ACT V
THE GLORY WARS
You wanna a piece of me, come. I'm waiting. - Hans Parv
Two days have passed since the trouble fell on the Edenbergs. Rudolf had anxiously waited for the investigators sent by the Royals to leave his territory, and today was that fortunate day. “Just a few more hours Hans, let them go without a hitch.” He was saying this to his reckless grandson who was ever ready to make a mess, but oddly enough, he agreed. Only a few days, then he will leave for Concordia, looking at the investigator turning his home like they own the place was stinging him, but just for the sake of not delaying himself, he held it in. He really wanted this awful holiday to be over soon. He was taking long breaths to calm himself, but his thoughts suddenly got abrupt, and he asked his grandfather, “Why did you not tell them about Sufall being involved?”
“Because I don’t wanna deal with it,” Rudolf stated.
“Hmm… that's acceptable." Hans returned the words, nodding, "After all, this could turn into a very big headache.”
“It's nice to see you being so understanding —”
“But can’t we go back, a bit early?” Hans interrupted.
“And, here I thought, you were thinking of your grandpa. You just wanna return —”
“Yeah, Life in Concordia was more peaceful. Look what mess I got into after leaving that place, Frozen Tooth, Parvians, Grimgar Royals, and now Sunfall. Tsk, tsk, I never thought I’d miss the school so much.”
“But you also met Xandor there. Maybe you are the jinx, Squeaky" Rudolf said in all seriousness, "No matter where you go, trouble has a way to find you.” And those words sent Hans introspecting, “Dang it, you are right, gramps.” He acknowledged with a frustrated face. “Haa,” Rudolf sighed, no matter how much he tried stopping Hans, his foul language, unsuitable for a child’s mouth doesn’t seem to halt. So he gave up correcting it, “Sierra can take care of him.” So, patting the mumbling Hans's head, Rudolf asked, “It's four days early. Do you really wanna go back?"
“Can we?” Hans asked with sparkly eyes, and Rudolf replied positively, “Yeah. I think there will be more investigators to come later, let's get out of here. Get your things in order. We’ll leave in two days.” He declared, and just like a snap, two days passed. Many more people had come in that brief interval, some showing genuine concern and some satiating their curiosity, but Rudolf did not drag their meetings and dismissed them with the excuse of preparation for his departure. He had ended his final meeting and came downstairs, where Hans was waiting. He was the most eager to return, and then he saw a familiar face, coming from the other side, “Well, well, it seems you are not using those beads. Got tired of your human looks, Deli?” he asked her and got a swift reply. “You ate up my two days of holidays, Hans” she said looking over somewhere else, but Hans slid right in front of her and asked, “You do not want to go back?”
“Of course, being here is more fun. Master Sierra could teach me more than Concordia combined.”
“But, Concordia is where less nuisance is, Deli —”
“Yeah, yeah,” she interrupted, “So, where are the elders?”
Hans turned her over by the shoulders, “There they are,” he said, and ran towards Rudolf in excitement, ”Gramps, Gramps, let's go with Ingress —” “PUCK,” Rudolf’s reply came, not in words but in the form of tough love. He retorted, “You wanna announce to everyone? That thing is akin to a lighthouse on a moonless night, which could be seen from miles away, ”Do not play with Parvian things, they all are flashy. Damn, those nutjobs have no fear —”
“You are saying something, dear husband —”
“No,” Rudolf scratched his head and said nervously, “I was just commenting on how fearless your former family is, dear.” Sierra nodded and continued her chat with Vanessa and Hodges. Meanwhile, Hans nudged his gramps, rubbing salt in his wounds, “Poor, gramps, his right to speech is basically a forged paper.”
“Squeaky,” Rudolf growled in a low voice, and Hans quickly made his way towards the ladies. “Just what did he get messing with you?” Delimira couldn’t help but ask Rudolf, and the old man answered, “He is petty, jealous and filled with senseless pride. Couldn’t beat me, so this is the only way he can think of.” Intensifying his gaze, he asked her in continuation, “You are with him most of the time. Do you think my words are wrong?”
“No, but I can only agree with petty and senseless pride. I’ve yet to see him jealous. That would be a fun show to watch,” she answered, not knowing the moment she sees his jealousy would be the time he’ll send her to see the hospital’s ceiling. And with some basic formalities and instructions, they left the County’s mansion. Then followed the embarrassing scene of Hans puking his breakfast all over Concordia’s Midlands. “Agh darn this," he mumbled, "My way… Just wait a bit… I’ll never use these old SpaceDoors again,” he remarked, and covered his mouth once again.
