Exiled Prince: I'm the Unexpected Extra in the Novel

Two weeks had passed since the dinner with Fredrinn's team.

The search for Julian had finally begun.

To start, they had decided to explore what should have been the easiest ruin for their collective skills.

It promised to be both an easy victory and a valuable experience.

The journey had been largely uneventful.

Cassian, Fredrinn, and Rose were now making their way through the steep, rugged mountainous terrain of a strategically important county near the heart of the empire.

The wind, sharp as a blade, lashed at their faces, carrying the distinct, resinous scent of pine trees.

The gravel path crunched under their feet, each step echoing with a dull thud through the valley.

This seemingly aimless trek, which had been going on for hours, had worn Rose's patience to a thread.

The young woman stopped abruptly, turning around with a weary sigh.

Her gaze was sharp enough to pierce through Cassian, the group's mysterious guide.

"Cassian!" she called out, her impatience palpable. "Do you have the slightest idea where this ruin actually is, or did we just trek all this way for some fresh mountain air?"

Amidst the tension, Fredrinn maintained his composure, as always.

His expression was impossible to read; his lips were sealed tight, and his eyes were narrowed as if searching for something beyond the horizon.

He simply remained silent.

This quest was a personal matter for him, and there was no room for impatience.

Cassian, unflustered by Rose's outburst, answered with the same irritating smile that implied he knew everything.

"I'm not going to give you the exact coordinates, my dear Rose. This isn't a place marked with an 'X' on a map. But don't you worry. When we get to the right place… I'll know it."

Unsatisfied with this evasive answer, Rose took a step closer, planting her hands on her hips.

"And how will you know? Are you going to have some sort of divine revelation? Can't you give us something more concrete?"

Cassian's eyes gleamed as if he had been waiting for this question.

"Our sign is nature itself. We are looking for a colossal, ancient tree with the emblem of a black scythe carved into its trunk, so old it has almost merged with the bark. Considering how sparse the trees are in this barren land, it's highly unlikely we'll miss a tree so majestic and distinct. It will be waiting for us, like a monument."

Rose paused for a moment; it sounded like a plausible explanation, but her doubts had not yet vanished.

"Alright, let's say we find this fabled tree. What then? Are we just going to knock and ask, 'may we come in?' How do we get into the ruin?"

At this question, Cassian shot a knowing glance at Fredrinn out of the corner of his eye. It was a silent agreement between them, a sign reminding Fredrinn of his key role in this plan.

"It's quite simple," Cassian said, his voice brimming with confidence. "Because the key to the ruin is already with us."

Though these half-baked, mysterious answers infuriated Rose, she understood that arguing would be futile. She took a deep breath, shrugged, and continued walking behind the group.

Fredrinn, throughout this entire dialogue, had been lost in his own thoughts.

Behind that inscrutable expression, an ocean of hope was surging. If there was even a shred of truth in what Cassian said, he would be one step closer to finding Julian, his dearest friend, whom he had lost years ago.

This thought alone was enough to make his heart pound and his blood sing in his veins.

They pressed on until the sun began to sink behind the mountains, painting the sky in melancholic shades of orange and purple.

The air grew cooler, and the shadows stretched into unsettling shapes.

Cassian could have transformed into his crow form and scanned the entire valley from above in seconds. It would have given him an immense advantage.

But a hesitation always lingered in a corner of his mind: How much would using such a supernatural, bizarre ability in the open frighten Rose and Fredrinn?

It could make them think he wasn't human, shattering the fragile bond of trust that was beginning to sprout between them.

He couldn't take that risk.

For now, he had to remain human.

Just then, Fredrinn's steps slowed.

His eyes had locked onto an old oak tree standing alone, a short distance from the others. Something about that tree was pulling him in, whispering to him.

It wasn't logic; it was a purely instinctual pull.

He broke away from the group and started toward it, cautious, leaving a safe distance between himself and the tree.

As he squinted to examine the ancient trunk, he noticed a faint, almost erased shape among the moss and the deep gashes carved by time.

Yes, it was there.

A scythe emblem, its lines faded but sharp.

Fredrinn's voice came out choked with excitement.

"Cassian! I think... I think we've found the tree you mentioned!"

At his call, Cassian and Rose rushed to Fredrinn's side.

When Cassian saw the tree and the emblem upon it, a pleased, triumphant smile spread across his face.

"This is the door we've been looking for."

Rose, still unable to shake off her astonishment, said breathlessly, "So, what do we do now? Do we have to say a magic word?"

