Into the fields of Summer - 107. Masters of Earth 2

Chapter 106 - Masters of Earth 2

Uncle Selvenus and I were in the backseat of a modified Rolls Royce Cullinan on our way to Ashtelon. We were driven by a handsome Italian looking elf. Who looked to be in his mid twenties and had a clean shaven face, light bronze skin and amazing hazel eyes.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“I’m Vernos, your highness,” he replied as he looked at me the rear view mirror.

“Nice to meet you Vernos. I’m Chris and this is my uncle, Selvenus,” I warmly replied, as I looked back at him through the rear view mirror as well.

“It’s a pleasure your highnesses,” Vernos replied, with a stammer.

“You’re making him nervous,” my uncle whispered to me.

I slightly raised my eyebrow and asked, “what do you mean by that?”

“Chris, uhm, in the palace rumors have been spreading about how powerful you are, Vernos here was the only one brave enough to volunteer to serve as your driver and guard while Nomir is away. But it doesn’t mean he’s not intimidated by you”

“Ohh... I don’t like the sound of that,” I replied.

A few minutes passed and we had just left the outer edges of the capital through the northern highway when I asked Vernos to stop the car.

“Is there something wrong your highness?” He nervously asked. My uncle on the other hand just gave me a confused look.

I smiled at the both of them and replied, “I want to get to know you better Vernos. I wanna sit beside you in front.”

“Huh?” Vernos replied nervously.

I didn’t give him the chance to protest as I opened the door and transferred to the front seat beside Vernos.

I smiled at him as I took my seat and said, “Now that we’re this close, I can get to know more about you in the next 2 and half hours.”

Vernos visibly gulped as he resumed driving towards Ashtelon.

“Uncle, are we passing by any towns or villages on our way to Ashtelon?” I asked as I looked at the colorful countryside of the Northern Province.

“Yes, we should pass by several villages and towns. Why do you ask?”

“I’m getting hungry, can we drop by a place where we can buy some food?”

“Of course Chris, that won’t be a problem. I was getting hungry myself,” my uncle chuckled.

“Patri just sprung this trip on me, and I didn’t have the time to grab snacks. I hate road trips without food, gets me all grumpy,” I remarked. As I said that, I felt the tension coming in waves from Vernos.

“You... your highness, I know this place just a few kilometers away, it’s the second village that from the capital. It’s nothing much, but there’s a really nice cafe there that sells amazing sandwiches,” Vernos said with a slight edge in his voice.

“Oh, that’s good Vernos. I was craving for sandwiches myself,” I smiled back at him.

The highway was mainly empty, aside from a few other cars. It appears that most of the people preferred to travel via the trains. Speaking of which, with the highway several meters away from the high speed track, seeing the bullet trains zoom past us was a marvelous sight.

“So, regretting not taking the train?” My uncle teased from the back.

“Nah, I like this too, and we get to stop whenever we want.”

A few minutes later, we exited the highway as we reached the village of Transar. The village had several houses and buildings but it was clearly what it was, a village, quiet and quaint. The structures were mainly single story, had walls painted with a light yellow hue and dark orange tiled roofs.

“So, is this where we find this cafe you were talking about?” I asked Vernos.

“Yes, your highness, it’s just around this corner,” Vernos replied as he parked the car.

I noticed there were very few people outside, and the narrow cobblestone roads were mainly empty as well.

“There are so few people,” I mused.

“Villages have less than 1,000 inhabitants, so places like Transar are very quiet,” Vernos remarked.

“Oh, I see.” I replied as I took a moment to take in the overall vibe of the village.

I then smiled at Vernos and my uncle and asked, “So what do you guys want? My treat!”

“Uhh...” Vernos paused, “I think I should go in and buy for you your highness,”

“Nonsense, I can handle buying my own food,” I grinned back at him.

My uncle had an amused expression on his face, at some point it appeared he wanted to tell me something but he just shook his head in resignation and replied, “some juice would be nice, and if they have Athran bread, that would be good.”

I then looked expectantly at Vernos and tilted my head towards the coffee shop as if to ask for his order, “some juice and maybe some bite sized cookies would be nice, their purple chocolate biscuits are delicious.”

“Got it!” I grinned at him and held a thumbs up towards him as I opened the door and got out of the car.

Transar Cafe, that’s the name of the place. It had a green wooden door and had large green framed windows as well. Its walls were exposed yellowish brick that gave it a very old world feeling. I could see some people inside the café, but it was at most only a quarter full.

