The Golden Throne

The magic academy had walls all around the campus, and patrolling them was quite like patrolling any other fort. A few guards who were on rotation were moving around making sure that no one sneaked into the campus.

At times like these, the guards would usually see nothing at all, and the night guard was simply a formality of sorts just for the satisfaction of everyone and to make everyone feel a little bit safer.

After a while, seeing no action, all the guards grouped up and started talking amongst themselves.

"Urgh. I have no idea why these people want us to patrol these walls. We are in the middle of nowhere. I just don't understand these orders sometimes. That is why I hate things like war. The people at the helm themselves know nothing about the struggles that we face.", a guard sighed.

"Let us just do what we are told. If any of the senior officers see us slacking, they will punish us. I do not want to go under the whip right now.", the other guard who was right next to him shook his head.

"A senior officer might see us? All of them are sleeping comfortably in all the dormitories, while we have to sleep on the hard ground. They will all be dreaming right now, forget waking up. Let us just go.", another said.

"I just hate it when these senior officers get all the good stuff. They get the women first, they get the comforts first, all because they were lucky to be born as a noble.", the first guard shook his head.

"Let us just patrol. Why talk about them now?", the other guard shook his head.

Silence filled the air, and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of their breathing. They could feel the tension in the air from down below. It was clear that no one was ready for this war.

"I heard that these demons we are going to face are really powerful. I am talking general powerful. Some people who saw them in the city said that they were so powerful that even the kings faced difficulties facing them.", after some time, the guard finally broke the silence once more.

"Are you an idiot? Saying anything like that is hearsay. Saying that the kings are weak? All three of them? You won't get beheaded for this. You will get tortured to death for this. And, if the kings faced the demons and struggled, how do you think they survived?"

"I am just saying, the rumours must have some ground. Why else would three kingdoms gang up on one? I think that this is the first time in history that the three kingdoms have collaborated in such a way to go to war."

"First time? You seem to forget, or maybe you just didn't hear the stories. Fifty years ago I think. The four kingdoms, including Glade, stood together to destroy another kingdom. Except for Elvan, the three kingdoms got a piece of the territory. It was total chaos then. No one even wanted to set foot in that bloodied place. No one knows why the Night kingdom was destroyed.", an old guard who was sitting to side all this time finally spoke.

"Now you are just saying folk tales, old man. A fifth kingdom in the south? Surely we would know when we were taught in school. We even heard of the stupid stories of dragons in the west.", the guard laughed. He waved his hand in dismissal.

"What you are taught is strictly decided by the king. You just don't know the truth unless the king wants you to. Anyway, I don't want to speak of this any longer. I think that I will be beheaded just for speaking about all of this."

"No, please continue. It has been very interesting so far.", a voice came from the dark shadows behind them.

The soldiers lept in fear. "I knew that we shouldn't have sat down. Quickly get ready to fight. You boy, alert the others."

"Don't worry. I am on your side. Here, my insignia.", the shadow threw a medallion towards the soldiers. Once the eldest one, the one who was telling the others the stories, checked it, he nodded. "You are from the palace. What are you doing here? You must report at the main camp."

"Well, I was entranced by your story. Please all of you come back to your positions. That's an order, not a request."

The other soldiers who assumed guard were all tensed. Nevertheless, they put down their weapons. All of them sat back down unwillingly, with some fear towards the shadow. Slowly, the shadow came forward. He was a tall man, and had borne black clothes at a tight fit. He looked at all of the soldiers and smiled. He disappeared for a brief moment.

Blood flew, and the soldiers' faces were filled with terror. Before anyone could even shout, only one person was left. The eldest of them all fell back.

"You are on our side right. This insignia cannot be activated without knowing how beforehand. You are certainly on our side. Why are you doing this?"

"Blame yourself, old man. You must have known that speaking about the Night Kingdom is not permitted. There is a reason that the old king had spent a lot of time sealing all information regarding that misfortune. Well, I can't let anyone who even heard rumours of this breathe another. Just blame yourself. You were old enough to know that this was a taboo subject.", the tall man said.

A few moments later, blood flew from the neck of the other soldier. The robed man went up to the man and snatched the emblem from the hands of the soldier. He heard a few sounds coming, and he retreated back to the shadows. A few soldiers came to the scene of the crime. They saw the dead soldiers and rushed away, to alert the rest of the guards. An intruder set foot in the magic academy.

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