Xerxes

Hope

(Xerxes POV)

"Can you remember what happened after you jumped towards the lightning ball?" a bald general asked, standing over me with concern on his face. 

How daft could he possibly be? 

I had told them everything I could remember but they would not believe me.

General Kol had been asking the same question over and over again for almost an hour. Ang had given her testament to the Generals and magicians, but her story was not matching up with mine. She had said crazy things which did not make any sense.

How could I have faced off against the legendary Meridius and won?

That was not only impossible but also crazy talk.

The stares being sent my way were that of fear and terror, however it was mixed with a bit of hope. They looked at me like I was some sort of saviour but they were about to be disappointed.

I was nothing but a stable boy, a cartographer.

"For the hundredth time General," I sighed with exasperation. "I remember jumping towards a lightning ball and waking up on Ang, that's it. Now I don't know how I got on the ice or have any knowledge of Angs story happening," I was frustrated. 

What were they looking for? 

Did something unexpected happen?

"Tsk," the Xaj hissed. She was getting impatient. Her face flustered with anger as well as disappointment on how the interrogation was going. "You're wasting your time," she gave off sparingly.

"What?" the general questioned in anger.

"I said you're wasting your time. He doesn't know anything," her cold voice and stare made the general shiver in fear. 

"And how would you know that?" the tired general retorted wiping the sweat off his forehead with the crowds murmur becoming loud.

"Because General," she answered, getting up from her chair, making her way to the middle of the room.

"He isn't the same soul who fought the mad magician. If he was we would not be having this useless gathering right now, would we?" That shut everyone up making them feel the weight of her voice. "Besides even if he was he has no knowledge of his ability."

"So what do you suggest we do?" General Obsidian asked from the crowd. "According to the reports we gathered from Ang and the other survivors of the attack, that boy performed strange feats that even some gods cannot perform. The ocean is still frozen and may I remind you that it cannot be melted with ordinary magic. So I ask, if he did not do it, then who did?" Everyone muttered in agreement with what he had said.

He was a sly devil when it came to battlefield plans and torturing people for information, he was the only one I feared most amongst the Generals in the camp. I was lucky it was Kol interrogating me and not him.

Keeping one hand behind her and the other holding up her chin, she wandered towards me with an intense look that could pierce through steel if need be.

"I never said it was not the kid, I only said that his soul was not the one that performed those feats. We would need to use the old ways, the methods of our fathers and our fathers before that to find out the truth," her arms spread with excitement as she spoke. 

The court became unruly with random words being thrown about.

"Preposterous!" 

"Old ways?! It has not been used in over a hundred years!" 

"He's not even a god, he's a human child!"

"Isn't it just a myth!?" 

"Necromancy! It shall not happen!"