Prophecy Approved Companion

They were in the heart of the castle, racing to destroy the very notion of needing gems. At any moment they might run into the guards that they’d been assured filled the hallways. After all, that had been the point of the city guards and thieves offering their grand sacrifice by the drawbridge.

So far, however, luck had held with them, and they hadn’t met a single guard.

“The dungeon is this way,” Definitely Bad Guy said, leading the way with a disturbing familiarity.

Qube had a nasty suspicion that the dungeon might have been where he got some of his experiments from. Or maybe he knew the way so well because of the shield he’d set up to keep the king and queen in there.

Soon she might be coming face-to-face with the noble king and beautiful queen. Qube had to stop herself from hyperventilating. She’d managed to be in the same room as the Exiled Prince and Exiled Princess before without fainting, so surely she would be able to acquit herself properly in front of their parents!

Sure, the first time she’d been in the room with them she’d had to flee and recover herself, and it turned out that they hadn’t even been able to see her when she’d done that, but that had been at the beginning of their adventure!

Why, the effect of [The Bard’s Ballad] might have reached the dungeon, and the twins might even be able to make eye contact with her now! They might even nod at her in acknowledgement. Her heart stuttered, and she realised she’d tried to prevent herself from hyperventilating by holding her breath.

She had to calm down, or else she wouldn’t make it to the dungeon without keeling over from lack of breathing.

The mental image of her finally being seen by the fabled Royals she’d heard about while growing up, only to immediately faint, was not one she wanted to dwell on.

“Down here,” Definitely Bad Guy said, stopping at a shadowy doorway.

Even if the former Mage Advisor hadn’t told them, Qube would have guessed that this was the entrance to a dungeon. Deep shadows covered the iron door, and cobwebs hung from the corners. The door was surrounded by a pool of darkness, and the temperature dropped noticeably as they approached. The music changed the closer she got, going from the soaring, vaguely echoey notes to something sinister and brooding. She thought she could hear the clank of chains and faint screaming, even though there was no evidence of people in distress, or any metal besides what was likely a soundproof door. Thick iron doors weren’t known for their ability to leak sound.

It was probably a subtle fear spell, designed to intimidate them.

Unfortunately, it was working. Qube was intimidated. It wasn’t going to stop her from going inside and freeing the king and queen, but it was making it harder for her to stay calm.

“Hey, you okay?” the Chosen One asked, watching her with mild concern. “You’re going pretty red.”

“Just staying calm, Chosen One!” she said through clenched teeth.

“Your calmness is terrifying,” he replied, as she turned almost purple with her sheer serenity.

Definitely Bad Guy, on the other hand, ignored this by-play in favour of his own drama. He puffed himself up, and pressed his hand against the iron door.

“May I present: the dungeon!” he said grandly, and flung it open.

***

There must have been a spell linked to the door, as the instant it opened, the group was teleported. Quite what the point of such an intimidating looking door was when all it did was open and teleport them, Qube wasn’t sure.

In fact, they were teleported to the top of a steep staircase, and it was only the tell-tale lurch of teleportation, and the moment of all-encompassing darkness, that informed Qube that they had teleported.

The cobwebs were even bigger here, nearly dangling into the guttering torches attached to the walls in a way that made the ever fire-conscious Qube very nervous. And she really didn’t need any more nerves added to her right then. How long the torches had been burning unsupervised was another question, as well as how much mana/fuel was wasted if they were just always left on.

Then again, the Evil Emperor knew they were coming. Maybe he’d demanded everywhere be lit for their arrival. It wouldn’t do for the one Chosen by the Golden Prophecy to make it all the way to his castle, only to trip in the darkness and break his neck.

Carefully negotiating their way down the roughly-hewn steps, Qube couldn’t help but reflect that it was just poor teleportation design to have them arrive at the top of the staircase. Surely it would have been more efficient to have them arrive at the bottom? Unless it was designed as an anti-escape tool, making the prisoners run further before being able to escape.

The Chosen One also wasn’t happy about the stairs, although his unhappiness expressed itself with low-level grumbling about “stupid stairs… stupid padding… so pointless.”

Which was odd, as the stairs had absolutely no padding to them at all, but this oddity was quickly forgotten when they reached the bottom of the staircase.

There, just after the very last stair, was a magical shield. It was very thin, easily seen through, with only faint red and black swirls showing it was still active. Behind the spell was another iron door.

“My masterwork, reduced to this,” Definitely Bad Guy said sadly.

“I thought the Evil Emperor implemented it,” Sencha Bard said, a hint of suspicion in his voice.

“His influence can be seen,” the Mage replied, gesturing at the black swirls, “but the heart of it was my own work. It was a shield that took an entire Grand Working to undo. I shall never have the power to make another like it.”