I opened the door and heard a bell chime as I entered. As soon as I stepped inside, the first thing I noticed was the sweet aroma of various pastries and deserts, a hint of fruit lingered as well.

At first no one paid attention at me, as I took my time checking out the menu and the food behind the glass display. Then I heard a gasp from someone in front of me. It was from a teenage looking boy, with dark blonde hair and brown eyes at the till, he looked at me with an expression of surprise and disbelief.

“Hi there!” I smiled at him.

His mouth moved but no words came out of it.

“Uhh... are you okay? Uhm, can you suggest anything for me? I’m not sure what I should buy, hehe, but boy am I hungry,” I smiled back at him.

“Uh... uhm... your highness!” He bowed as he regained his composure.

‘Your highness?’ The words echoed in my head. I then looked at my outfit, and the tight red and gold robes couldn’t have screamed royalty any louder. I then checked my hand, and yep, no detractor ring on me, ‘fuck!’

“Hehe, calm down,” I replied to the young elf.

“Prince Christopher, it’s a pleasure!” The young man exclaimed. The elf was certainly out of his wits, he was clearly in a state of panic and star struck at the same time.

“So, what do you suggest I have?” I asked him.

“Uhm, our Prefna cookies and Taka bread are our best sellers. You should try our Rainbow berry juice as well,” he replied, almost out of breath.

“Then I’ll have that to go please. I’d also like 2 more rainbow berry juice, and purple chocolate biscuits and Athran bread too.”

“Uh... yes yes, I’ll have them ready in a minute.”

“Take your time, I smiled back at him.”

I looked around the cafe as the young man prepared my order and I noticed everyone’s attention was now on me. Oh oh. I didn’t notice that every conversation in the cafe stopped and all eyes have been set on me as I gave my order.

I noticed a young couple seated at a table not far from me, they had a small child with them that looked to be 4 or 5. The young boy with dark brown hair was sitting on his mother’s lap, I decided to approach them.

“Hello,” I smiled at the young family.

“You... your highness,” they replied with a light bow.

“And who is this young fellow?” I asked as I took a step closer to them.

“I’m Nalron,” the young boy replied.

“Nice to meet you Nalron. I’m Chris,” I said, as I reached out to him with my right hand. The young boy gave it his best possible shake as he giggled.

“Up... up...” the boy remarked as he held my hand.

“Ssh.. Nalron, he’s ...” The mother said in a slightly embarrassed and worried tone.

“It’s fine, I’d gladly carry him if you’d allow it,” I replied as I reached out for Nalron and carried him.

“You like that buddy?” I asked.

“Yeah, you smell good,” he replied as he giggled into my chest.

“Hehe, you’re funny Nalron,” I smiled back at the young boy.

“So, you guys from around here?” I asked the couple.

“Actually, we’re from Vanta, the next village over, but the cafe here is the best one within miles,” the young man replied.

“Oh, I see. What are your names by the way? I’m sorry I wasn’t able to ask earlier.”

“I’m Teknar and this is my wife Rekyana.”

“Nice to meet you both,” I warmly smiled at them as I reached out to shake their hands.

“It’s a pleasure your highness,” Rekyana replied as she shook my hand.

“Your order is ready your highness,” the cafe worker said from near the till.

“I think that’s my cue,” I winked at the couple as I handed Nalron back to them. “You be a good boy okay?” I said to Nalron to which the young boy vigorously nodded in recognition.

I then went to the cash register and asked, “how much do I owe you?”

“It’s on the house sir,”

“Nonsense, I insist that I pay.”

“Uhm... if that’s the case, then that will be 320 crowns.” He smiled at me.

“Tell you what, I’d like to pay for everyone’s bill here as well.” I winked at the young elf.

“Huh?”

“Just hand me over the payment pad so I can scan my print, that should take care of their bills, right?”

“Uhm... yes sir.”

“Cool and uhm, what’s your name by the way?”

“Benthad sir,” he replied

“Nice to meet you Benthad,” I winked at him as I grabbed the to go carrier and went back to the car.

As I got back in the car, my uncle had a knowing look on his face.

“What?” I asked him.

“What took you so long?” He teased.

“Ugh, yeah yeah, I forgot what I was wearing and for the love of god, yeah I know I’m not wearing my ring,” I laughed as I handed him his food and drink.

“Should be all over the news soon,” he slightly cocked his head towards the cafe, “I’m guessing whatever you ordered will be the next food craze around here,” my uncle added with a louder laugh.

I could only grunt in agreement. I then handed Vernos his food and drink and we made our way back to the highway towards Ashtelon.

