Rest

They walked down the shabby road in silence for some time after that. Grim could only resign himself to follow and take in the countryside of his homeland in case he was never able to make it back here again. They were still close enough to the castle that its influence could be seen in the land. Many farms surrounded the main road back toward the castle and the village it protected. He had waved at the first few farm hands that they had passed, but the mysterious figure in the black robe next to him made most of them avert their gazes and ignore them both.

These farms and all the land in the kingdom were all owned by the king. However they had been awarded to various members of society. Knights, Merchants, commoners, tradesmen, whatever title you had, it didn't matter in the eyes of the King.

Everything was earned. Strength of character was valued over lineage. Just because you were born into a family that had privileges and power already didn't mean that they would extend to you. Even though in most cases the heirs would keep their family from falling from grace in the King's eyes. This kept order amongst the vast reaches of the kingdom. It dissuaded men in power from abusing that power. Even many branches of the royal family had fallen from grace as they tried to usurp their kinsmen for the throne. Over time the branch families became the guardians of the king and protectors of the realm. Even Grim had an older cousin named Zulu that acted as his personal bodyguard.

It also gave hope to commoners that they could rise in reputation and power and obtain lands for themselves. This unorthodox way of ruling was despised in neighboring kingdoms and the majority of the country. This led to many small conflicts. Although the Magical forest that protected the kingdom limited who could invade by either killing or repelling those with a certain amount of magical power. So they would hire mercenaries and bandits to pillage the neighboring land to punish the commoners that dare to think they could become a great noble one day. For this reason, lands nearer to the castle and the side of the kingdom that's outlined by the ocean saw fewer skirmishes, while the opposite side and the fringes of the kingdom saw more naturally. However, nothing was more vicious than the demon creatures and mutated monsters that carved out sections of the countryside as their dens and territories. Most Kingdoms were just struggling to stay alive and to avoid any calamities that followed the beasts around.

As they continued walking, many carts and travelers passed by them, each making a wide berth around the duo. The more they traveled the less people they saw. After a long while the terrain changed and the farms and crops faded away into fields and rocky hills unsuitable for farming. A huge Forest was on the horizon and soon blocked the entirety of their view. Huge crimson leaves filled the branches. This gave the name to the forest, The Ruby Glades, the famous magical forest that protected the crystal kingdom.

The sun was starting to hide behind the horizon, and dusk began to creep across the land. Noticing the time of day, His master suddenly picked up the pace, his body began to leave afterimages as his speed had increased so much so that it looked like he was teleporting short distances. Grim was curious about the sudden change in velocity. "Master, why are we running towards the forest? Wouldn't it be safer to camp out here in the fields?"

"Normally yes, but your master has a few tricks up his sleeve. Have some faith in me already." Kyriel stopped and responded over his shoulder and clicked his tongue as if he was annoyed with a coy grin on his face. Air swirled around his feet propelling him even faster, which made it appear as if he was teleporting even longer distances. He then snapped his fingers and Grim floated several inches above the ground. Black Smoke enveloped him and his freedom of movement became restricted once again.

"Oh come on..."

With a burst of speed, everything became a blur as he couldn't process his surroundings as they moved too fast as he was dragged towards the forest at an unbelievable speed. They reached the edge of the forest after only a few moments. No sooner than they had reached their destination, Minerva released Grim and he was sent rolling across ground straight into the nearest tree. Cursing and grumbling the entire time he was flung until the moment he was getting up, brushing off the dirt and tree bark from his mantle. He looked around angrily trying to find that damn succubus that just launched him, but she was nowhere to be seen. Leaves the size of a small round shield fell around him, many landing on his head and shoulders further aggravating him to no end. He had half a mind to give the old man a piece of his mind in her place.

Once he finally regained his composure, he saw the old man walking up to various trees. Wherever he went he left strange runes in an arch on each tree. One after the other, sometimes making the same markings on opposite sides of the huge trees.

"Now then, prepare to be amazed, young prince." Kyriel hissed before clapping his hands and tendrils of his mana spread to all the markings, making them glow with the red tinges of his mana. After each rune glow subsided they became invisible. Kyriel strode over to the nearest one and walked directly into the tree. The bark of the tree shimmered and seemed to fracture as if it was made of glass. Cracks formed and dispersed around the mage as he went through the barrier. After he completely crossed the threshold, the cracks mended themselves and repaired as if it never happened.

Grim swatted his eyes, rubbing them both vigorously trying to understand if his eyes were playing tricks on him or what just happened. Then the marking on another tree shimmered and his master reappeared, sprinting full speed, he came out of that entrance just to disappear again in another marking. Soon every marking shimmered as a shadowy figure dashed in between the many openings. After proving his point, Kyriel stepped out of the initial tree with a huge grin on his face.

"Well come on in, this is our stop for the night." He stepped aside and waved his hand as if to invite his apprentice in.

Grim slowly edged his way toward the threshold, first poking a hand through then retracting it to make sure it was still fine. He took a deep breath and stepped through. An ornate carpet stretched before him down a long endless hallway that had many doors. There was a door directly to his left and right. To the left, a large sized room held many couches and chairs around a fireplace and a small table in front of them. Many heads of monsters lined the walls, he couldn't identify a single one. To the right, a kitchen was laid out with a basin, cabinets, a stove, and a small round table with four chairs around it.

Still standing directly after crossing the threshold, Kyriel nearly sent him tumbling down the hallway as he crossed over ramming into him. Minerva followed him through, quickly strolling into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Kyriel quickly put a firm hand on his shoulder to keep him from falling again.

"Welcome to the Roving Fortress, or as I like to call it, Home."

He then gave him a tour around the place. The first four doors after the study and the kitchen were all bedrooms. One was much larger and a bit more unique which obviously had to be Kyriels. After that, there was a library, a blacksmithing area, a room with a huge cauldron, a room with many cages like a prison, one room had nothing but many mirrors and no apparent function. There were many more doors, but they seemed not to be a part of the tour and seemed to be off limits as they were locked. The hallway went on for a long way and there seemed to be another entrance like the door he came through at the very end of the corridor.

"You can take one of the two bedrooms after mine and Minervas. After you get situated, come to the study. We need to talk." Kyriel grunted before heading into the study and igniting the fireplace with a magical green flame.

Grim decided to take the room adjacent to Kyriels, being farther away from Minerva soothed his nerves, if only slightly. The bed was just as large as his one back in the castle, but the sheets seemed to be of high quality silk. The wood of all the furniture in the room was made from wormwood. Thick knots and wounds where the sharp thorns had been removed covered the wood, it was a nice red color instead of the normal gray that wormwood normally was.

He thought about slipping off his scabbard and placing it on the rack next to the bed, but ultimately pocketed it into his mantle. Being in such an unfamiliar environment, he didn't feel good about parting ways with his only weapon. He pulled out a set of more comfortable clothes and tried to pull off the mantle. To his surprise, no matter how much he tugged or pulled, the mantle would not budge. It had seemingly fused with his skin, leaving no opening to take advantage of. Eventually he gave up and slipped the clothes on top of the mantle. The mantle reacted and soaked up the clothes into itself and consumed them. Then understanding what he wanted, transformed into a scaly comfortable version of them.

With everything else that had happened to him recently, he didn't even begin to question it and just accepted that it was part of his life now.

He laid down on his bed to test it out, and rest his muscles for a moment before having to face his master and whatever he had in store for him. No sooner than his head hit his pillow, he fell into a deep slumber still exhausted from mana abuse and the mental exhaustion that came with all the new information he was forced to take in.