Algernon Black

(Chapter 38) The Pursuits of Fools

Loy dodged out of the way as a searing stream of light magic split past his ear and then rolled to the side as dark magic rushed the other side of him. Five practitioners surrounded him and his notorious grin stretched across his cheek as sweat leaked into his eyes. It was that smile that made people first start calling him a psychopath. He wore it before or during a fight and it terrified his opponents. What was most off-putting was that his smile didn't falter even when he was the one in immense pain, and that was where his greatest strength lay. Devane had taught Loy that the winning opponent wasn't the one who avoided or inflicted the most pain, but the one who could best withstand it, but Loy adjusted that advice into his own, enjoy the pain and you'll always be ahead.

Another shot went right for the prince's heart, but his ball and chain blocked it. "Truly you all can do better than this!" Loy exclaimed to the practitioners discharging random attacks of magic at him from all angles. He managed to find five willing to fight him by promising if one of them managed to land a single hit he'd grant them all a lordship and a castle. It really heightened their enthusiasm, though none of them had come close to striking him yet. "I mean truly if you're the best our country can produce then our only hope left is me."

One of the more talented practitioners hurled a surge of light magic at the conceited prince.

"A bit better," Loy granted, as the magic nearly singed his hair. "But not even close." He stepped forward to retaliate but was stopped by Devane's entrance into the quad.

"Are you here to tell me it's time I prepare for the party?" Loy asked, noticing the sun close to setting, which meant the guests were already arriving.

"Yes," Devane answered and in a lower voice added. "You've also still neglected to interrogate the Emorain. And it's been a week of that man lurking around when we still don't have any clear understanding of his motives."

"You sound so paranoid and inhospitable," Loy replied as he let the ball loosely swing back and forth. "I welcomed him as a guest, remember?"

"There is no time to play host when we need to prepare for war." Devane stepped out of the way of Loy's challengers and signaled for them to continue.

His opponents jumped at the opening, bombarding him all at once.

Their multi-colored streams of energy collided in the middle as a massive void of light formed from all the dark magic used at once. Devane averted his gaze as the drastic darkness put a strain on his eyes. By the time he looked back, Loy was completely fine but his opponents were laid flat on their backs in various stages of injury.

"See what you make me do when you get in the way of my fun," Loy said, returning his weapon to its necklace form while making his way to one of the nearby fountains to run water over his face.

"You want to see what your negligence made me do?" Devane dryly returned.

Loy turned to his advisor so fast in his alarm water splattered from his hair, "Do I?"

Devane simply replied by striding away. Loy followed, wondering to what extent of damage had Devane already committed against their guest, though Loy was aware of his infamous war years and knew his damage had no bounds.

~~~~~

Jared had been going over rows of text in the library to convert the oldest books into common translations. He had found a few accounts from people in Etilia of the last good king's visits, where he would go, and where it was said he'd be heading next, but over a course of forty years, it was constantly changing. All that stayed consistent was how inconsistent he seemed to be. Jared marked every location where it was stated King Leviathan traveled too. There was no mention of him ever leaving the content and Jared believed it as he never seemed to travel a certain distance away from one central point. He just couldn't figure out where that point was.