Master of Minds, Master of Me

Eight years ago

Goddammit, this is endless. The monsters just keep flooding in. But I trust we can protect the village behind us. We just need to keep our focus and give it all we have.

I spot in my spherical vision, a monster dragging a little child in its mouth. I immediately head toward my horse.

“Your Highness! You can’t go! Your life is not worth risking for one child!” one of the knights yells.

“If that were your daughter, would you still stop me?” I yell back at him as I climb onto the horse.

He falls silent and I start to ride toward where the monster disappeared. Soon I see it again. The little girl is screaming in panic. When the monster realizes that I’m trailing it, it quickens its pace.

Shit. I really need to be faster. I need to save the child. I want to aim my electricity toward it, force it to stop. But the risk of hitting the girl is far too great. I urge my horse to run faster. When I get close enough, I grab my bow from my back and aim my arrow at its leg.

Luckily, it hits and the monster stumbles. Its teeth loosen from the girl’s jacket, and I grab the falling child with my water bubble and pull her toward me with it. I release her from the water so she’s on the horse with me as I see the monster getting up.

I start to ride away, but suddenly there are so many monsters behind us. And they’re too fast. My horse is clearly getting tired. We can’t outrun them. I lean to talk to the little girl.

“I need you to hold on to these.” I give her the reins and she hastily takes them. “You need to keep going. I’m going to stall them. Just keep focusing forward. Don’t look behind you. Not even a single look. You understand?”

She nods.

I jump off the horse and burst my water and electricity out of me and draw my sword. I need to fight with all I’ve got if I want to survive this. I have to survive this.

I fight them, slaying them one by one. The fight feels never-ending. And slowly I feel my body turning weak, and a slight fear takes hold of me. What if I’m not going to make it? What if my mana depletes before I kill them all?

Then something shifts inside me. Like a large thumb pressing into my body. A fierce pain erupts within me, and I feel my mana going crazy inside me. Suddenly I can’t control it and my mana just starts pouring out as my whole body freezes.

And then it hits. A huge spike penetrates my left shoulder and I lift my gaze to see Thornback Skraeg jumping toward me. A monster with a large tail, slightly resembling a scorpion but the size of a lion, able to shoot spikes from the tail. Soon his teeth sink into my right shoulder and I fall to the ground and everything goes dark in an instant.

---

The pain overwhelms my body. I slowly open my eyes and see the ground moving under me. I realize that it’s me this time being carried by a monster. Probably that same Skraeg that got me earlier. But I don’t move. It’s best to remain still so I can strategize this.

The mana within me still feels weird, like there’s something inside me that doesn’t belong there. I’m not sure if I’m able to wield magic right now. But I don’t have a sword anymore and my left hand is completely useless with the spike from Skraeg’s tail still there. I can’t even feel my hand. So my magic is my only option if I want to fight.

Soon the monster drops me on the ground and I grunt from the pain. I see a cave where three smaller monsters crawl out. So I’m apparently food for the children. I did wonder why it didn't just eat me on the spot.

I wait as they all get closer to me, waiting for the right moment to strike. When I’m confident they’re all around me, I focus on bursting my electricity out of my body, trying to hit all of them at once. But something comes out with the electricity, something purple.

I ignore it and somehow manage to get up from the ground and run toward the cave. When I get inside, I cast a wall of water filled with electricity, preventing the monsters from getting in. I lean against the cave wall and slowly slide myself to sit on the ground. My body is so exhausted.

Okay. What am I going to do now? I have no idea where I even am. I have no idea how long I was unconscious. I can barely move and there’s something wrong with my mana. It feels like I’m about to explode soon. I watch the same monsters gather outside the cave, watching me behind the water wall.

And soon there are even more of them. So many I can’t even count them. Fighting them is clearly impossible. So my only hope is just to wait. Wait for my mana to deplete and end up being monster food. Or wait for someone to come help me. Well, they’d probably need an army to be able to help me. The amount of monsters is far too great. No one could fight them all.

So is this really how I die? Shit.

I just turned 17. I haven’t even tasted booze yet, not even gotten a chance to be with a woman. My whole life has been nothing but studying and learning. Endless lessons preparing me to sit on the throne one day. And all that hard work for nothing. Just so I can die alone in a cave. Pathetic. I don’t even want the stupid throne in the first place. I hope that in my next life I’m not going to be born into a Royal Family. I just want to be free to live my life like I want. Not bound by rules. I want to have fun. Go to a bar and flirt with a pretty woman. Hang out with a friend and laugh without worry.

But the Crown Prince can’t have friends. Not real ones at least. They just want to benefit from my status. And my “friends” don’t even call me by my name. Why even give me a name if no one is able to use it?

I lean my head against the cold cave wall. I feel the blood dripping all over my clothes and my mind is starting to feel pretty hazy. I watch the monsters watching me. I feel my mana flooding to my water wall. But I can feel the flow growing weaker and thinner. It’s only a matter of time until it runs out.

I focus on the purple substance swirling around me. Whatever that is, I blame that for my death. I can feel it coming inside me, but I can’t control it, but I try my best to contain it within me. I’m sure if I let it completely loose, I’ll end up exploding or something.