“Aw, don’t worry Definitely Bad Guy, I’m sure you’ll be able to make more dungeon shields,” Qube said, trying to cheer her friend up. “Maybe your Temple twins could help you come up with something even better? That way if anyone attacks the king and queen again, they can get safely thrown into the dungeon!”

She savoured the words “king and queen”. Soon she’d be addressing them by title! Even if they couldn’t hear her, it would still be her speaking in the same room as them.

Her heart was pounding.

“You’re really into royalty, aren’t you?” the Chosen One asked, looking at her.

“The Royals,” Qube said intensely, “are our true rulers. As long as they presided over the land, everything went well. Everyone was peaceful, and happy.”

“Well not everyone, otherwise the Evil Emperor never would have taken over,” the Hero pointed out. “Someone would have stopped him.”

“That was because of Prophecy magic,” Qube said, uneasily aware of how she’d once questioned the exact same thing.

“And you think everyone’ll be happy when the king and queen are back in power?” he asked.

“They were born to rule over us,” Qube replied simply.

“Will you be happy?” His voice was very gentle.

“It’s what I’ve wanted my entire life.”

“Well then we’re gonna make it happen!” the Chosen One loudly declared, his sudden enthusiasm startling Qube.

“Yes, that’s the point of the Golden Prophecy,” she said, now completely unsettled.

“Well, yeah,” the one Chosen to fulfil said Prophecy said sheepishly. “But we could have broken it and put someone else in power. You should know that: You’re all about breaking things now.”

Qube tried to imagine overthrowing the Evil Emperor and not putting the king and queen back on the throne.

She utterly failed. The Chosen One was from another realm, so it made sense he could think of such absurd things. But no one on the side of Good who’d experience the tyranny of the Evil Emperor would be able to even conceive —

“Your ambition is laudable,” Definitely Bad Guy said approvingly. “If, as I hope, the Evil Emperor can be persuaded as to the wisdom of peace, it is entirely plausible that he may co-rule with the king and queen while we focus our efforts on the Devs’ realm.”

Qube felt her jaw drop.

“I must admit, I hadn’t thought you willing to consider other options,” Sencha Bard said, sounding very pleased.

All that came out of Qube’s mouth was a small squeak of dismay.

“I must admit, such a small concentration of power that’s passed down without any checks in place seems ripe for misbehaviour,” Sexy Screamy Spider Briar said. “Depending on how Construct Crossroads goes, it might be worth investigating some kind of council that makes decisions, so we can prevent another coup.”

Qube was perfectly tranquil. This was all just hypothetical. Because they hadn’t met the king and queen yet. Once they met them, she just knew they’d realise how Royal they were, and how right it was that they rule. The only person who’d thought they should be in charge was the Evil Emperor, and he was Evil! And wrong! He called himself an emperor but ruled over a kingdom!

With other, smaller kingdoms in it.

Wait, was that an empire?

That was beside the point! The point was that, even he, with his misguided notions of rulership and naming, hadn’t been able to bring himself to kill the king and queen out of hand. He’d kept them alive in these dungeons for years, when it would have been far more prudent to dispose of them.

It was a hint that there was still hope for him yet.

“Well, let’s worry about saving the world first, before figuring out what happens next,” Qube said brightly.

The Chosen One winced slightly at her brightness. “Hey, don’t worry, you want them on the throne, I’ll put them there,” he said.

“I’m not worried! I just don’t think we should be having this discussion right now!” Qube poured even more cheer into her response. “We’re so close to rescuing them; let’s do that first!”

“Okay Sparky, bust through that shield.” The Chosen One gave up on trying to reassure his companion, and turned to more practical matters. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

Qube beamed at the rest of the party, who (aside from Squiggles) refused to make eye contact. They were probably all nervous. She could understand. She was nervous too!

Definitely Bad Guy placed his hands near the red and black shield and started to mutter. His words were indecipherable, but he started to glow as he spoke. He got louder, and Qube realised that he was speaking a strange and ancient language.

“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua!”

He was nearly shouting now, red and blue mana coursing through him, swirling around him as his voice cracked. He bellowed the last words and then slammed his hands against the shield itself.

It shattered. The red and blue whirls scattered, dispersing into the walls, as a loud crack sounded. Qube had never seen a shield react audibly to being destroyed, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck tingle at the sheer power of the spell.

Definitely Bad Guy had made something so strong, and yet he still didn’t think of himself as the most powerful Mage in the kingdom.

A humbling thought.

The shield was down. Not even waiting for the Chosen One, Qube took a few trembling steps forward, and touched the iron door. It easily swung open, revealing the first room in the dungeon. A small group of Royal Guards were sitting at a table, playing a card game. They looked up, startled at the door opening, and peered through Qube to the Chosen One standing behind her.

They shouted something, probably a command or order to stop breaking into the dungeon, but Qube didn’t hear a word. Instead, all her attention was fixated on the four occupied cells on the other side of the room.

It was them. They were real.

Qube had finally found the king and queen.