain of is that Rukelion Blaze is dangerous and needs to be stopped," she said firmly. 

Lucien frowned. "Your friend is married to him?"

Juliet sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Yeah. She met him right after he saw everything go down and she didn't know what he was up to. I'm really worried about her, actually. He's obsessed with his revenge and more than a little crazy so I'm afraid that's going to come back to bite her sooner or later. She's involved with an out-of-control fire mage; I don't want her to get burned."

"And she didn't listen to you because she loves her husband."

"Yes. She believes in my powers but she also believes that she changed him and that he wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't deserve it. I don't want to see her naivety get her killed."

"Who stopped him in your visions then? If it's supposed to happen in 1184 they might not be ready for it yet," Lucien pointed out with a worried crease between his brows. "They're obviously students and a bunch of kids might not be able to handle a fully realized fire mage on their own."

"They are. Ira Brooks, Ciara Nox, Krae Duwaris, Sarabeth Storm, and Nico Fletcher. They use their powers and skills to their best advantage to take him down. It helped that he was so unhinged as well because it made him a bit sloppy," Juliet told him. 

"He may be powerful but so is Ira once he applies himself, though he won't quite be on the same level. Ciara and Krae's magic helps make up the difference. Sarabeth will be an expert in both poisons and explosives by then and Nico will be an accomplished archer who never misses a shot. 

"Ultimately, what ends up happening is that the others work to distract him while Sarabeth gives Nico a series of poisoned arrows to take him down. At least according to my vision. It was a team effort and every single one of them is necessary to pull it off."

"And it truly can't wait until 1184 when they're supposedly ready?" Lucien asked. 

"Of course not! Rukelion Blaze is nuts—the longer he's in power with no one stopping him, the more people are going to die! It wouldn't surprise me if he was on a rampage as we speak!" 

"Alright, I get it. I suppose I can talk to Ira since he asked me about what happened to Katalya the other day but I have no idea what to do about the others."

Aha! That must have been what Ira wanted out of Sarabeth. But what information would she have? She was from western Mirea not far from the border…had she seen something that Juliet hadn't written about in the book?

"Sarabeth and Ciara won't be a problem. Could you potentially talk to Krae too since you know him? I can handle everyone else," Juliet suggested. 

Lucien nodded thoughtfully. "That could work. I hope we are able to figure this out. I don't want to see what happened to Katalya repeated anywhere else. I'll help you to the best of my ability."

"Thank you."

She had to believe that having someone else on her side—a mage no less—would make a difference. This entire novel had been driven off the rails because of Daisy and now she wasn't sure what to believe regarding the fate of this world.. All she wanted was for everyone to live happily ever after like they were supposed to. Was that too much to ask?