Chapter Nine; A Naming Ceremony (Part One)

.....8th Stravier 0001.....

A child born in the Shennian Kingdom is only ever officially named seven days after their birth. This is a tradition that has lasted for thousands of years. So, although my father named me the very first day I was born he had to wait seven days to officially name me.

Dignitaries from all over the world had already arrived a day before the ceremony and some were still on their way coming. All the streets of the empire were filled with people doing their best to get to the ceremony in time and I... I was having a nap. But what do you expect from an eight-day-old child? Putting my sleep aside, all the maidservants and even the soldiers were doing their best to prepare the best naming ceremony ever. This time, the main ceremony was to be held at The Hall of JOY which has an interior of 510 966.72 m² which is big enough to hold about five hundred thousand seated guests who would mostly be invited guests. Thus, disregarding the giant dignitaries who were most definitely invited. In the end, slightly above four hundred thousand guests actually got to enter The Hall of JOY. The remaining guests were directed to other venues such as The Conqueror's Park and The Pacifist's Abode.

The naming ceremony of the Shennians is similar to the Nakas of the continent of Abimamu. This means the real naming ceremony is done at dawn and everything that comes after that is just for show. Hence, the reason why little me is having a nap. There is a theory that all humans may have come from Abimamu so that may be the reason why we have a common culture.

Since we invited dignitaries from all over the world, the main ceremony was to come on at fifteen o'clock. For a normal family, the baby would be on the mother's lap as the guests present their presents to both the mother and baby. For mine, I was placed in a cot on a podium for the guests to present their gifts to me alone.

.....

In between the town of Tora and the city of Luka on The Continent of Shen, thirty kilometres away from The Palace of Pride, was a group of coaches slowly making their way to The Palace of Pride. Amongst those coaches was Hertra's carriage, which most definitely was a treat for the eyes. He opened his window and looked up after he felt an eerie feeling. When he looked up he saw a group of crows and vultures flying together to his destination at breakneck speed. He then called his coachman and told him to fly them to the Palace of Pride as fast as possible. The coachman simply told the horned tulpars pulling the chariot to fly and they spread their wings and galloped into the sky.

.....

Back in the Palace of Pride, Emperor Rava who was seated on a throne saw his brother, 'Hertra' enter the hall and decided to go welcome him. The moment he stood up, All the guests including the foreign dignitaries stood up but he gestured that they could sit before going to meet his brother. When they met, Rava hugged him and said; "Welcome brother. How is your magic research going?".

"It's been going very well of late your majesty."

"Ooooooh? That's great. Congratulations."

" Did you forget to bring gifts to your nephew?"

"Of course not, brother. My subordinates will be bringing them in soon." After 'Hertra' said this, his envoy came in with gifts. With them coming in was an invisible entity. Of course, Rava saw the invisible entity but chose to react to it not. As they were going to present the gifts to little me, a man barged into the hall.

"Brother, that's an imposter!" The man who just barged in shouted.

Rava looked at the man who just barged in and smiled when he saw a man similar in stature and looks, sporting similar green hair like his, who looked exactly like the brother he just hugged.

"I never expected this would happen. Usually, the impostor would come in first and the real person would come in later to expose them but now the impostor is coming in second so that my own brother would question my identity. I'll admit. You are quite smart.". The first 'Hertra' enunciated.

"I should say, you are rather the smart one. And, your reverse psychology is excellent but-" The second Hertra was interrupted during his speech by the emperor.

"There is no need for you to keep talking. I am very sure Prince Mitchelle Hertra who is ranked tenth in this empire is strong enough to defeat any impostor. So you can just have a friendly duel to resolve this." Rava declared and snapped his fingers to cast a barrier around the guests.

"I guess that would be faster." The second Hertra said and casually slashed at the first with his sword. A completely physical aura slashing attack was projected from his sword and rushed at the first. The first 'Hertra' hurriedly cast a shield spell in front of himself to shield him from the slash attack. Unfortunately for him, just the shockwave from the impact blew him back. The audience just watched what was going on with no fear in their eyes because they thought it was just a show and even if it wasn't they were completely confident that the emperor's barrier would protect them.

.....

