"Wait, why are you all looking at me like that?"
The group stared at him. The sheer confidence of the twelve-year-old boy was baffling.
Riku leaned forward. His friendly demeanor was gone. His eyes were sharp and intense. "You know the political decrees by name. You know of secret routes. You offer to smuggle five people into a hostile, militarized nation."
He looked the boy directly in the eye.
"Who are you, Caelus? Really?"
Riku’s question hung in the air. The small booth in the corner of the inn suddenly felt very quiet. All eyes were on Caelus.
The boy did not flinch under their intense scrutiny. A slow, clever smile spread across his face.
"Who I am is less important than what I am, Uncle Riku," he said, his voice smooth and practiced. "And right now, I am your only safe ticket into Eldoria. For the moment, isn’t that enough?"
He met Riku’s gaze. It was a direct but respectful challenge.
Riku stared at him for a long moment. He knew the boy was hiding something. Something important. But he also knew that he was right. They were out of options.
"Fine," Riku said, leaning back. "For now."
Sherry looked from Caelus to Riku, her expression filled with suspicion. But she said nothing.
"Good," Caelus chirped, his cheerful demeanor returning instantly. "Now, if we are to leave, we should do so before dawn. The border patrols are laziest just before the sun rises."
They left the inn in the pre-dawn darkness. The streets of Last Light were empty and silent.
They returned to their two carriages. This time, there was no argument about seating.
"Caelus, you ride with me," Riku commanded. "You’re the navigator."
The boy gave a mock salute. "As you wish, Captain." He hopped into the driver’s seat of the first carriage with an agility that was surprising for his age.
Seeing Caelus’s enthusiasm, the girls had nothing to complain about. They all went into the other carriage.
They set off. The two carriages rumbled quietly through the sleeping town. They did not take the main road that led east. Instead, Caelus directed Riku down a narrow, winding track that led into the hills.
"Where are we going?" Riku asked, his eyes on the barely visible path.
"The main road has lots of guards," Caelus explained. "We are taking the old Smuggler’s Run. It hasn’t been used in years. The guards think it’s collapsed."
The track grew rougher. It soon disappeared completely, and they were navigating through a dense, dark forest. Caelus gave directions with an unwavering confidence. He pointed out old, faded symbols carved into the trees. He navigated by the position of the stars. He knew this land like the back of his hand.
After a few hours, he held up a hand, signaling for Riku to stop.
"Quiet now," Caelus whispered.
He pointed through a gap in the trees. In the valley below, they could see the main road. And on that road, a massive, black stone fortress stood guard. It was the Eldorian border fort.
Torches burned on its walls. Heavily armed soldiers, their armor glinting in the faint light, patrolled the road. They stopped a lone merchant’s cart, their movements sharp and efficient.
Riku watched as the soldiers questioned the merchant, then began to search his cart. It was clear that no one was getting through without a thorough inspection.
In the carriage behind them, the girls watched the scene with wide, fearful eyes. They had been heading straight for that.
"See?" Caelus whispered, a note of pride in his voice. "A death trap."
They continued on their hidden path. The journey was slow and difficult. The carriages bounced and swayed over the rough terrain. But they were safe. They were unseen.
Just as the sun began to rise, Caelus pointed ahead. "There," he said. "We’re through."
They emerged from the forest onto a high ridge. The landscape before them was different. The grass was a darker shade of green. The trees were taller, more imposing. The sky above was a pale, hazy grey, and in the far distance, a single, silent fork of lightning split the clouds.
The air itself felt different. It crackled with a low, constant hum of static energy.
"Welcome to Eldoria," Caelus announced, a grin on his face. "The Kingdom of Storms."
The five of them stood on the high ridge. They looked out over the new kingdom. The air hummed with a low, constant energy. It made the hairs on their arms stand up.
In the distance, dark, heavy clouds swirled around the peaks of impossibly tall mountains. A silent fork of lightning would occasionally split the sky. It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
"This land feels... angry," Lila said, her voice a quiet whisper.
"It is a land of power," Sherry replied, her expression a mixture of awe and nostalgia. "It does not pretend to be gentle."
Riku turned to their new guide. Caelus was staring out at the landscape, a strange, unreadable expression on his young face. The most update n0vels are published on novel★fire.net
"Alright, Caelus," Riku said. "You got us in. Now tell us what we’re walking into. What is this place, really?"
Caelus turned, his eyes sharp and serious. "This is Eldoria. The Kingdom of Storms. And you must forget everything you think you know."
