Chapter Fifty Five - Reward Part 2

Even though they had only been in the house for less than ten minutes Noah had already felt like he had come into his own families house back in his small village. He couldn't tell if it was by magic or if the door frame had reminded him of any old memories he just knew that this felt like home.

"Fair enough, Noah. I would have decorated first but if it feels like home already then the Emperor did a great job on giving this to you as a reward." He took a seat on the living room couch and pulled out an apple from nowhere, biting into it.

Noah took a look outside the window in the living room and on to the market below watching the people trade away their goods for coins. "Sir Isan, I have to find Sir Quin and find someone to continue teaching me."

"Well, I actually have something to tell you. The Emperor is choosing a successor and you are one of the choices. I shouldn't be telling you this but I want to give you the best shot I can at becoming the Emperor. Each candidate has a commander that will try and help them to train to be the best that they can be so even when those who have trained don't get to become Emperor they can still help the Empire." Sir Isan explained the whole situation for Noah.

"Why have I got a shot to do this?" His eyebrows creasing in confusion.

"The Emperor has a baby dragon that his bond gave birth to. I say baby but it is huge for a new baby dragon, it is already the same height as Yami's bond. I feel bad, most dragons would take a good decade to reach that height but this one has just shot up. It's definitely going to be an Emperor's bond." Isan had been one of the few that had seen the Emperor's baby dragon on the landing bay before it went for a flight. "The Emperor has a rough age range he wants the heir to be and I am presuming that the 'baby dragon' is actually closer to the age range of the heir that the Emperor wants."

Isan stood up and pulled from the inside of his cloak a letter that had been rolled up and sealed with an image of a dragon's head. Handing it off to Noah and leaving him just after telling him that this was left for him in the commander's office.

Noah took the letter and saw that beside the seal was his name written just beside it in red ink. Breaking the seal he took a look at the letter and what had been described on to it.

- Noah,

I know you will have a lot of questions on why time didn't stay as stable as I said it would in the other dimension but it was not something that I myself expected. I have had to come out of the Mansion along with Aurelius as there has been... unforeseeable events. I plan to cover this up with selecting an 'Heir'. So surprise, we will see you soon.

Aurelius has shown a lot of progress and looks forward to seeing you soon. For the time being, I have to deal with the Empire being in shambles so the event that I will choose an heir will be the first time that you will get to see him again. Be prepared to act surprised as if you have never seen him before.

I have already heard that something has happened to that Master of yours in the Sil zone. If you wish to look for him I will not stop you, but please wait until the ceremony that I choose a successor and enjoy some time off in the keep for the time being.

Alaric Heavanly

Noah had to take a seat on the couch trying to process the information that he had just learned. The old man that had been teaching him for the last nine months was actually the Emperor. The old scraggly powerful man is the Emperor.

He also found out how his bond was doing and was confused at why they had to act surprised that they were bonded already. His mind thought of the grey dragon that had already been growing at a phenomenal rate and wondered how much bigger he had gotten.

'Looks like I am going to be here a while. I will take a look around the Merchant floors and see if I can find anything about Master.'

Taking one more look around the house before leaving, locking it up with his key and placing it in his pocked making sure that he kept it safe. He didn't want to have to find Isan and explain that he had already lost his key.

He took a look onto the main square of the merchant floor to see what kind of stalls were on the floor. There were four big main stalls that were selling fish, fruits and other kinds of assorted foods but the smaller ones between them had all sorts of trinkets. From bowls and small statues to daggers.

Noah walked along and browsed it all, finding it fascinating that so many random objects and food could easily be taken to the Keep even after everything that was happening on the outside of the keep.

He started talking to an older lady who was sitting on the ground with a blanket in front of her and many small trinkets on a mat that she was selling.

*****

In a very dense forest somewhere in the Sil zone a man in a black cloak wielding a blood-red short sword was engaged fighting two other men in white cloaks. When their swords struck the sound echoed around them and animals would flee.

The fight didn't last long as the man in black sliced through on of the men in whites guts, while they were spilling out and the man cried out the other lost his concentration and found that his sword had been knocked out of his hand.

His neck was being squeezed with unbelievable human strength. His face turning red as he tried to breathe in more air, grabbing at the hand around his throat trying to loosen it so he could breathe.

A cold voice barely a whisper, "You will find a way to get me into the Keep or I will slaughter your family like I am away to do to Gordon there. Just watch and you can make your decision."

The man on the floor was coughing up blood holding his stomach closed as best as he could; on all fours trying to crawl away into the dense bushes. He heard his partner being thrown against a tree and the snaps of branches as the man in black approached.

"Please, Quin! We have been friends for years. I helped you get what you needed each time! I have a family!" The pleas fell on deaf ears. An arm reached into the dark cloak and a knife was pulled out. Slowly 'Quin' put his hand on the mans hair and yanked him back, lining the knife up with the man in whites neck...