Outside The Hall of JOY, a military coach arrived at the entrance. All the soldiers around who weren't actively doing something important rushed to the carriage and saluted. Then, one of the soldiers, perhaps the highest ranking went forward and opened the carriage door. After he opened the door, he saluted once more and the person inside came out in a relaxed manner. Immediately he stepped out, he somersaulted up dodging an attack aimed at him. while somersaulting he pulled a dagger from the soldier who opened the door for him and threw it at the enemy who attacked piercing through his heart. Then he created a force field under his feet that helped him somersault once more while airborne to dodge another attack directed at him. The first attack was an Ifrit flame ball that burned the coach after he dodged it. Luckily, there were no casualties. The second was a wind vortex attack which just flew up and away after he dodged it. In a moment's time, Stephan Hildebrandt, a General of the Powstravian Empire from the country called Armania landed safely on the ground and said; "I've already seen all twelve of you so you can show yourselves. I guess I should say eleven since the one who burnt my expensive streitwagen got what he deserved."

The rest of the Tengu showed themselves. Five had disguised themselves as Powstravian soldiers and the rest were part of the fake 'Hertra's' envoy. After they shed their guises the soldiers tried to apprehend them but Hildebrandt ordered them to stand down and just make a parameter around the Tengu and himself. The soldiers circled around them after they received the order. They then brought their left arms forward and gestured as if they were holding shields. When they did so, bracelets that were hiding under their sleeves were revealed. From the bracelets, shields made out of tangible air emanated. These bracelets were produced by The Magic-Science Technology department. They can conjure a shield of compressed air that can protect against both magical and physical attacks.

"Please make this entertaining. I haven't had a good stretch in a while." After Hildebrandt said this all the Tengu started chanting their spells and he waited for them to finish. Then... Boom, Boom boom, BOOM. Different magical attacks of different elements rushed at Hildebrandt and in an instant there was smoke, dust and steam obscuring their view of him. After a while the smoke, dust and steam settled and to their surprise, Hildebrandt was standing there unscathed.

"I'm glad I wore this uniform otherwise I would be naked by now. I don't know why you are here, but what makes you think that you weaklings can successfully attack der große Palace of Pride."

.....

Back at The Hall of JOY, Emperor Rava commanded all the soldiers in the hall to stand down and walked to the first 'Hertra', a Tengu who was pretending he was the emperor's brother, Prince Mitchelle Hertra. As Rava was helping the Tengu up, the Tengu slowly reverted back to his true form. Then Rava hugged him and said into his ears; "You got out of character and called me "Majesty" when I hugged you because you weren't expecting a hug from the emperor, but before that, you said your magic research was going very well except that my brother's aptitude for magic was lower than his other abilities so he decided he wouldn't learn magic. But in all, you acted well and you got the chance to hug the emperor twice. A feat no Tengu has achieved before."

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty. Hugging you was something I never imagined would ever happen to me. Thank you very much, Your Imperial Majesty. I can now die knowing that I'll forever remain in history as the Tengu who got the chance to hug the emperor twice although they may not add my name and dying by your hands will be my greatest honour." The Tengu replied.

"You can shout your name to them so you won't be a nameless Tengu."

"My name is Dameer! The first Tengu to hug A Shennian Emperor twice!" Dameer shouted and said quietly into Rava's ears; "I am content with my life. Can you let my passing be painless? And thank you very much."

"You are welcome." Before Dameer felt any pain. Before he even realized he was dead, his body had already disintegrated into ashes.

The moment the remaining Tengu saw Dameer was dead, they started rushing towards little me. The soldiers turned their attention to the emperor waiting for an order to engage the enemy but the emperor gave no orders. He simply sent a thought transmission to Hertra saying; "Brother, it's been a while since we had any proper battles. Would you like to join in the fun? Just remember to not use any ability above the intermediate level. The beginner level will be best."

"I don't like fighting as much as you do, but I guess I'll be joining in." Hertra replied telepathically. After their short conversation, they started fighting the Tengu. Rava was only fighting with beginner-level fireball magic while Hertra had suppressed his power to the beginner level so he could have a more entertaining fight. As they were happily fighting the Tengu, the invisible entity was gradually making his way to little me. By the time Rava realized, it was too late and the invisible entity was already on the podium.

TO BE CONTINUED