In a flash, the royal guard grabbed the door open. What he saw next left his jaw hanging, but pushing that shock aside, he roared,
"Protect the prince!"
The guards marched into the chambers, surrounding the Magic Circle with their swords turned towards the creature trapped in it with their prince. No one would call this human.
Eric's voice rang in the evil spirit's ears:
"You can't out-strength them all. Find a way out!"
The new Eric – the Grade Earth evil spirit – whose hairband had fallen to the ground, leaving the hair draping all over its face, whose body burned with a black flame dangerous to everything but himself, including his shirt… smirked out of disbelief.
But it didn't reply to Eric. It didn't have to worry about a mere child. There was plenty of fun outside that.
The queen stepped gently inside, her leg moving slowly and body language screaming authority. She stopped at the doorstep, staring at the back of the kid-like creature that appeared as worn-out as possible.
"Bring down the Magic Circle," she ordered the guards.
The variety of men glanced at her in astonishment. If they did as she said, the evil spirit would gain freedom and be able to attack. A man turned at the queen to speak his mind, but she cut him off with just a stare... The man turned his head down.
"Do you think…" she asked slowly, not rushing, "… one mere spirit can overpower me?"
The guard immediately dropped to his knees and apologised quickly, "Forgive my stupidity, your highness. I deserve to die!"
"Then do so," the queen said, leaving the room in silence.
The evil spirit grinned as it heard that – it didn't have to look back to know just what this woman looked like. What she looked like to exude that much authority.
'A pleasure to meet you, Queen of the Cloud Kingdom.'
Soon, a set of guards stood close to the Magic Circle and whispered spells to bring down the white barrier. Now, the prince, queen, spirit and the entire guard were close to one another with no restrictions between them.
Before the room itself could catch its breath, the queen sent the spirit slamming into the walls by just twirling her index finger. Though this wasn't the time to think much about the queen's other possible abilities since she appeared to be a Juggler, the spirit still did.
Even until the queen walked inside and stopped just a meter away.
Eric shouted inside:
"If she sees my face, we're done! Run already!"
Well, the spirit was planning to stretch some bones with a strong person like this, after years of imprisonment. But it seemed this couldn't be helped. It was either to give up the craving for violence or really bring their plan crashing down the sky.
"Draw the hairs off its face," the queen ordered, and two guards bowed before walking closer to the spirit.
They held tightly onto their swords just in case, and once close, one of them knelt before the spirit. His hand travelled towards its face without hesitation.
The spirit mumbled, Phantamogriphia Decorum.
In the next moment, the candles in the room flickered off. The sound of shoes turning nervously on the ground cut through the air. But when the light came back on, the queen was still standing no matter what while the guards had flung themselves all over the room in fear… but most importantly, the spirit was gone.
'An illusion spell,' the queen thought before asking the guards to find the spirit nearby. It won't have got far away because it had used a spell just to conceal its own physical form into an illusion; thus, somewhere near, it would break out of the illusion and walk on its fours.
Spells are just simple word commandments to harness one's inner magic. Spoken in an ancient language, Danghmur, from the lost, forgotten race of Danghs – the eves. All Dark Magicians use spells, but not all White Magicians do so.
Perhaps today was a lucky one – the spirit reached Eric's chambers and entered without being noticed by anyone. However, this didn't mean it was time to give the body back.
Eric asked for that, but the spirit replied…
Let me have some fun around here, my boy. You can wait for me in there.
The next days, the spirit not only vaulted beyond the palace walls, but also did things way too cruel to the heart. Eric hated himself he was there to see everything, such things he would have vomited at the sight of if only he weren't trapped inside... and having a cruel spirit use his body the way it wanted.
Through this did Eric find out witches gather at night too, near a tavern high in the mountains... They dig fangs into each other's necks and suck blood like a next-level wine. They even devoured their own species' flesh that regrew almost immediately.
This was how Eric knew... witches do involve themselves in cannibalism at night.
For sure, the spirit did the same thing. And Eric would scream against that for days... until he suddenly got strangely familiar with it too. Every tear of flesh through cartilages, every squelch of blood as the fangs dig deeper... he had somehow memorised them all and for some reason, he had a sense of belonging here.
And staying in the palace chambers was uncomfortable compared to the warm air around the tavern.
The night when the spirit returned the body back to him, saying I will let you out, Eric felt his feet back on the floor of his chambers, stared at his palms and mumbled in worry as he recalled the past days,
"What am I becoming?"
The spirit replied deep inside him.
A man more than Ivan Belsmouth and a boy far more daring than Eric Windsor. Ha... you should let me use the body sometimes from now on. I have got a lot more to show you. You know... we witches do things more fun than you people. I'm being honest this time.
Eric continued staring at his palm until a second had passed, when he moved to the window.
Why did the air around the tavern feel better than here? Why does the smell of roses from his backyard feel less soothing than the smell of blood when the witches cannibalized?
He sighed. "It's better to never let you in from now on. Messing with my mental health won't help us around the palace, now that the queen might even have her own suspicions."
Well, I'm not going to force you to do it. You'll ask by yourself... because you're now realising your true colours. Someone... like us.
***
Five years later.
A man clad in a red gown stood on lower ground from the elevated position where the king and his two queens sat, their golden silk attires draping over them like a second skin. As well as the palace officials, all seated on marble chairs behind the royals.
The second queen, Eric's mother, Aria, looked at the open entrance down the palace's cobblestone path, a smile of both accomplishment and longing on her face. Because today was the day, the day she would see her son again after years of separation.
And also the day he would take on the path to not only prove himself as the rightful successor, but also as a man who would protect the world from witches.
The red-gowned man pronounced, his arms spread out widely, "Let's welcome them all... None other than the future sorcerers of our Cloud Kingdom. The aspirants of the Palestone Magi Academy!"
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A/N: Please vote with power stones. Thanks for reading!