Enchantment Nexus

With Haalfrin's body finally being free from the chimney, the center of the Death Aura has changed. Before, it was slowly expanding over the palace walls… but suddenly, the Aura jerks in one direction, and it completely overtakes the Wall on one side, while withdrawing from the other.

"We have an opening!" Halban's Will shouts out to all the bandits listening to him, "If we can get out of the palace walls, then the treasure's as good as ours!"

Meanwhile, the palace guard Wills grow really angry seeing thousands of pounds of palace property throwing themselves over the wall, and they make formations lining the walls, and they adamantly slap any flying piece of treasure back onto the ground.

One of the palace guards sees the citizens down below, and he shouts out to his squad around him, "Don't let the enemy get past the walls! There's a lot of innocent people over there!"

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While the palace guards' and the bandits' fierce battle is taken outside the palace proper, Kaalhyme and his flying daggers are left to wander the palace unhindered.

One of the first things they do when coming to the empty hall is find some scraps of armor and possess them. They had to leave their other bodies behind, after all. They spend about a minute getting suited up again in steel bodies.

With no more obstacles, they make their way to their destination and almost immediately find their objective. "Halt!" Kaalhyme barks out, "I think this is it!"

All the armor scraps stop in mid-air, and they look up at the imposing tower in front of them. "Fan out and look for an opening." Kaalhyme orders his men.

Immediately, all the Wills start circling the tower, looking for any holes, vents, or open windows. Some of them even try leaving their bodies and slipping through the palace walls.

Unfortunately, every place that could possibly shelter the king is heavily enchanted against various magic… including spirits. This is why both the tower, the throne room, the dining hall, and the king's chambers are enchanted in a way that won't let the Wills through.

Growling in frustration, Kaalhyme pounds on the door and shouts out, "No! I can't let my men die for nothing! Gaah! Open the door!"

Kaalhyme himself was never this chatty in life; rather, he was the more stoic and silent type of man. However, his Will doesn't know how to contain his emotions. So, his comrades are treated to a scene of their captain throwing a childish temper tantrum as he slams on the door futilely and shouts out his grievances.

Just when Kaalhyme's about to break himself on the door, an expensive floating sword floats down next to him… and below it is their commander suspended in the air with a spell.

"Wills can use spells!?" Kaalhyme shouts out at the floating sword.

Kalastros looks over and answers back, "You can't? I thought you're supposed to be a mage."

Kaalhyme pauses for a moment and replies, "I… I don't remember how to use spells… Though I feel like I'm supposed to know."

Just when Kaalhyme is about to ask his new comrade for more information, he hears his little commander groan and stir in the air. "Where… am I?" Haalfrin mumbles through a closed mouth.

"What did he say?" one of Kaalhyme's subordinates asks.

"Dunno!" Kaalhyme shouts excitedly, "What matters is that the commander's waking up!"

Seeing this, Kalastros gently places Haalfrin on the ground before turning back to Kaalhyme "Huh," Kalastros shrugs (bobs to the side). "Well, let me get that door for you."

Kalastros's sword stabs the door, and the tip of the blade glows a bright green. Then, he drags the glowing tip of the blade along the door, and like a pen on paper, the green light is drawn on the door forming complex runes.

After a few moments, there's a loud clicking sound, and a green barrier appears on the door, before peeling back and flickering off.

"We're through!" Kaalhyme orders his men. "Charge!"

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While King Kanus is preoccupied studying the surveillance mirrors overlooking the palace walls, where the majority of the fighting is happening, he completely misses the strange scene of the armor fragments and enchanted sword just outside his doorstep.

A moment later, the door to the tower ominously swings open, and a mage in a 10-year-old body staggers through with a dozen mismatched armor pieces clinging to him – helping hold his frame up. Behind him is floating a sword covered in glowing runes, which is pointing at all the guards one by one – wary of an attack.

King Kanus sees Haalfrin walk in glaring at him, and the man staggers back and drops what he's doing.

Haalfrin steps forward and cracks his neck stiffly while complaining, "Aw… I don't know what happened, but my neck hurts really bad for some reason…" He then looks up at the king. "Hey, you. What's your deal?"