“So, How were your Holidays, Deli?” Aredhel welcomed them back and asked her daughter. She was waiting for them to come for a while, and even when Sierra assured her after the news of some fools barging into the Edenberg’s Manor and there was nothing wrong with her daughter. A mother’s heart was too fragile to calm without seeing her child. So she asked inspecting her daughter, “I heard there was a problem —”
“I fought a grade seventy —”
“No, you didn’t” Hans interrupted, “I fought, you just helped a little.”
“You are really petty, Squeaky.” Delimira commented, and Hans instantly responded, “We are in Concordia, Deli.” He gestured his hand like a zip lock over his lips, and continued, “Better watch what you say here —”
“Yes, yes, your Highness.”
“Zip it, Winters.”
“How long do you think you can hide it? Every other person already knows it. So what’s the point?”
“As long as I can Winters. At least it is peaceful in the class.”
“You hardly ever attend the class.”
“Well, she is not wrong,” Hans thought, but he never saw people with contempt eyes and also knew he did not want to see it, at least not yet.
“Still, Winters, ZIp it.”
“Haa,” She sighed, “fine, Hans.”
“Wow, you are just agreeing right away —”
“What do you take me as …” While both bickered, Sierra brought Aredhel up to date. Grimgar royalty visit and the sudden attack of Sunfall royal guards. Hearing all that, Aredhel sighed and remarked, “It's all your son’s doing, Lady Sierra.”
“But he hardly knew people from Sunfall —”
“That’s not entirely true.” Aredhel said, recalling, “When Sam got his hand severed, I was there. He kept cursing Sunfall and some betrayal, but he laughed madly like he had done worse. Maybe they were those people.” Rudolf, hearing the words got his temples stressed, “Ah, just how many did he piss off, they are not leaving Hans a breathing room.” He said glancing at his wife, who returned the answer with a fiery gaze, “What are you looking here for?” she asked, and Rudolf responded, “I wonder whom he got his temper from, dear?”
“I must have been treating you too nice, right Dear husband?” Sierra responded with a chill-filled voice leaving Rudolf to coax her. Meanwhile, Hans and Delimira were eavesdropping on the elder’s conversation and seeing his grandfather’s behaviour, Hans couldn’t help but comment, “And they say, courageous is the middle name of my gramps — ouch ouch, granny.”
“It seems our dear Hans lost his mind. He should rest a little.” Sierra said as she continued to pull Hans’s ear, and with this, the Winters and Edenberg parted. It was somewhat true that Hans was not feeling well since travelling through SpaceDoors always upset his stomach and gave him a severe headache. So he slept the whole day. “Swish, swish,” the cold wind kept slapping his cheeks, and he woke up only to feel a familiar feeling, “Damn it,” he shouted, looking here and there, he was falling from the skies and knew well who threw him from above, “Great grandfather, do you think I will fly or grow wings if you keep dropping me from the skies?”
“Hmm,” the Chairman appeared and matched his descending speed, “Who knows? Maybe you grow wings! Your father might have given you that.”
“Really,” Hans asked in anticipation, but Dietrich burst his bubble laughing, “You are still gullible after meeting those idiots?” He pointed down, and Hans saw the ground fast approaching. He stretched his hand and shouted BeanStalk. And like the fairytale, a huge beanstalk sprung, erupted like a volcano, aiding his descent as he slid through it and reached the ground safely. “A beanstalk from the story," Dietrich commented, "Well it still couldn't beat the wings growing from the back but ---”
“I thought you were joking,” Hans said with suspicious eyes.
“Ah, was I, foolish descendant.”
“Sleeping…you are sleeping.” The ghost who followed Hans to the Concordia spoke, “All my mages died because of you. Just you wait, Samson, I’ll kill your child in the most torturous way —”
“And how are you going to do that, care to elaborate.” A heavy voice rang from his behind, If he had hairs, all would have been erect. No one in the world could sense him, not to mention see. But the lean man behind him was staring right into his eyes. “You, you can see me?” he asked the man, however, the man uttered the words again, but this time with a chilling tone and startling the ghost. Both remained silent, the lean man waited for a reply that was yet to come, and the ghost because of the troubling thought of who might this man be. So breaking the silence, the lean man asked him, “Was what Samson did to you not enough? Do you want me to erase you?”