He pointed towards a distant smudge on the horizon. "That is the capital city, Keraunos. It is where we will find the people you are looking for. But the city, and the entire kingdom, is ruled by one man."
"The Lord of Thunder, Volanis?" Lysaria asked, recalling the innkeeper’s words.
Caelus let out a short, sharp laugh. "Volanis is a god. And gods do not rule. They are worshiped. No, the man who rules Eldoria is far more real, and far more dangerous."
He took a deep breath. "His name is Lord-Regent Volkov. They call him the Storm Tyrant."
He began to tell them the story. It was the story every child in Eldoria grew up with. The story whispered in taverns and taught in academies.
"Decades ago," Caelus said, his voice low, "Eldoria was a collection of warring clans. Volkov was a minor lord, a master of storm magic. In a single decade, he crushed all his rivals. He united the clans under his iron fist. He forged the kingdom we see today."
He looked at each of them. "He rules with absolute power. His word is law. They say he once incinerated an entire army of rebels with a single bolt of lightning from a clear sky. They say he can hear a whisper of treason from a hundred miles away."
"He has an elite guard," Caelus continued. "The Tempest Legion. They carry out his will without question. They are his hands, his eyes, and his executioners. To defy the Legion is to defy Volkov. And to defy Volkov is to die."
Riku listened, a grim expression on his face. This was not the kind of kingdom where one simply walked in and started recruiting teachers.
"So, to get to the people we need," Riku said, "we will have to deal with this... Storm Tyrant."
Caelus’s expression shifted. A slow, mysterious smile touched his lips. "That is the interesting part, Uncle Riku."
He paused, letting the suspense build.
"That is the story everyone knows," he said. "The one the bards sing. The one the nobles whisper in fear."
He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a near-silent whisper. "But it is all a projection. A grand illusion."
Sherry frowned. "What do you mean, a projection?"
"I mean," Caelus said, his eyes gleaming, "that no one has seen Lord-Regent Volkov in person for over twenty years."
A stunned silence fell over the group.
"Not his generals," Caelus continued, his voice barely audible. "Not his court. Not even his own family. He is a ghost. A legend that rules from the shadows of his own fortress."
Lila stared at him, her eyes wide. "But... the orders? The lightning strike you mentioned?"
"All carried out by his inner circle," Caelus explained. "The Tempest Legion enforces his ’will’. A council of mages creates the ’miracles’ of his power. They rule in his name. They maintain the projection of the ruthless Storm Tyrant."
He looked at Riku. "But no one knows the truth. Is he still alive? Is he a prisoner in his own home? Or has he... become something else entirely?"
The mystery was a suffocating weight. The ruler of this kingdom was not a simple tyrant. He was a ghost story. A conspiracy at the very heart of the nation.
"So," Riku said, his mind racing. "Our quest to find a few teachers has just become a mission to uncover the greatest secret in Eldoria."
"It would seem so," Caelus agreed with a wry smile. "Uncle Riku. Try not to get yourself killed. These storms can be brutal"
With their new, daunting objective set, the group began their descent from the high ridge. They left their carriages hidden in a secluded cave, covering the entrance with a simple illusion spell from Sherry. The terrain ahead was too rough for wheels.
They traveled for two days on foot. Caelus led them with an unerring sense of direction. He guided them through jagged canyons where the wind howled like a hungry beast. He took them along narrow ledges overlooking dizzying drops. The sky remained a constant, overcast grey, and the distant rumble of thunder was their only companion.
On the evening of the second day, they saw a faint cluster of lights in the distance.
"A village," Caelus announced. "We can rest there for the night."
The village was small and hardy. The buildings were made of dark, lightning-scarred stone. The people were quiet and reserved, their faces weathered by the harsh climate. They looked up as the strangers entered, their eyes wary.
Caelus led them to the largest building, which served as the village hall and inn. An old man sat by the hearth, smoking a long pipe. He was the village head. His face was a roadmap of wrinkles, but his eyes were sharp and clear.
He looked at the newcomers. His gaze passed over Riku and the girls. It was the detached, assessing look of a man used to seeing strange travelers pass through.
Then his eyes fell on Caelus.
The old man froze. The pipe nearly fell from his mouth. His sharp eyes went wide with a look of pure, unadulterated shock. He scrambled to his feet with a speed that defied his age.
He dropped to one knee. He bowed his head low, his voice trembling with a mixture of terror and reverence.
"My Lord," the old man stammered, his forehead nearly touching the stone floor. "What... what are you doing here?"