The Rude King

"Well, so far, this place has been both nice and terrible," Bree informed Argit, "They sure seem to love you, though,"

"Oh, I killed a Feral Dragon out this way like a hundred or two years ago, and the story just grew wild, think they're claiming it was the King of all Dragons now," Argit just shook his head. "Honestly, I only killed it to try and impress their king, but he wasn't interested," 

Argit and Bree made their way through the massive courtyard, past lavish bushes, a cliche bush maze made out of red roses, and exotic-looking birds that made Bree question the differences between a Feral and wild animal.

"So what was that?" Argit demanded out of the blue, "You just like…you ate the Anti-magic barrier, that was…that was just so broken! You gotta teach me how to do whatever that was,"

"Anti-Magic absorption is typically used to suck up magical shields and add their power to the user's Mana pool; using it on Anti-Magic barriers does knock them down, but it also drains your stamina and magic, so it's kind of useless if your fighting someone alone, but as I just demonstrated it still has plenty of uses outside direct combat," 

"So cool," Argit chuckled. "The old world had so many cool things hidden away in it; it must have been a hoot and a half to live in; what was it like? Come on, tell me!"

"Well, there was only one continent that was split into four areas: to the south, there was a large kingdom where basically everyone lived; to the east, there was a giant Volcano that was always billowing out Volcanic gas; the north was a frozen wasteland, and the West side of the continent was just a massive forest, and smack dab in the center of it all was a mountain, you could see the entire world just from standing on its peak" Bree sighed as she thought back to all the time she had spent in the game world.

"A large kingdom, Volcano, Frozen wasteland, and giant forest?" Argit asked, scratching his chin. After a moment, he seemed to think of something, "Was there a giant obsidian Pillar in any of those areas? And I mean massive, like bigger than this castle big,"

"Oh yeah," Bree smiled as she thought about it. "The Obsidian Pillar, the 4th Pillar of Eternity," Bree laughed, "I think the guardian was..oh, who was it again? Was it the beast with a thousand eyes? That was one hell of a raid boss to fight," Argit slowed to a stop, his mouth agape as Bree reminisced on her first time fighting the beast with a thousand eyes.

"I teamed up with a guild, and together, we numbered about seventy-two, I think. Only four of us survived to the end of the fight, and when he died, he dropped the all-seeing eye, then when we were looting-"

"Hold up," Argit grabbed Bree and looked at her with actual terror on his face. "You fought the beast with a thousand eyes?"

"You know about it?" Bree asked in confusion.

"The Scriptures of Salvo," Argit suddenly spat to the side before continuing, "say that the four legendary heroes of old sealed ten creatures of unfathomable power into ten Pillars-"

"Then the Lich Queen freed them," Bree cut in as she recalled the base storyline of the game, "and with the heroes long dead, no one could stop her or the creatures so the land was doomed; then a hero rose, and with their companions, they sealed the beasts away and sealed the Lich Queen by ripping apart her tainted soul and storing piece of her in all ten pillars," Bree waved her hand as she spoke, "And how do you know about that?"

Argit just stared at Bree with his mouth wide open and just stood in silence for a moment before he recomposed himself and patted Bree on the head. "We can talk about that later. Come on, let's go meet old King Thomas," Argit continued on his way towards the castle, with Bree following after him, wondering how Argit knew about the game's plot and what his history with the fourth pillar was.

The Two were met by the guard at the front entrance and escorted to what Bree figured was most likely the King's Dining room. A single long table filled with food was before them; an older-looking man wearing a crown sat at one end; on his right was a woman far younger than he was, and on his left sat a young boy.

"Thomas," Argit cheered. "So good to see you again, how have things been,"

"Argit," Thomas's voice was withered with age, but he spoke in a proud tone without formality, "Sit, we have much to discuss," Thomas failed to so much as give Bree a passing glance as he directed Argit to his seat, the only other seat at the table.

"I see I don't get a chair," Bree noted.

"You may stand with my guards," Thomas replied, waving Bree's towards the side of the room.

"Uh, Thomas, this is Bree, the ruler of that nation I was telling you about,"

"Being the leader of a new nation does not entitle one to my hospitality," Thomas waved Bree away once again. "Go stand with the guard," Argit shrugged awkwardly, and Bree irritably walked to the side of the room and stood with the guards; she heard a chuckle and eyed the men surrounding her as Thomas began speaking.

"Now, what is it that you wish to speak with me about? And do be quick about it, won't you?"

"I already told you," Argit whined. "I brought my new Elf-friend,"

"Then present them to me," Thomas said simply. Bree waited to be introduced when something wet and slimy hit her face; she pulled it away and found a wad of partially chewed meat; she quickly spied the perpetrator as the Child at the king's table spat into his hand and threw his food at her.

"Could you…" Bree attempted to politely ask the child, who she figured was the Prince, to stop, but she was cut off when two swords were held by her neck by the surrounding guard.

"No outsiders are to speak to the Prince directly; not even demon lord Argit is permitted to do so," The guard warned. "Do so again at your peril,"

"That would be her," Argit noted nervously. "The leader of the new nation," Thomases' reaction somewhat insulted Bree, and he burst out laughing.

"You mean to tell me that you came all this way to try and pass off some short Bug-eyed monster as an elf?" Thomas hit the table, and Bree bit her tongue angrily as she was once again pegged with a wade of half-eaten food.

"Alright, let's be calm," Argit said as he felt Bree staring at him in irritation. "I know you know how incredibly rude it is to insult someone to their face," Thomas simply continued laughing.

"Oh no, it's gonna use its elf magic on me," his Son laughed with him, and the woman, who was probably the Queen, just ate her meal with a disappointed head shake. "Oh no, if only I had an Anti-magic barrier surrounding my castle,"

Argit chuckled nervously at Thomases words. "Yeah…no," Argit raised his index finger, and a flame burst to life around it. "That Barrire is long gone,"

Thomas looked at Argit in silence for a brief moment before slamming his hands on the table as he stood up.

"I will not stand for this," He said angrily. "First, you come in telling stories about elves for attention, then you bring that hideous thing in here, claiming it to be said elf, and then you dare to break the Anti-magic Barrier I have set up to keep my son safe!?"

Bree officially had no idea what the hell was happening as Thomas grabbed his son and forced his face into his chest.

"You and I will be talking Later, Argit," Thomas said venomously. "Remove him from my castle and Arrest that thing for attempting to converse with my boy,"

"I will kill anyone who dares try to arrest me for the crime of attempting to complain about having half-eaten food thrown in my face," Bree threatened without hesitation, breaking her calm face into an irritated one for the second time since she had arrived at the capital.

Thomas marched out of the room with his son, leaving his wife behind. She simply waved the guards off, and they marched out of the room.

"I am so sorry," the woman said as she got up and bowed to Argit in a polite tone before turning to Bree. "Please forgive my self-centered windbag of a husband; he's just too lost in his mind to care about anyone else. I'll make sure the charges on you are dropped," 

The Queen walked out of the room quietly, and once they were alone, Bree turned on Argit.

"Chill King Hu?" She demanded as Argit held his face in his hands, visibly dying in embarrassment at how everything had played out so far.