“How? Just how can you see me? I’m dead!”
“Then stay that way. or are you not? Then let me test,” stretching his hand forward, the lean man tried to grab the ethereal body, but as the ghost expected, it went through him. “See, I told you, I’m dead,” the ghost responded, elated by the fact that the man in front could only see him but not touch. But his smile went to a hike when the man grabbed him from within. “How is this possible,” the ghost shouted, “who the fuck are you?”
“Oh, it seems my manners need an overhaul, I keep forgetting to introduce myself.” Pointing at the sleeping Hans, the man declared, “I’m that kid’s elder, his guardian of a sort. I don’t know what your beef was with his foolish father, but that kid is off-limits… wait, why am I talking this much?” Dietrich asked himself, it would be solved easily if he kills this half-dead ghost, he thought and added, “That fool of a descendant, always left loose ends.” He started to gather the mana grabbing the ghost but the ethereal body was not just for show, it started resisting, and amid the tug-of-war battle, he spoke to Dietrich, “The legends were not lies, You are Dietrich, the first knight. But even you can’t stop me if I wanna leave.”
Discarding what Dietrich had grasped, he separated most of his ghostly body. However, Dietrich had a significant amount in his grasp, and as he clenched his fist, the discarded part in his hand disintegrated into nothing. But in that short period, the ghost disappeared, leaving Dietrich startled since even his wide senses couldn’t find him again.“Interesting, there is someone who could leave after I want him dead? Is the world becoming interesting again? Should I try leaving the floatlands?”
AnnouncementNEXT : SOMEONE TO BOSS AROUND
This is my favourite act of Elven Lies I, the international competition of Genas where all the schools of mages and Knights, compete for the honour of being called the best. Concordia, Knight Association and Mage Tower are seeded institutions while the rest of the world competes for the last position. The prize is not just the honour but the top two winners get to enter the treasury of the organiser ( this time ALLIANCE ) and pick a piece, whatever they want, no questions asked.
ACT V
THE GLORY WARS
You wanna a piece of me, come. I'm waiting. - Hans Parv
Two days have passed since the trouble fell on the Edenbergs. Rudolf had anxiously waited for the investigators sent by the Royals to leave his territory, and today was that fortunate day. “Just a few more hours Hans, let them go without a hitch.” He was saying this to his reckless grandson who was ever ready to make a mess, but oddly enough, he agreed. Only a few days, then he will leave for Concordia, looking at the investigator turning his home like they own the place was stinging him, but just for the sake of not delaying himself, he held it in. He really wanted this awful holiday to be over soon. He was taking long breaths to calm himself, but his thoughts suddenly got abrupt, and he asked his grandfather, “Why did you not tell them about Sufall being involved?”
“Because I don’t wanna deal with it,” Rudolf stated.
“Hmm… that's acceptable." Hans returned the words, nodding, "After all, this could turn into a very big headache.”
“It's nice to see you being so understanding —”
“But can’t we go back, a bit early?” Hans interrupted.
“And, here I thought, you were thinking of your grandpa. You just wanna return —”
“Yeah, Life in Concordia was more peaceful. Look what mess I got into after leaving that place, Frozen Tooth, Parvians, Grimgar Royals, and now Sunfall. Tsk, tsk, I never thought I’d miss the school so much.”
“But you also met Xandor there. Maybe you are the jinx, Squeaky" Rudolf said in all seriousness, "No matter where you go, trouble has a way to find you.” And those words sent Hans introspecting, “Dang it, you are right, gramps.” He acknowledged with a frustrated face. “Haa,” Rudolf sighed, no matter how much he tried stopping Hans, his foul language, unsuitable for a child’s mouth doesn’t seem to halt. So he gave up correcting it, “Sierra can take care of him.” So, patting the mumbling Hans's head, Rudolf asked, “It's four days early. Do you really wanna go back?"
