Humanity's Hero Of Despair

I wake up feeling well-rested and refreshed for the first time in a long while.

I stretch my arms and legs as I get out of bed. I happily brush my teeth and straighten my hair as usual. I walk into my large closet and put on some normal clothes to get ready for our usual breakfast in the dining hall. Flashbacks of last night surface in my mind as I think of Ivy.

I smile as I inspect myself in the mirror.

Last night was fun. A little moment of peace in this world of chaos.

I walk to my nightstand and pick up my wands. I forgot to polish them last night, so I take a few minutes with each to make sure each wand has no dust on it. After polishing them with a clean cloth, I place them into my pockets. I notice the letter from last night on my nightstand.

The letter was almost forgotten in my mind. Thank goodness it was in my field of vision.

I check the clock. I have around ten minutes before I need to be down in the dining hall for breakfast to meet up with everyone. The letter is clearly recent, as it looks not worn out at all. There is no seal or any information about where it came from. It was simply blank except for the words: "Duke Lotus" on the front of it. I cautiously open the envelope.

I take the paper out of the envelope carefully and place the envelope to the side.

I read the letter out loud to myself.

"Dear Duke Lotus,

We have been watching you and your friends for a while now. Know that we are watching you, so be very careful with your decisions. Just watch your back. Think about your decisions and how they may affect the other nations. Make the wrong move, and it's all over for you."

My voice becomes smaller as I finish reading the letter. They know about my new rank of Duke, and they know I am with the people closest to me. It is a large possibility that the person who wrote this letter is within the Imperial Palace or is still nearby. Maybe they are undercover?

I take a gulp of water and re-read the message.

Unfortunately, the words still stay the same. I fold and place the letter carefully into my pocket. I take a sip of water from my glass on my nightstand and head out the door to the dining hall. I have to act normal until I can contact the right people.

The dining hall is very lively as usual. The Emperor is sitting with his usual people, as well as the other nobles. As the Emperor sees me, he invites me to sit at his table, but instead, I opt to sit with my friends. He understands and waves me off.

He probably knows I deserve a break from everything I have gone through.

"Hey, Nico, are you alright?" Ivy says to me, noticing I look slightly off.

I nod to her, but that doesn't fully convince her. My other friends don't seem to notice much, as Matteo and Zephyr are busy stuffing their faces as usual. Estes and Quillen are reading their books. Neve is minding her own business as well.

Quillen looks up from his book on politics and sees me. His eyes soften.

"Hey, Nico, if you want to talk to me about anything, just let me know."

I nod to Quillen and thank him. Quillen truly is a genius at understanding humans. However, I can't say anything in case the people or person who wrote the letter are in this very room. My eyes casually scan the room as I pretend to look for a waiter to bring more water to the table.

Ivy and Quillen still seem worried about me, but they sense they shouldn't act like it. They probably get the feeling something is off as well. We finish breakfast in quiet small talk. People start clearing out. I ask my friends to follow me to the library as I want to get some books.

They agree, as all of us wanted to see the Imperial Library eventually. Estes is very excited to head back to the library to grab more books. Once in the library, I search for Professor Aldric, who luckily is in the back of the library finding books to do more research.

I know the Professor is good friends with the Emperor and knows the Imperial Palace pretty well. I ask him to fetch the Emperor and to see if there are any private rooms we can use. I show him the letter.

He understands, and within ten minutes, we are now in a private, soundproof room that is enchanted with magic to make it even more secretive.

The Emperor and a few of his loyal guards, as well as the Professor and my friends, are now all in this room. The letter I read this morning is neatly spread out and displayed in the center of the large table we surround.

The Emperor inspects it with his guards in confusion.

They don't know who would've written this either.

Zephyr speaks up as it looks like he thought or remembered something important.

"I remember before we got into the Oriventh Empire territory, we were being followed in the Veltheria Republic. I thought we lost them, but is it possible we didn't?"

I discuss this with my friends, and we exchange information on it. We are definitely being followed by some spies, most likely, or by some mysterious organization. Maybe it has to do with the influx of political power as well and movement.

The Emperor makes a few educated guesses, saying that it is possible it is a threat from foreign intelligence to make sure we don't do anything they don't want us to do. To scare me away from all of this. The Emperor says they might be scared of my sudden increase in power and ability.

He sends more guards subtly around the Palace to look for any suspicious persons. The Emperor mobilizes his intelligence forces, and they go scouting for the person or people immediately.

It takes a few hours of us just worrying and waiting in this private room alone as the Emperor and his guards are dealing with this development. We suddenly get a message from a trusted guard who knows about our private room.

"Come into the library. We have them. They tried to deny it, but they are wearing the seal of Ryndoria. Spies from Ryndoria."

This just got a whole lot more complicated.