Cassian shook his head.

"Words are not needed. Action is. Fredrinn must touch the tree. And we must be in physical contact with Fredrinn at the same time. We have to form a chain for the energy to flow."

The explanation was simple.

Without hesitation, Rose placed her hand on Fredrinn's left shoulder, and Cassian placed his on the right.

Fredrinn took a deep breath and slowly approached the tree. The moment he laid his hand on the rough bark that bore the weariness of ages, he felt a pulse beneath his palm, as if he could feel the sap flowing in the tree's veins.

At first, nothing happened.

A minute passed, then another. There was no sound other than the howling of the wind and their own breathing.

Impatience began to course through Fredrinn's veins.

"Why isn't anything happening?" he asked, a note of disappointment in his voice. "Are we doing something wrong?"

At that very moment, as if Fredrinn's words were a trigger, the world around them began to melt and shift.

One moment they were travelers breathing the cool mountain air, their feet on solid ground.

The next, they were inside an ancient structure where massive, sculpted marble and mysterious stone columns rose toward a ceiling lost in darkness.

The oxygen in the air was replaced by the heavy scent of millennial dust and forgotten things.

They had entered the ruin.

The sudden and dizzying change of location caught Rose and Fredrinn off guard.

Feeling as if the world had slipped from under their feet, they stumbled, lost their balance, and fell to the hard stone floor.

Rose, her eyes wide with amazement, scanned her surroundings. The intricate carvings on the columns, the faded patterns of the mosaics on the floor… everything was even more surreal than Cassian had described.

"Incredible," she whispered.

Cassian, the only one still standing, stood before them. His voice echoed in the enormous hall.

"This is no time for awe or rest. Danger could emerge at any moment. Get up."

Rose muttered in annoyance as she brushed the dust from her knees.

"Do I look like I'm resting? We were just teleported from a mountain into a tomb!"

Fredrinn, however, had already composed himself. He rose to his feet, tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, and looked at Cassian with determined eyes.

"Lead the way."

The trio began to walk into the depths of the ruin.

The corridors they passed through, no matter how magnificent they might once have been, were now consumed by the merciless teeth of time, reduced to a melancholy simplicity.

Some sections had completely collapsed, with piles of rubble making passage difficult. The walls were covered in cobweb-draped inscriptions written in ancient languages no one could understand.

But what was truly disturbing were the carvings between these inscriptions: bizarre images etched into the walls depicting a group of robed figures prostrating themselves before a colossal black scythe, worshipping it.

As they advanced, the images grew stranger with every second, revealing what seemed to be a chronology of madness.

In one image, the cursed, black energy surrounding the scythe began to dwindle, as if its source had run dry.

In another scene, the scythe turned upon its own disciples, slaughtering them mercilessly, feeding on their lives and their deaths to regain its strength.

The next depiction was the height of audacity: the scythe challenging the Sun in the sky, attempting to extinguish its life-giving fire with its own darkness, to shatter it.

But the final image told the end of this dark saga.

Struck by the pure, purifying light of the Sun, the scythe was broken into countless pieces. The wall on which this image was carved was shattered, as if a reflection of the divine power depicted.

There were no more images; the story was cut off here, violently.

Rose, shivering at the sight, unconsciously moved closer to Fredrinn.

"Do you... have any idea what these carvings mean?" she asked Cassian, her voice barely a whisper.

Cassian's answer was as evasive as ever.

"I don't suppose I know much. They could just be the depraved beliefs of an old cult."

As their footsteps echoed through the corridors, Fredrinn suddenly asked, "Why are there no guards? It's impossible for a place like this to be unprotected."

Cassian chuckled softly.

"Ah, I forgot to mention that detail, didn't I? There is only one guardian in this entire ruin. And I can't say he's much of a tough opponent. If I remember correctly, it should be a giant black knight. His armor is rusty, and his movements are slow. Defeating him should be child's play for skilled warriors like you."

Fredrinn paused and turned to Cassian with suspicion.

"How do you know that? I thought this was your first time in this ruin."

Cassian shrugged, that all-knowing yet unexplaining expression back on his face.

"It is my first time, of course. I can't tell you how, but you can assume that I know more about this world than scholars who spend their lives in libraries."

Fredrinn and Rose were not satisfied with this answer.

The veil of mystery surrounding Cassian grew thicker with each passing minute.

But now, in the depths of this ancient and foreboding ruin, they had no choice but to trust him and follow his lead.