“Can we?” Hans asked with sparkly eyes, and Rudolf replied positively, “Yeah. I think there will be more investigators to come later, let's get out of here. Get your things in order. We’ll leave in two days.” He declared, and just like a snap, two days passed. Many more people had come in that brief interval, some showing genuine concern and some satiating their curiosity, but Rudolf did not drag their meetings and dismissed them with the excuse of preparation for his departure. He had ended his final meeting and came downstairs, where Hans was waiting. He was the most eager to return, and then he saw a familiar face, coming from the other side, “Well, well, it seems you are not using those beads. Got tired of your human looks, Deli?” he asked her and got a swift reply. “You ate up my two days of holidays, Hans” she said looking over somewhere else, but Hans slid right in front of her and asked, “You do not want to go back?”
“Of course, being here is more fun. Master Sierra could teach me more than Concordia combined.”
“But, Concordia is where less nuisance is, Deli —”
“Yeah, yeah,” she interrupted, “So, where are the elders?”
Hans turned her over by the shoulders, “There they are,” he said, and ran towards Rudolf in excitement, ”Gramps, Gramps, let's go with Ingress —” “PUCK,” Rudolf’s reply came, not in words but in the form of tough love. He retorted, “You wanna announce to everyone? That thing is akin to a lighthouse on a moonless night, which could be seen from miles away, ”Do not play with Parvian things, they all are flashy. Damn, those nutjobs have no fear —”
“You are saying something, dear husband —”
“No,” Rudolf scratched his head and said nervously, “I was just commenting on how fearless your former family is, dear.” Sierra nodded and continued her chat with Vanessa and Hodges. Meanwhile, Hans nudged his gramps, rubbing salt in his wounds, “Poor, gramps, his right to speech is basically a forged paper.”
“Squeaky,” Rudolf growled in a low voice, and Hans quickly made his way towards the ladies. “Just what did he get messing with you?” Delimira couldn’t help but ask Rudolf, and the old man answered, “He is petty, jealous and filled with senseless pride. Couldn’t beat me, so this is the only way he can think of.” Intensifying his gaze, he asked her in continuation, “You are with him most of the time. Do you think my words are wrong?”
“No, but I can only agree with petty and senseless pride. I’ve yet to see him jealous. That would be a fun show to watch,” she answered, not knowing the moment she sees his jealousy would be the time he’ll send her to see the hospital’s ceiling. And with some basic formalities and instructions, they left the County’s mansion. Then followed the embarrassing scene of Hans puking his breakfast all over Concordia’s Midlands. “Agh darn this," he mumbled, "My way… Just wait a bit… I’ll never use these old SpaceDoors again,” he remarked, and covered his mouth once again.
“So, How were your Holidays, Deli?” Aredhel welcomed them back and asked her daughter. She was waiting for them to come for a while, and even when Sierra assured her after the news of some fools barging into the Edenberg’s Manor and there was nothing wrong with her daughter. A mother’s heart was too fragile to calm without seeing her child. So she asked inspecting her daughter, “I heard there was a problem —”
“I fought a grade seventy —”
“No, you didn’t” Hans interrupted, “I fought, you just helped a little.”
“You are really petty, Squeaky.” Delimira commented, and Hans instantly responded, “We are in Concordia, Deli.” He gestured his hand like a zip lock over his lips, and continued, “Better watch what you say here —”
“Yes, yes, your Highness.”
“Zip it, Winters.”
“How long do you think you can hide it? Every other person already knows it. So what’s the point?”
“As long as I can Winters. At least it is peaceful in the class.”
“You hardly ever attend the class.”
“Well, she is not wrong,” Hans thought, but he never saw people with contempt eyes and also knew he did not want to see it, at least not yet.
“Still, Winters, ZIp it.”
“Haa,” She sighed, “fine, Hans.”
“Wow, you are just agreeing right away —”
“What do you take me as …” While both bickered, Sierra brought Aredhel up to date. Grimgar royalty visit and the sudden attack of Sunfall royal guards. Hearing all that, Aredhel sighed and remarked, “It's all your son’s doing, Lady Sierra.”
“But he hardly knew people from Sunfall —”
“That’s not entirely true.” Aredhel said, recalling, “When Sam got his hand severed, I was there. He kept cursing Sunfall and some betrayal, but he laughed madly like he had done worse. Maybe they were those people.” Rudolf, hearing the words got his temples stressed, “Ah, just how many did he piss off, they are not leaving Hans a breathing room.” He said glancing at his wife, who returned the answer with a fiery gaze, “What are you looking here for?” she asked, and Rudolf responded, “I wonder whom he got his temper from, dear?”