—-

I spent the next two hours getting to know Vernos. Our driver is from the Southern province, 44 years old, and is a silver level fire mage and has just been part of the royal guard for 2 years.

“So, what made you volunteer to drive for us?” I teased Vernos as I immediately saw his body tense up.

“You’re scaring him again Chris,” my uncle remarked from the back trying to hold back his laughter.

“Do I scare you Vernos?” I looked at the driver/guard with my best innocent look and puppy eyes. The ones I gave my dad when he caught me eating an extra cookie when I was younger.

“Uhm... uhm, yes your highness,” Vernos uncomfortably shifted on his seat.

“Why though? Do I seem scary? Am I in any way intimidating?” I asked leaning closer to him.

“No sir,” he squeaked.

“Then why are there rumors of me being this sort of scary fella flying around?”

“That’s just it your highness, you’re so nice but the aura and energy the guards are getting from you does not match what we’re seeing.”

I looked at my uncle for an explanation.

Uncle Selvenus chuckled as he sipped his juice, then answered, “he’s right you know, we really have to work on you controlling your energy signature, though it’s not as bad as before but there are times where you just give off these waves of powerful energy.”

“I do? But Victor and even Etalos haven’t mentioned it.”

“Most likely it’s because they’re already used to it. But to someone who is unfamiliar to you and is in the same room as you at the same moment you give off those waves, well, let’s just say they’re in for a wild ride.”

“Did I have any episodes like that since we started this trip?”

“None so far,” my uncle replied.

I then set my attention back on Vernos. “Vernos, don’t be scared okay? I don’t bite. Hehe, it’s my boyfriend that does the biting,” I lightly laughed which coaxed a round of laughter from the driver and my uncle.

“Don’t let my father hear that or maybe even Patri. I’m sure they’ll go apeshit at the thought of Victor biting you.” My uncle said with a cocky grin of his own.

“What? But uncle... his bites are so goood, it’s euphoric!”

“Vampire bites are designed to be like that and I've read it’s supposed to be more intense amongst lovers so... I can see where you’re coming from.” My uncle replied as he winked at me. Well, at least my uncle isn’t a prude and I’m starting to think uncle Selvenus is one of those ‘cool’ uncles.

—-

As we arrived at the outskirts of Ashtelon, I saw an imposing mansion perched on the side of a small hill.

“That’s a nice place,” I offhandedly remarked as we got off the highway.

“That’s Patri’s palace,” my uncle retorted.

“King Ethnar lives there?”

“Yeah, he wanted somewhere a little bit secluded but also accessible to the city. So, there you have it, a palace on the side of a hill.”

“Wow...”

The palace was only a fraction of the size of the royal palace in the capital, but it stood out of the countryside. It being perched on the side of a small hill made it seem larger as well. The entire hill was surrounded by low brick walls as the immediate vicinity were all King Ethnar’s. We stopped at a gate, at least several hundred feet from the base of the hill, with two guards. Vernos lowered his window and the guards exchanged surprised looks, as our driver told them that he was with two princes.

I lowered my window as a guard approached me. He politely greeted me, and held out a pad to confirm our identities. I placed my palm on the thin screen and it went bright green.

“Your highnesses,” the guard bowed, as he instructed his peer to open the gates for us.

The gentle climb towards King Ethnar’s palace gave us an even better view of the green and yellow colored trees of the surrounding forest.

“This place is beautiful,” I remarked.

“Yeah, Patri is one of those outdoorsy types,” my uncle replied.

We reached flat surface at the base of King Ethnar’s palace, around 300 feet above the forest. Several guards were waiting for us as we got out of the car. I looked up and the palace was just as imposing as it seemed from afar, it was easily 7 or 8 stories tall and we had to climb more than 100 steps to reach the main door. It had light yellow walls and dark green tiled roofs. The structure was neoclassical in style and had numerous windows, letting us know the interior had a lot of natural light.

My great grandfather was waiting for us just outside the main doors.

“Welcome! You made it!” He greeted as he pulled me and my uncle into a hug.

“Hey Patri,” my uncle said.

“Hey great grandfather,” I added.

King Ethnar gave me an appraising look, then said, “Hmm... you’ve been calling me great grandfather for the longest time, and it’s quite too formal for my liking, and honestly, it makes me feel too old.”

In my head, I replied, “aren’t you like a thousand years old?” But I bit my tongue at that.

