CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

                           Ophelia's POV 

     "I see you're free," King Tariq condescends.

     "No acknowledgement of my greeting? Wow, but yes, I am free, without any of your help," I smiled.

      "What do you want?" He asks as he looks me up and down.

        "The hostility, Heavens. Anyways, as I am sure my parents explained to you, Magnus opened the barriers. He also happened to capture all the shapeshifters and basically kill all the nobles," I filled them in.

       "You're calling the emperor by name now, the lack of reverence is jarring," Kian spoke.

        "How would you know he captured shapeshifters?" Tariq questioned me. Did he forget that I was held in the dungeons? 

       "First of all, I was in the same dungeon as them. Secondly, he does not deserve the title, Magnus is one of the relatively nicer things I could call him."

       "I could call him a waste of oxygen or a coward who needs his soldiers to help him and can't fight himself," their eyes widened like I had just cursed their god, in their heads I probably have.

       "But no I called him by name," I have my most condescending smile.

      "All the royals are having a meeting in Alervan today after noon ," What meeting? You may ask. The one I'm about to hurry and put into motion.

        "Come and listen to reason or don't, it's all up to you," and I teleported us out of there.

        "Do you think they'll come?" Sage asked, as now we were back in Alervan.

        "Oh They'll come, elves are naturally curious beings. The issue will be convincing them to help,"I replied.

         We went to the council room where my parents were.

         "The elves are coming to the meeting today," I told them as I sat down.

          "What meeting?"

        "The meeting that we're holding after noon. The meeting that I have to get all the royals to come to," I have said this before and I'll say it again, my mouth is going to get me killed. Of all things to say, why did I think of a meeting.

        "So, I have to go to Baeldra and Calypso Cove. I know they'll agree to come but still."

       "Are you sure the elves will come?" my mother asked.

        "I am very sure."

        "I have to get going," and with that I walked out of the castle room as Sage followed behind.

        "Where are we going?" Sage questioned and I turned to look at him.

      "I want to go to Calypso Cove first and then we'll go to Baeldra," I said and he nodded.

      I teleported us to the shores of Calypso Cove and looked down. Their castle was located beneath the ocean but somehow no water entered the castle, which is a good thing for us.

     I teleported us inside the castle and scared everyone in the halls. They quickly bowed when they recognized me and I commanded them to rise.

      "Could you please tell the queen that the princess of Alkazar and Alevarn is here to see her," I told one of the maids and she nodded and went along.

      Another one led us to the antechamber and I sat down waiting for Queen Azura. 

       "I love the castle's design, it's very aesthetic," I said and I heard Sage hum in agreement.

        Queen Azura walked in and I stood up, "Queen Azura, greetings," I curtsied. 

       "Princess Ophelia, to what do I owe this visit?" she smiled.

        "Well, your majesty, your presence is needed in the palace after noon. Though I do apologize for the suddenness of this request."

         "Why is that?" She asked as she tilted her head.

         "During my time in the dungeons I met a seer and he has made a rather eye opening revelation and we are in need of all of you to be present," I informed her.

       "Okay, seeing as it is important I'll be present," she told me and I smiled.

      "Thank you, your majesty, I'll take my leave," I replied and she nodded.

       I teleported us out of there and then to Baeldra. I basically repeated the same thing there and then went back to Alervarn.

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        It was time for the meeting and we were all seated in the council room and the other royals poured into the room.

         We all waited for the elves and like I said they arrived, everyone turned to look at them as they sat down.

       "Seeing as we are all present, let the meeting begin," My father spoke.

        "Send in the seer," I told the person at the door and shortly after the seer came inside.

       "Royals  this is Faelen,he is a seer and would like to recount some information to you," my mother announced and everyone turned to him 

       He recounted all that he told us up to this point and they all watched with the shock evident on their faces.

       "So I assume this means we have to go to war with Magnus," Queen Azura said after he finished talking.

        "Yes."

         "After what he did, he doesn't even deserve to live," Queen Beska said and we all agreed.

        "Now hold on, how do we know that seer knows what he's saying? We can't just go to war with the emperor because of his words," Kian debated, I get questioning the seer, but I saw what he was doing with my own eyes.

        "Would you like for me to prove myself to you," Faelen asked and we all turned to him wondering what he intended to do.

          "Sure," and Faelen walked over to both of them and whispered something to Kian and his eyes widened, then he did the same thing to Tariq and his eyes widened. They both had a mixture of shock and fear on their faces. I really wanted to know what he told them to warrant this reaction.

      "Even if what the seer says is true. We are loyal first to the emperor and refuse to go to war with him," Tariq spoke and he and Kian got up and walked Towards the door.

