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Aberon strode forward, his gait as confident as always. The rest of the group just followed behind him.

"We are here for an audience with the king. He have already granted us it, we are awaited." Aberon said, looking straight at the castle.

The soldier before them sneered at the clear disrespect but didn\'t dare do anything more. He walked to the small guardhouse and activated a little rune circle on the table.

The rune circle glowed and flashed for a few seconds, before lighting up brighter and a voice was heard from it.

\'Huh. They have intercoms.\' Astaroth thought, seeing the apparatus work.

The thought made him chuckle.

\'Well designed, devs. Well designed.\' He thought, smiling.

The guard spoke to a person for a couple of minutes and then came back to the group.

"The court mage cleared your passage." He said, still showing clear disdain.

"They ordered me to have you escorted to the guest waiting room inside the palace." He added, pointing at a full squad of soldiers nearby.

The squad assembled before him, forming a nice straight row, and saluting him.

"Escort these traitors, I mean, honored guests, to the guest waiting room." The guardsman said to the squad, giving a disgusted side-eye to Aberon and his following.

"Yes, sir!" The men said, clapping their heels together, before forming a square around the group.

"Lead the way." Aberon told the soldiers, pointing forward.

The soldier at the front started walking in the castle\'s direction, but never fully made it there. Just before reaching it, they swerved to the right, going to a smaller, yet much grander, part of the castle.

That was the palace. One could tell from all the flourishes and richness in the decor that this was where the king lived.

Once they got there, another group of soldiers, these much better armored and armed, stopped the group. Their armor had golden flourishes on them, and you could see the quality of their weapons.

"Royal guards." Aj\'axx whispered to Astaroth, a bit of envy in his eyes.

Astaroth had already guessed as much, Aj\'axx only confirming his thoughts. The guards here also looked much more powerful and serious.

Astaroth kept his back straight, and his eyes peeled. He had a bad feeling, ever since they had stepped into the castle walls.

Like, someone with nefarious intentions was watching them. He couldn\'t pinpoint the source of this feeling, but he trusted his gut.

Astaroth had no weapons on him when they checked him, having stowed them away in his inventory. The guards looked at him suspiciously when they saw him unarmed.

"Where are your weapons, lad?" One of the royal guards asked him, eyeing him like a falcon.

"They escorted me here, sir. I am unarmed." Astaroth replied, showing his empty hands and twirling on himself.

The rest of the group eyed him funnily, knowing that was a flat-faced lie. Korin even smiled and winked at him.

After smiling innocently at the guard one more time, they were let through once everyone else\'s weapon was confiscated.

The royal guard that questioned Astaroth followed him with his eyes, all the way into the palace. A royal guard escort replaced the escort that had brought them.

They were standing closer to them, almost boxing them in with their large armored frames.

They escorted Astaroth and his group across many hallways, in a fashion that made it seem like they were lost. After fifteen minutes of walking around, they finally led them into a room.

The room had lavish decorations like it housed dignitaries, not a rag-tag bunch of warriors and an old mage.

The royal guards then split up, with one staying inside the room with the group, two standing guard outside the door, and the last one going to announce their arrival.

When the other guards had left the room, Aberon turned to Astaroth.

"We need to talk. Privately." Aberon said, grabbing Astaroth by his arm, and dragging him to a corner of the room.

Once they were there, Aberon waved his arm behind him. A wall of condensed mana formed, from the floor to the ceiling, becoming opaque when it finished forming.

Astaroth stared at the wall in amazement.

"What spell is this?" He asked, sliding his fingers across the surface.

"It is telekinesis, but that is of no importance right now." Aberon replied.

"I know you still have your weapons on you. It was a good choice to hide them when you did." Aberon continued.

"Now, we have little time to discuss, so I will make this short. Don\'t interrupt me." He added.

Astaroth nodded his head in understanding.

"Good. The king is not our ally in this situation. He can\'t refuse you access to the coming of age ceremony, in normal circumstances, but these are far from." Aberon said, pacing slightly.

"You are to, under no circumstance, reveal the fact that you can perform soul magic. If you do, the king will most likely have you captured and imprisoned until you pledge allegiance to him." He continued.

