Book 8: The Holy Stone The Kid Emperor of Occultoria

Chapter 3 - Rumors and Desires

Later that morning....

The Grand Duke of Pyria was traveling to the Imperial Capital for trade negotiations with the Emperor. He was using the preferred mode of transportation for members of the Upper Nobility: a Chinese-style dragon.

The slender yet muscular green dragon, with a great golden mane and a wide toothy mouth, was over 20 feet long and was zipping through the cloudy skies with the Grand Duke and his advisor.

Grand Duke Atilo Jusoy knew that only the Emperor and members of the immediate Imperial Family rode griffins and he too yearned to ride one.

For, you see, he had secretly longed to be the Emperor of Occultoria. When he first heard of his upstart cousin Max from the Natural World taking the Occult Throne, he had been furious.

After all, Atilo Jusoy was the one who was born and raised in the Supernatural World. He knew all the ins and outs of Occultorian politics. He should have been the one hoisted onto the Occult Throne when the Empress Lilith disappeared.

But no. It had to have been that country bumpkin Max Jusoy, the exiled son of the Emperor Michael III the Just, who had been exiled away to the disgusting Natural World.

Atilo shook his head, his long dark hair shaking to and fro.

"How long until we're there?" the young Grand Duke asked impatiently.

"Very soon, Your Grace," said the advisor, a young lizard-like woman in her 20s.

A lizard spirit, she could transform between her lizard and human forms at will. True to her name, she had scaly leather skin, two wide bugger eyes and a forked tongue that darted out when she was nervous.

She whipped the dragon, who screamed.

Flanked by two ferocious flying leviathans, the powerful Chinese-style dragon surged ahead.

"When we get there, I'm not kowtowing to him," stated the Grand Duke flatly. "I don't care if it's imperial court protocol."

"That's your choice to make, Your Grace," said the advisor Shyla.

"I've never met my cousin the Emperor, but I already hate him so much," said the Grand Duke, as the wind blew in his hair and in his flowing black grand ducal cape. "He has what's rightfully mine."

He pointed to his chest. "I should have been the Emperor. I'm more capable than him."

Attilo was a tall gangly lanky teenager, with an acne-ridden face, long black hair and gray beedy eyes. In the Natural World, he would have been considered gothic, but in the Supernatural World, he looked just like everyone else, since there are all types of people there.

"How do you suggest we dethrone him?" he asked.

"Well, the only way an Emperor could lose the Occult Throne is to lose the Mandate of Heaven, not literally, but to lose the confidence of his people," replied Shyla. "And that's a big task."

Attilo rolled his eyes. "Isn't there an easier way?"

"Well," said Shyla, leaning forward in her seat. "I did hear of a rumour that the Holy Stone has been found somewhere in Magicka."

"The Holy Stone?" said the Grand Duke, flabbergasted. "I thought that was just an urban legend."

"I don't know for sure," said the lizard spirit. "But rumour has it that the Holy Stone would grant a single wish to the bearer, but it's also said to be cursed."

"Hhmmm," said the Grand Duke, putting a hand on the minor stubble on his chin. "If I could acquire this Holy Stone, then I would just wish that I could become Emperor. It'd be a heck of a lot easier than trying to cause enough unrest among his people for them to want to overthrow him. Besides, I heard that ever since Emperor Max had the Matriarch lift the excommunication and interdict, people have been happier. It'd be hard to get them to rebel now."