King Ethnar cupped his face with his right hand and started to tap his face with his fingers. “Hmm... you can’t call me grandfather or Patri as that would just be confusing. How about ... hmm, how do you earthers say it, ah, yes, gramps?”

“Gramps?” I incredulously asked.

“That would work, right?” King Ethnar smiled at me.

“Uhm, yeah, but it’s a little bit too informal,” I replied.

“You want to be formal around family? I don’t think that’s the way of Haldruin, Chris.”

“Okay, gramps it is.” I smiled back at him.

“Good good... come on, let’s catch up then let’s start with your training. Estano and Etgaros couldn’t stop talking about you when I asked them how your training went. I guess it’s time we level up your Earth magic skills eh?” King Ethnar asked as he raised an eyebrow at me.

*gulp

“Uhm... yeah, that sounds good”

—-

After having a late lunch, we went to King Ethnar’s training area. To get there we had to go to the palace’s basement and go through a series of well lit tunnels into the hill. Gramps, opened two large metal doors and I realized that the tunnels led to the side of the hill. It was a large flat open space perched on the side of the hill, maybe 100 or so feet from the forest. The area was large, maybe the size of a football field.

“Here we are,” King Ethnar said as we walked into the expansive space.

“Selvenus, why don’t you take a seat, and stay alert, I will need your help later on.” Gramps said.

“So how do we go about this gramps? Any Earth magic theories to share?” I asked as I looked around.

My great grandfather gave me a sly look and replied, “I’ve always thought that magic is bet taught through combat.”

*gulp

“Huh?”

“Let’s make this harder for you, shall we? Since you’re all powerful and all. How about a handicap, so an old man like myself can have a chance against you?”

I wanted to complain, last time I checked, he was the one that beat me.

“What do you have in mind?”

“You can’t use other elements. Just Earth magic.”

“What?”

“Why, don’t you think you can fight with just one element like any other elf out there?”

I looked at my uncle for some support but uncle Selvenus only shrugged his shoulders in slight amusement.

“Fine...”

We both went to the middle of the large field, about 20 feet from each other.

I steeled myself for what was to come. Then I heard my uncle shout, “begin!”

King Ethnar immediately swung into action by stomping into the ground levitating two large boulders and hurled them towards me.

I kicked the first boulder and it shattered to pieces while I punched the next one and it broke into large pieces. Seems like I didn’t punch it hard enough.

I raised my hands in front of me, lifting two stone pillars up to my waist and the I swiped my hands above it creating disks of hard stone, I infused them with my powers and made them spin and flung them towards King Ethnar.

“Not bad...” he mused as he dodged one disk after another.

I stomped on the ground and sent a fissure towards my great grandfather, but with a stomp of his own, to my surprise, he was able to redirect the fissure away from him!

With another stomp of his feet, King Ethnar sent a wave of rock and rubble towards me. I jumped away from it, and while on the air, I reached out to several large rocks and directed them towards the king. Gramps smirked at me, and with a light flick of his hand turned the rocks into sand.

King Ethnar swirled his hands around and turned the rock around him into a large serpentine dragon, with a slight push from him the dragon flew towards me.

I defended myself by conjuring a large wall of rock in front of me. The dragon hit the wall hard but it held. I breathed a sigh of relief, but not for long as King Ethnar punched through my barricade and started attacking me with punches and kicks.

I was able to defend myself from most of King Ethnar’s attacks but it was getting harder by the minute. Damn he’s really strong and fast for his age. No, he’s strong and fast period.

At one point King Ethnar hurled an energy ball against me, and I conjured an energy barrier around myself.

“Hey, I thought only Earth magic.”

“You misunderstood, Chris, I said no other elements. Spells are okay.”

I grinned at him and then conjured multiple energy balls of my own and flung them all towards King Ethnar. He easily dodged them and with a shift in his stance, large boulders levitated from the ground, I felt him reinforcing them with spells then he hurled them at me.

I met the reinforced boulders with concentrated balls of energy. King Ethnar was surprised to see his beloved boulders shatter to pieces. With just Earth Magic, I was at a disadvantage but with spells, well, let’s just say I’m more confident with my skills.

“Don’t get cocky my boy,” King Ethnar grinned at me as he started a 9-layered Magnus Spell against me. Oh, Magnus spells, fun.

I surprised King Ethnar by lifting a large boulder in front of me instead of meeting his attack with a Magnus Spell of my own. But I was just hiding behind the boulder, silently, and with barely any hand movement, I started multiple ancient Tashik incantations that led to a Magnus Spell of my own.