"If he asks you to pledge allegiance to him, you say yes, but when the time comes, you pledge it to the kingdom. Not to him." Aberon added, staring at Astaroth, making sure he understood.

"This will make sure you are protected, and that he won\'t be able to force you into anything. Of course, it won\'t keep him from using underhanded methods, but at least, it will buy us time to respond in kind." He continued.

"Are we clear on this?" Aberon finished.

"Yes, sir." Astaroth nodded, solemnly.

"Good." Aberon said, waving his hand again, making the wall disappear.

When the wall appeared, the royal guard in the room drew his weapon.

"Drop the spell!" He ordered, walking towards the mana wall.

Chris walked in between the guard and the magic wall, lifting his arms up in a show of peace.

"Calm down, soldier. You don\'t want to anger that mage, now, do you?" He asked the soldier, trying to get him to back off.

"Move out of the way, sir. Or I will have to cut you down." The soldier said, pointing his sword at Chris.

Chris was unfazed by the power-move the soldier tried to pull, as he kept eye contact with the young man.

"Listen, kid. Let them have their chat. There is no reason to go crazy for a few hidden words." Chris said, his arms still in front of him.

"What if they\'re plotting to kill the king?! I can\'t let that happen! Move aside!" The soldier said, taking another step forward.

"I can assure you, that mage wouldn\'t talk about such a subject here." Chris tried reassuring the man.

"If the Omni-mage wanted to kill the king, he wouldn\'t have wasted time bringing us here." He added.

The guards from outside the room had come in after they heard shouting, and now Aj\'axx and Korin were also trying to block their way.

I\'dril stood in the back, ready to cast his magic at a moment\'s notice. But before the situation could go any further, the magic wall went down and disappeared.

Aberon, seeing the new situation, crossed his arms in disappointment.

"What\'s all this fuss about?" He asked, looking at I\'dril, who was closest to him.

"Just a misunderstanding, right boys?" Chris said before I\'dril could open his mouth to answer.

Aberon scanned the entire room, looking at everyone concerned, trying to see who was looking for trouble. Only one person defiantly withstood his gaze.

"You." Aberon said, pointing at the guard that was in the room from the beginning.

"Why did you escalate this situation?" He asked the soldier.

"You hid behind magic, possibly to plot against the king! State what business you talked about behind the wall!" The royal guard said, trying to keep up a brave facade.

"That is none of your business, boy. Now, I think our audience with the king is upon us. Take us there." Aberon said, ignoring the request of the soldier.

That made the young man even angrier, and he took another step forward, his sword now dangerously close to Chris.

Aberon\'s eyes went cold.

"Wrong choice, boy." He said before an incredibly powerful aura radiated out of him.

The guards in the room all dropped to their knees, gasping for air, clawing at their throats to make their airways expand.

It was an exercise in futility, as it wasn\'t the airflow that was lacking. Their bodies were simply reacting to the feral fear Aberon\'s magic was inducing into them.

It lasted a few moments before another powerful aura washed over the room, this one cold. The court mage then walked into the room.

"Still causing trouble, I see. Keep this up and the king won\'t honor your audience with him, Aberon." Gelum\'vire said, his gaze washing upon the room.

"Hmph! They started it." Aberon said, retracting his aura.

"Now, will someone lead us to this audience, or do you plan to waste more of my time?" Aberon asked, walking to the door.

*Sigh*

After sighing loudly, the court mage escorted the group to the audience room inside the palace. He was quite annoyed with having to do the job of a servant.

But he feared what other trick Aberon might pull if he left him in the care of weaker people. So he took the safest option and did it himself.

In a manner of minutes, the court mage had brought them in front of two massive doors, made of what looked like strong metals.

This door would pass as the entrance to a castle\'s keep if it wasn\'t adorned with gold, silver, and jewels across its entire surface.

He turned around, facing Aberon. Then he looked at each of the ash elves behind him.

"The king will see you now. Be on your best behavior, and know that if you disrespect our king, I shall have your head." Gelum\'vire said, looking at everyone, one by one.

"That includes you, Aberon." He then added, setting his gaze back on the old mage.

"Let\'s get this over with." Aberon replied, ignoring the very obvious threat.

The court mage snorted, before turning around and opening the doors without touching them.

"Court mage Gelum\'vire greets his majesty!"