“I must have been treating you too nice, right Dear husband?” Sierra responded with a chill-filled voice leaving Rudolf to coax her. Meanwhile, Hans and Delimira were eavesdropping on the elder’s conversation and seeing his grandfather’s behaviour, Hans couldn’t help but comment, “And they say, courageous is the middle name of my gramps — ouch ouch, granny.”
“It seems our dear Hans lost his mind. He should rest a little.” Sierra said as she continued to pull Hans’s ear, and with this, the Winters and Edenberg parted. It was somewhat true that Hans was not feeling well since travelling through SpaceDoors always upset his stomach and gave him a severe headache. So he slept the whole day. “Swish, swish,” the cold wind kept slapping his cheeks, and he woke up only to feel a familiar feeling, “Damn it,” he shouted, looking here and there, he was falling from the skies and knew well who threw him from above, “Great grandfather, do you think I will fly or grow wings if you keep dropping me from the skies?”
“Hmm,” the Chairman appeared and matched his descending speed, “Who knows? Maybe you grow wings! Your father might have given you that.”
“Really,” Hans asked in anticipation, but Dietrich burst his bubble laughing, “You are still gullible after meeting those idiots?” He pointed down, and Hans saw the ground fast approaching. He stretched his hand and shouted BeanStalk. And like the fairytale, a huge beanstalk sprung, erupted like a volcano, aiding his descent as he slid through it and reached the ground safely. “A beanstalk from the story," Dietrich commented, "Well it still couldn't beat the wings growing from the back but ---”
“I thought you were joking,” Hans said with suspicious eyes.
“Ah, was I, foolish descendant.”
“Sleeping…you are sleeping.” The ghost who followed Hans to the Concordia spoke, “All my mages died because of you. Just you wait, Samson, I’ll kill your child in the most torturous way —”
“And how are you going to do that, care to elaborate.” A heavy voice rang from his behind, If he had hairs, all would have been erect. No one in the world could sense him, not to mention see. But the lean man behind him was staring right into his eyes. “You, you can see me?” he asked the man, however, the man uttered the words again, but this time with a chilling tone and startling the ghost. Both remained silent, the lean man waited for a reply that was yet to come, and the ghost because of the troubling thought of who might this man be. So breaking the silence, the lean man asked him, “Was what Samson did to you not enough? Do you want me to erase you?”
“How? Just how can you see me? I’m dead!”
“Then stay that way. or are you not? Then let me test,” stretching his hand forward, the lean man tried to grab the ethereal body, but as the ghost expected, it went through him. “See, I told you, I’m dead,” the ghost responded, elated by the fact that the man in front could only see him but not touch. But his smile went to a hike when the man grabbed him from within. “How is this possible,” the ghost shouted, “who the fuck are you?”
“Oh, it seems my manners need an overhaul, I keep forgetting to introduce myself.” Pointing at the sleeping Hans, the man declared, “I’m that kid’s elder, his guardian of a sort. I don’t know what your beef was with his foolish father, but that kid is off-limits… wait, why am I talking this much?” Dietrich asked himself, it would be solved easily if he kills this half-dead ghost, he thought and added, “That fool of a descendant, always left loose ends.” He started to gather the mana grabbing the ghost but the ethereal body was not just for show, it started resisting, and amid the tug-of-war battle, he spoke to Dietrich, “The legends were not lies, You are Dietrich, the first knight. But even you can’t stop me if I wanna leave.”
Discarding what Dietrich had grasped, he separated most of his ghostly body. However, Dietrich had a significant amount in his grasp, and as he clenched his fist, the discarded part in his hand disintegrated into nothing. But in that short period, the ghost disappeared, leaving Dietrich startled since even his wide senses couldn’t find him again.“Interesting, there is someone who could leave after I want him dead? Is the world becoming interesting again? Should I try leaving the floatlands?”
AnnouncementNEXT : SOMEONE TO BOSS AROUND
This is my favourite act of Elven Lies I, the international competition of Genas where all the schools of mages and Knights, compete for the honour of being called the best. Concordia, Knight Association and Mage Tower are seeded institutions while the rest of the world competes for the last position. The prize is not just the honour but the top two winners get to enter the treasury of the organiser ( this time ALLIANCE ) and pick a piece, whatever they want, no questions asked.