King Ethnar shot a powerful energy beam towards me, and my reinforced boulder easily broke. However, behind the boulder, stood me and my own 15-layer Magnus Spell. My energy beam shot across the field, engulfing King Ethnar’s spell, breaking the ground under it as it sent waves of energy throughout the field. King Ethnar barely had time to dodge it, and my Magnus Spell hit a small hill maybe a kilometer away, and let’s just say it left a very visible crater.

While I marveled at the destruction I caused, King Ethnar took the time to conjure 10 feet tall earth golems, and with various spells he was able to instruct them to attack me.

I jumped from one golem to another, and with a spell reinforced punch or kick, they all cracked and broke apart.

My great grandfather had this amused expression on his face as I destroyed his golems.

“What are you smirking at?”

“You’re relying again too much with your raw power. You’re barely strategizing.”

“Huh?”

Then I felt it, a tentacle made out of sand and mud wrapped itself around me.

“See?” King Ethnar smirked at me.

I groaned in frustration and then released a large amount of energy which led to the tentacle breaking apart. I then ran towards gramps but got distracted when balls of fire started raining on the field.

“What the...” I said then I looked up to see uncle Selvenus casting multiple fire spells to make fire balls rain on the stage.

I set a very pointed glare towards my uncle and I think he even flinched at that. My vision grew purple and I realized that maybe my eyes were shining bright purple with my irritation.

“You can’t attack him Chris, he’s here to distract the both of us. Not just you. I’m your opponent,” King Ethnar said to me.

I set my gaze towards the older king and with immense speed I was almost instantly in front of him. I hurled a powerful punch at him, but he caught my hand much to my surprise. It didn’t make any sense, he shouldn’t have been able to catch it, and even if he did, it should have been powerful enough to blow him several feet away. I then looked closely at his hand and realized, it’s reinforced with a glove made of stone. I then looked at his feet and saw that he has anchored himself on the ground.

“See, I told you. You should be thinking more,” he sneered at me as he flung me several feet away. I spun through the air but was able to land on my feet.

I grunted and huffed in frustration. I tried to will my chains to loosen, but they held tight against my skin. I groaned in frustration but if the chains wouldn’t help me, fine, I can do this on my own.

I stomped both my feet on the ground and sent even larger fissures towards King Ethnar. He had this look on his face that made it seem that he was enjoying our battle. He certainly was smiling more often now.

King Ethnar dodged the fissures then lightly kicked the ground to send several pieces of rock toward me. I defended with another wall of rock and cast several light based spells to create an illusion from which I could use to hide.

My great grandfather looked confused, he was seeing my illusion of multiple Chris’ in front of him. He smirked then said, “You’re not hiding your energy signature though.” Then with a flick of his hand, the ground underneath me started to liquefy and I started to sink into it. I released a burst of energy to escape the quicksand and threw myself towards my opponent.

We started exchanging blows and my great grandfather was laughing, “I can’t believe I’m having my best fights in a training session,” he said.

I growled in frustration and I saw my bright purple eyes reflect from King Ethnar’s face. My great grandfather’s expression grew concerned, he said, “Calm down Chris.” The sky started to rumble and clouds started to darken above us.

“Guess we should end this before you get out of control,” King Ethnar mused. He conjured two Magnus Spells, one on each hand and then launched them towards me.

My vision started to go hazy but I remember flicking each Magnus Spell with my own spell reinforced hands and sent King Ethnar’s spells to the forest below. Let’s just say those attacks left large craters.

King Ethnar’s expression grew worried as he saw the change in my demeanor. “Chris, you still there?” He asked.

I then heard the voices again, as my vision went blurred. “Calm down!” A young boy’s voice said to me.

“We don’t want you to lose control!” An older woman’s voice boomed in my head.

Then I felt it, as if it were even possible, I felt the chains tighten even more around me. I groaned in frustration, but my vision returned to normal. It was almost too late for me to realize that King Ethnar had already launched multiple rocks toward me. Good thing I was fast enough to dodge them.

“Good, you’re back,” he said to me as I landed on my feet.

I smiled at him, “scared you huh?”

“A little,” he confessed.

“Let’s end this,” I replied.

“Yeah,”

And with that we went into a bitter exchange of punches and kicks, we both moved so fast that the air crackled and boomed as we exchanged blows. I lost my guard for a fraction of a second, and I was sent hurdling towards the ground. Last thing I remember is King Ethnar standing in front of me, and giving me a soft smirk, “guess I win again this time huh?”

“This time, this time,” I whispered back as he helped me back to my feet.