Kanus stares down at Haalfrin, who's emitting a powerful "fear spell". Kanus gulps and looks down. After a moment, he hardens his heart, and he straightens his back.

"I have no excuses." Kanus calmly replies. "Well, I COULD say I had no choice, but I'm a king, and the King always has a choice."

Haalfrin sighs and says aloud, "Enough of this! I don't even care anymore why you did it!"

The king's bodyguards sense the killing intent, and they try drawing their swords.

However, before they can even finish their attack or put on their defensive enchantments, all the armor pieces around Haalfrin clatter to the ground, and at the same time, a dozen swords rip themselves out of the guard's hands before turning on their former owners.

Within moments, all the guards are subdued, and they lay on the ground having been knocked out on the back of the head.

Haalfrin stares at the Wills, a little confused about why these things didn't kill the guards. He certainly knows his Wills have sentience, but that doesn't mean he can hear them talk; he doesn't know exactly what's going on in their heads.

Kaalhyme, however, knows that killing the bodyguards would only add more enemy Wills they'd have to fight. That would be more trouble than it's worth.

Ignoring the Wills' strange behavior, Haalfrin staggers forward and grasps the enchanted sword floating beside him. Suddenly, the blade bursts into a white light, and King Kanus staggers back in fear.

… At this moment, the trap door in the center of the room opens up, and Prince Tallus peeks his head through the opening. The first thing he sees is Haalfrin pointing his blade at the king.

Tallus wipes a tear from his eye and mutters down to his men below him on the ladder, "See? I knew Haalfrin still cared about me – I mean, us!" The King's brother opens the trap door wide and looks over at Kanus's face.

Kanus sees his little brother staring at him in anticipation, and he spits on the ground in disgust. "Always gotta have others do the job for you!" Kanus growls at the man's head poking out of the floor.

Feeling the black aura growing stronger and stronger around Haalfrin, Kanus glares and steps forward with his hands wide open. "My heart's right here! Just get it over with!"

Haalfrin loses all expression on his face, and he raises his blade up in the air before swinging it down with great force.

King Kanus closes his eyes and waits for the end to come… but the pain never registers.

He opens his eyes after a few moments and sees the enchanted blade implanted in the top of Prince Tallus's skull, and Haalfrin lifting the prince's corpses out of the trap door with another hand.

Before any of the prince's bodyguards can come through the trap door, Haalfrin makes a stomping motion with his leg, and the trap door slams shut – crushing the fingers of the guard on top just before he lifted himself up. Haalfrin lets Tallus's corpse fall to the ground, then flicks that hand and latches the trap door shut.

Haalfrin spends a moment and stares down at Tallus's corpse with a blank expression on his face, while Kanus looks on in shock. "Y-you!" the king stammers out, "Why did you do that?"

The young mage keeps staring off into space… and just when the king thought the young man was ignoring him, Haalfrin shrugs and replies, "You saved me from being a cripple long ago. I promised I wouldn't forget it all those years ago. I promised I'd repay the debt in my own way."

The mage turns to Kanus with dead eyes and says, "My debt's over now. You can keep your life."

"Besides," Haalfrin looks down again and kicks aside Tallus's corpse, "all kings are heartless, including you. Tallus, though, was heartless AND weak. That means the snot was always a worse prince than you."

Haalfrin gives a wry smile. "Letting people think I was his servant was annoying. If you hadn't tried to shelter me as a palace lap dog, I'd have been your loyal sword long ago."

Hearing this, King Kanus looks down with a hint of regret in his eyes.

Indeed, had Haalfrin been on Kanus's side, Haalfrin would've been the one to inherit the Archmage's position, and Mage Tallya never would've been brought back to replace Kalastros. If Tallya had never come back, Haalfrin never would've been slated to serve in the Threshold. If Haalfrin was never sent to the Threshold, Das never would've made a move to make the Alasta King imprison the boy.

If Prince Kanus of the past had made a different choice, this terrible day never would've happened, and King Kanus would've had the most powerful sword at his side. His kingdom could've risen to greatness.

'Alas,' Kanus mourns in his heart as he looks out the window and sees the palace burning, 'I made the wrong choice.'

The king narrows his eyes and looks at the enchantment crystal just out of reach. 'There's no turning back now.'