THUMP

I focus my gaze back on the monsters and suddenly they’re all on the ground. Something black hovers over them. Something black I’ve never seen. Soon the monsters start to scream in pain, squirming on the ground in agony, and I see someone walking amongst them slowly. Like a predator, his red eyes gleaming among the black smoke and he drags a sword behind him. The blade scraping the ground.

When he comes closer, I recognize him. Isn’t he the new Master of the Mage Tower? Theodore Loneflare? I’ve never talked to him, only seen him once. I know he offered his help with the war, but my father refused. Arrogant man. I would have taken all the help we could get.

I know he’s a fire mage. I’ve never seen black magic, but it’s quite clear that he uses that too. Nothing else would explain what I see before me. Then suddenly everything falls silent when all the monsters just stop moving on the ground. Every single one slayed by this one man.

I watch him turning toward me. I really do hope he’s here to save me and not to kill me.

“Don’t worry, I’m here to save you. Lower the wall.”

Ummm… Did he read my mind or something?

“I’m not sure if it’s a good idea. There’s something wrong with my mana. It’s acting weird, like it’s going to explode. I don’t think it’s safe to be near me,” I explain.

“Explode? Like an arcaneburst?”

“No, I don’t think so. Of course I can’t be sure since no one has lived to tell how it felt. It’s more like something foreign suddenly appeared inside me and it’s trying to burst out along with my own magic.”

“If your mana is going rampant, I think I can help with that.” His voice is so calm and cold. Like this is just some everyday chit chat. Like I’m not just sitting here about to die. Is he not at least even a little bit worried or anything?

“How can you be so sure? It’s not worth risking your life.”

He falls silent for a while, furrowing his brows. And then he lets out an annoyed sigh.

“I was born with Arcane Hyperemia.”

“What? Shouldn’t you be dead then?”

“Probably. But I decided I’d rather live with it than die because of it. What about you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you going to just die here, succumb to your fate, or try to keep on living?”

I let out a chuckle that turns into a cough with blood spilling from my throat.

“You are annoyingly convincing.”

I withdraw my mana from the wall and it vanishes. He walks slowly toward me. Now that my mana from the wall goes back inside my body, the pain within me gets worse. I try my best to contain whatever is happening inside me.

I feel his hands on my chest and I open my eyes to watch him. His lips are curled in a faint devilish smirk. Who the hell is this guy? Is he enjoying this or something?

But soon I feel the mana calming inside me and my breathing slowly steadies. So he really knew how to do it? Does he know what is wrong with me too?

“I need to remove the spike.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea?” I ask, a little scared.

“Yes. Don’t worry, this will definitely hurt.”

“What? Shouldn’t you try to reassure me that—”

My voice turns into a painful grunt as the spike suddenly bursts into flames. I feel my flesh burning too.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Shouldn’t you at least warn me or something?!”

“I said it will hurt.”

“Well yes, but warn me about the fact you were going to burn me! Why didn’t you just rip it out?”

“That would only cause more damage and blood loss. The burning closed some of the wounds so you won’t bleed to death.”

“Oh… That sounds pretty smart actually. Thanks. For saving my life.”

He looks just annoyed. And his annoyed face amuses me for some reason.

“I’m going to lift you up. I’ll take you to the Tower. You need to see Neil.”

He lifts me effortlessly from the ground and I grunt from pain again but try my best to ignore it.

“Neil? Who is that? Your boyfriend or something?” I say teasingly.

His face distorts. His annoyance is so funny to look at, that it’s hard to stop myself from laughing. But I don’t want him to leave me here so I keep the laughter locked away.

“Neil is the physician in the Tower.”

“Oh. So does that mean you are single?” I wink at him, unable to stop myself from teasing him.

He literally drops me on the ground and starts walking away from me. The pain jolts through my body when I hit the ground, but I guess I can only blame myself for that.

“Okay okay! Relax! I was just joking. Please don’t leave me here to rot.”

He stops but doesn’t turn around.

“I behave, I promise,” I try to convince him.

He turns and lifts me up again and soon a teleportation circle forms beneath us and in a second I’m inside some foreign room. He puts me down in a hospital bed.

“Neil!” he yells.

Wait. Are we in the Tower already? Did he teleport both of us just like that? I’m pretty sure we were almost on the other side of the country. I didn’t know anyone could teleport so long distances. This man really is amazing. Soon a man appears in the room.

“Master! You found him!”

He runs toward me and quickly starts treating me. I feel his magic going inside my body, probably inspecting the damage.

“Yes. He had some mana issues.”

“Mana issues?” the doctor asks, raising his brow.

“Well, I’m sure you will notice the cause yourself too.”

I just stare at them, talking like I’m not even here.

“Care to tell me too, what’s wrong with me?” I ask.

“We’ll talk after your situation is more stable. You focus on getting better, I’ll notify the Palace that you are alive. At least for now.” He turns and starts to leave the room.

“For now? Are you saying there’s still a risk of me dying?” I ask in minor shock.

He just waves his hand lazily and disappears behind the door. I turn my gaze to the doctor, expecting an answer from him.

“You are safe for now, don’t worry too much. Let’s focus on getting your body to recover and think about the rest later.”

“You do realize you also used ‘for now’ words?”

He gives me an apologetic look and focuses back on treating my wounds. I let out a heavy sigh and slump my head on the bed. I guess I just need to wait patiently.