      "No," I said and put on a barrier just before the door, so they couldn't move farther.

      "What is this?" Tariq grunted when he couldn't move further.

      "A barrier, so you'll listen and then you can go," I smiled and they both glared at me.

       "King Tariq you are not loyal, you are borderline dogmatic and it is not a characteristic to take pride in. It is pitiful that you would still bow to that disgraceful excuse for an emperor," I spat and everyone looked at me surprised. I was not one to react like this.

       "And you King Kian, I see that you are trying to be optimistic about the emperor but it is nothing but naive to think that he would not end you in the blink of an eye like all the shapeshifters he killed. The only difference is that yours would not be as dignified because you refused to listen to reason" I finished and I was begin to harbor pure anger towards them.

        "How dare-" but they did not get to finish as I snapped my fingers and teleported them back to their kingdom.

       "Like mother, like daughter," I heard prince Argazel say.

        "So it seems help from the elves is out the window," my father began.

       "What do we do about the sword then?" My mother said, well, Sage would have to shapeshift. How would I reveal that? We'll cross that bridge later.

        "Didn't the seer say a shapeshifter could do it?" Prince Agrazel asked.

      "Yes, but it would need to be one as powerful as a ruler," My mother answered.

       "And that's not going to be possible because Magnus killed all the strong nobles," My father added.

      "I may be able to help with that," Well I guess we are crossing that bridge now. Heavens help us.

       "Mr.Caddell, how do you intend to help?" My mother asked.

        "Well, so you see," I stood up and then everyone turned to me.

        "So Mr.Caddell here, just happens to be Magnus' offspring,"I revealed.

          "WHAT?!" Everyone yelled and jumped up from their chairs.

          "gods, help me," I murmured under my breath.

        "Yes, he is Magnus' son," and everyone went on the offensive.

       "How do we know he isn't working for his father?" Queen Azura asked and she glared at Sage.

       "Well if he was, would he have helped get me back and if he wanted to do anything he would have done it a while ago," I defended.

      "Your majesties, my father was not a good man, so I left when I turned sixteen," Sage exposed.

       "We are over complicating this, there's a seer here, let's ask him," and then everyone turned their attention to Faelan. This is a very left and right situation.

       "So Faelen, was Sage sent here by his father?" I asked him with a smile.

        He stared at him for a hot minute and we all watched with bated breath, "No."

        "Has he made any plans to hurt us since he came?"

        "No, he came here because he was abused by his father…he also had no idea what his father was doing," and I saw Sage get visually uncomfortable.

         "Okayyy, that's enough. So from that it is clear that Sage is on our side right?" I reasoned. Everyone nodded and sat down and I let out an internal sigh. Thank the heavens.

          "So Mr.Caddell, you were saying?" My mother questioned.

        "Yes, your majesty, I volunteer to help with the elf magic," he told her.

          "It would work," Queen Azura pointed out.

         "Your desire to help us appreciated,'' My father told him.

        "So let's do it," My mother said. My only thought was, 'Right now?'

         "Do you have weld a new sword or something?" Prince Agrazel asked.

      "I assume my sword would be just fine," I said everyone seemed to agree.

       I teleported to my room and got my sword from my weapons wall, them teleported back to the council room, where I placed the sword in the table.

        "How exactly are the supposed to infuse the sword?"I asked Faelen.

        "From what I saw they put their hands forward and the magic flower from their hands," So descriptive.

        Everyone got up from their chairs and moved back, meanwhile my mother and father remained and Sage walked towards the table.

        Sage shifted and he morphed into an elf, and I found it so fascinating. I had never seen him shapeshift and it was so intriguing to me.

       They put their hands forward and their hands hovered above the sword. We watched for a while and nothing happened. We started loosing hope then a light shone from their hands and filled the room. I squinted my eyes so I would not go prematurely blind. 

       The light subsided, then  they all moved away from the sword and Sage shifted back to normal, everything but his eyes. His eyes weren't red anymore, they were their normal color 

      When I saw my sword, threads and specs of light surrounded it. It looked aesthetic. I would give it that.

      My mother tried to pick it up and hand it to me but it refused to move. It was beginning to remind me of the human tale of Excalibur.

        I walked towards the table to pick it up and on my first try it did not move. I stared at it for a while and tried to lift it. Thankfully, I could pick it up. I felt the light flow through my veins. 

        "Now that the sword is out of the way, we have to plan for war," King Arghul acknowledged.

        We stayed in that room till evening trying to find a plan of attack. By the grace of the heavens we figured something out. Now it was left for armies to be trained and people to be informed, which was arguably the hardest part.

        After we were done, I walked to my room with Sage following close behind.