My fist is the only response that I have. And it's a good one too. I get the whole, slowing down the world thing again. Only this time I feel a better control of it. It feels like it came out because I called.
Rythel truly had no idea it was coming, his brain was simply too slow to react.
I busted his lip. Is that what I think it is?? A fresh tooth flying through the air next to him as he spit blood. HAHAHA. Serves that fucker right.
I accept my death. I close my eyes. I hope this means I will at least not go to the 3rd Hell.
Even with my slowdown still working. I cannot even perceive what happens next. Monstrous noises errupt across the room. When it comes to a stop, so does my slowdown. 2 blades rest against my throat. The Queen's guard and Rythel's guard. They are elite knights who have spent their entire lives dedicated to training. The Queen is holding up her right hand, telling them to stop. She smiles at me proudly before going back to business.
She exclaims, "Get out everyone!" As if rehearsed the church clears within a minute. Some people jumping over the pews in desperation.
She facepalms before saying, "Now what in the 3 hells are we going to do with you." She snaps her fingers and I lose consciousness.
Upon realizing the folly of action, the wizard decided that lighting the city on fire was the only option. I scream. I hear laughter.
I wake, drenched in sweat. I'm in a cell. I have no idea how long it's been since I was awake. It can't have been long, I look out through the bars and I see Sir Kahlin staring at me. He immediately barks, "So why in the hells would you do that? Do you have a mental issue? Do you want to forever be a shit scraper? I can make that happen, I will make that happen."
He seems upset. I should calm him down with a joke. I reply, "I got him pretty good, they'll call him Toothy from now on."
A fireball begins to immediately take place in Sir Kahlin's palm.
He quickly snuffs it out. "No, no. I don't need to char you yet. In fact, you should consider yourself quite lucky. Do you notice anything different about yourself?"
I quickly grab my crotch, but my penis is still there, so not that. I grab my breasts, nope, those are still male too. My hair is still short and strawy.
Sir Kahlin exclaims, "Oh devils dammit boy, you didn't change into a woman. Why are you so afraid of that?"
I reply quickly and curtly, "Yes, yes, afraid. Truly. Terrified."
Sir Kahlin stares at me blankly.
Well at least I don't have to shit anymore, that sure is a relie-. I scream, "CURSE THE LORD OF HELLS I SHIT MYSELF INFRONT OF THE QUEEN"
And then I bore witness to the brightest smile I had ever seen appear right across Sir Kahlin's face. Grinning, he said, "That you did, my boy, that you did."
Humiliated, embarrassed, shamed. I pace the small cell as quickly as I can. I don't notice that the constant drip from the ceiling begins to stop. No, it begins to crawl through the air, I'm not that good, in fact, in this moment, I'm the lowest bug to ever be seen by her beautiful eyes. How could I dare? To taint her nostrils with the smell of my bowels. She's the only person who's ever seen me for who I am. The only one who accepts me without batting an eye.
Sir Kahlin watches me. He interjects my pacing, "Listen brat. Do you see what you're capable of? Don't you believe you can be the magician of that little mouse now? Time Slow as an innate ability has only manifested twice now in recorded history, you know. You gave everyone quite a fright choosing the prince to be it's first public target, but", and he smiles, "you did good."
Drip, drip, drip
I look up. The world has gone back to normal. I'm not in a bad place anymore. Yeah, I can recover from this. After all, if I am going to get Sir Kahlin to not only just accept me, but to understand me, something like this is nothing. I'll be right back in the Queen's good graces once I protect her little brat or whatever I gotta do.
I ask, "How exactly did I do good?"
He replies, "You showed off to all those lame-asses. You would've never been taken seriously."
I question, "But how can this be ok? I decked the prince."
Sir Kahlin responds, "And you impressed that Queen, you won her favor. Something that is immeasurably more valuable than some favor-less kid."
I doubt, "But why would she favor me if I beat up her kid? Does she not like him or something? I feel a little bad for him now."
Sir Kahlin laughs, "No no no no, she likes her child. She just also knows he's a complete moron. He's surrounded himself with yes men and none of them are competent enough to back that shit up. The kid is gonna kill himself trying to take the throne. Your job is just to protect him throughout The Ascension. You don't gotta make him King. Though it would get you brownie points."
Sir Kahlin continues, "Now I know what you're thinking. How stupid must I be to recommend a brat completely green behind the ears. That's where the Queens support comes in. She can keep him safe for 1 week. But that's all. Now are you ready?"
I stick up a finger, "Wait wait. I got 1 question. What the fuck is The Ascension?"
Sir Kahlin replies, "The Ascension is a historic and legendary tradition of the oldest ruling kingdom on the planet. It was put into place to stave off old bastards hogging the throne and get some new ideas and some fresh legs into power, but it's ability to do that has been largely questioned. The Ascension has just 1 single rule.
Once all the blood children of the current residing King have reached adulthood, they shall fight to the death or the unanimous surrender to decide who gets the throne.Now naturally this stupid rule has many a workaround, and has not been put into effect for several hundred years. So why now? Political strife within the kingdom has left the throne weakened and our wise and noble King has decided that only through immense bloodshed (that he naturally never had to participate in) can this issue be amended."
Wow Sir Kahlin really does have a good grasp on the politics here. It seems to have made him a bit jaded.
I finally manage to say, "Let's do this shit then, where am I going?"