Not a Hero

Part 5: The Tower

Within a few minutes of being wounded in his own castle, King Pristime was able to heal himself using the magic and transport himself to the location of a massive primal energy surge, right on the edge of the elven forest. From here, he used his powers of creation to construct an ivory tower with intricate carvings of flowers lined with gold to appear benevolent to the new world.
The criminal outbreak in Asbaratus was almost over, some lives were lost protecting the fair city, but no more needed to fall to take the king’s newest treasure. Using telepathy, the King signaled to his assistant in the city, Holt, to come to his location and bring the only soldier he needed. Given life through the powers of the Prodigy, he was a magical construct made of stone and wood, and a product of intense torturous training under the watchful eye of the druid Holt. He was not human and lacked a soul, but in the eyes of the ambitious king, he was the key to taking Earth. He was the perfect soldier and nothing else.
Out in front of the white tower, Pristime waited patiently for his key. Suddenly, a large shape emerged from above the clouds, a crimson dragon lunged from the top of the world with something in the clutches of its giant claws. The dragon slowed its descent and hovered in front of the king, dropping an armored effigy in front of his master. The dragon landed, and a magical transformation took place. The entire dragon began to shrink down to the size of a human. Its sharp spines broke off, and its skeleton contorted in a gruesome fashion. In seconds, the whole dragon had transformed into a human.
“Welcome, Holt.” said Pristime. “I have little time. Is my soldier ready?”
The man dressed in red robes responded, “It’s ready for anything.”
The king smiled and looked down at the husk that laid at his feet. “Rise.” he ordered.
The humanoid husk immediately stood up and turned to its master.
“Good.” said Pristime. “Perhaps something more difficult? I’d like you to go there.” The king pointed to the top of the tower. “Climb from the outside.”
The effigy darted for the tower wall and leapt up with blinding speed. It quickly made its way up to the top, using the fragile flower carvings as ledges. It seemed impossible, but the effigy made the feat look easy, even in armor.
“That’s impressive.” said the king. “If the replication spell is successful, we may be looking at an unstoppable army. Come now Holt, let’s go inside.”
The king and his druid walked inside the tower which was much larger on the inside. Some would even say that the difference in scale is ludicrous. The first room they entered was a grand library with shelves that scaled the walls, holding hundreds of thousands of books. The king did enjoy reading in his spare time and knew he would need this many books to occupy him in the next world. The effigy came inside from the top of the tower and fell the whole way down, still landing perfectly fine.
“This had better work.” said the king.
Holt replied, “I assure you that it has no soul, and the spell will work.”
Pristime pulled the Book of the Prodigy from under his cloak. He turned to a page, pointed to the golem, and recited, “Materia Gemin.”
A bead of light went from Pristime’s hand to the soldier. The bead touched the armored soldier’s shoulder and floated off to the side. The moment it landed on the floor, a flash of light bursted in all directions, illuminating the room. The light faded almost instantly, and in the place of the bead stood another perfect copy of the first effigy. Both soulless entities looked to their master with lifeless eyes.
Pristime’s grin grew wider, and he said, “Holt, congratulations…. You’ve given me my army. With this, Earth is all mine.”
“Don’t forget what you promised me.” said the druid.
Pristime’s smirk disappeared. He replied to Holt, “I never forgot, but it seems you have. In exchange for assisting me in this ritual and taking Earth, I will spare your brother and revive the entire druid population, including that girl you were with when I first found you. I am a man of my word, but you have not fulfilled your end entirely yet. When Earth is mine, you will see them all again, I assure you. Until then, you will obey your king.”
Holt knelt down. “Very vell, King Pristime.”
“To the next room. This will take time so we have to get started right away.”
The druid stood up, and followed the king up a spiral staircase in the back of the room, into the second chamber of the tower, which was just as large as the first. However, it was barren to save room for Holt’s gigantic dragon form. The druid walked into the middle of the room and shapeshifted into his monstrous scaled self. Pristime pulled forth the Virtuoso Blade and plunged it into the floor just in front of the dragon.
Holt leaned his long neck down and furled up his wings. The dragon closed his eyes and relaxed his mind, focusing on sensing the primal energy around him. Points of orange light appeared in the air around him and the tower, slowly drifting towards the sword in the stone. The meditating dragon knew he would have to stay perfectly still and concentrate for the next day to complete the ritual. To him, this time seemed endless. To the four people coming from the north, it seemed longer.