“So, what is the plan for today?” Samantha asked, awkwardly trying to pick one of the many forks placed before her to use after they’d sat down for breakfast. The three of them had been brought to a small, private dining hall by someone with a servant class first thing in the morning. It was almost comical sitting at the ‘small’ table designed to host only a dozen guests, but Asher appreciated the gesture. He’d much rather start his day off privately with Samantha and Brian than having to share a massive breakfast with who knew how many random nobles.

  Especially if they were prone to flirting and not taking no for an answer.

  “Well, as far as I can tell, we really have three main things we came to the capital for,” Asher said, picking up a tiny spoon that had a hole in the middle of it and wondering what on earth the utensil was supposed to be used for. “Get Brian enrolled into the auxiliary program within the truthseeker academy, get information out of Donvath about The Council of Death and our next steps, and find you a Wing element. Anyone have any preferences for which of those we do first?”

  “I want to see Sam get her third element before I enter the academy!” Brian said eagerly, all but bouncing up and down in his chair as he dug into his breakfast with little regard for which of the many utensils was ‘correct.’ “Seeing her fly around would be so cool!”

  “Even if we end up getting the Wing element, there’s no guarantee I’ll get wings so fast,” Samantha said, finally giving up on the fork selection and following Brian’s example. “Remember, all elements give different skills depending on the user. No two Wing element holders will have the same five skills.”

  “No, but in this case, you actually will get wings the moment you absorb it,” Asher said, grinning at the shocked look on her face. “I went back through the Big Book of Elements: Sixth Edition that I Incorporated ages back. The passive effect that all Wing element holders get is in fact gaining the power to manifest a pair of wings on their back. The strengths and appearance of those wings differs per user, but yeah, you’ll have some wings immediately.”

  “I can’t believe we’re even talking about this like it’s actually going to happen,” Samantha muttered, poking at her fancy sausage links like she’d lost her appetite. “We’ve done a lot of crazy things I never would have imagined these past few months, but the Wing element? That’s something every kid dreams about having at one point or another. I know we’ve already talked about how this is the best idea for all of us, and I’m firmly on board with the idea, but I’m still almost in denial that you’re about to drop a fortune in shards on me, just like that.”

  “Can you buy me whatever element I want when I grow up too?” Brian asked with that child-like innocence around a mouthful of food.

  “I’ll certainly try,” Asher said, chuckling as Samantha scolded him for asking something like that. Seeing as Brian was still a few years away from receiving his origin element, that should be more than enough time to save up the shards to buy him a whole warehouse full of rare elements if things continued as they had been. Hell, if more assassins from the capital decided to try their luck at taking him out each night like they had the last, he’d have the funds by the end of the month.

  Thankfully, Donvath had already prepared a second suite for them to use, which meant after last night’s not-so-surprising incident, Asher had been able to simply slip on over to the other suite and hop into bed beside Samantha.

  After thoroughly scrubbing off all the sand and blood of course.

  It said a lot about Samantha’s faith in him at this point in how the hunter hadn’t even waited up for him before falling asleep. He knew they were all tired from the long caravan ride, but the fact that she wasn’t even mildly concerned after hearing an assassin would be coming for his head warmed his heart.

  “Greetings and good morning, my esteemed guests!” Donvath called out as he strolled into the room, nodding his thanks at a servant who appeared out of nowhere and offered him some sort of fancy pastry to nibble on. “How did the three of you sleep?”

  “Fine,” Samantha said, before wincing at the realization that she was talking to the High Prince of their entire kingdom. “…Your highness?”

  “Please, ‘your highness’ was my father,” Donvath scoffed, taking another bite out of his pastry. “Call me ‘emperor of the world.’ It’s got a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

  “Hey, Mr. Emperor. Sorry about the room last night,” Asher said, shaking his head as Samantha scrunched up her face like she was trying to decide if Donvath was being serious or not. “I tried to keep the damage to a minimum, but there’s only so much one can do to keep sand from getting everywhere.”

  “Wait, an assassin actually tried to kill you last night?” Donvath asked, chewing slowly as he thought. “Well, didn’t see that coming.”

  Asher could only stare in shock at the High Prince as the man polished off his pastry and licked his fingers. “What do you mean? You were the one that warned me about the assassin! With your ‘future-vision’ or whatever it is! You literally saw it coming!”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Oh, yeah, my skills don’t work like that,” Donvath said, flashing him with a wide smile as he took a seat at the head of the table. “I figured it was about fifty-fifty odds something would happen after Lily made a scene by the city entrance. Glad I had that extra room prepared.”

  While Asher continued to stare in utter disbelief at the unconcerned man, Brian speared another piece of meat with what Asher was pretty certain by now was a fork meant to be used for dessert as the twelve-year-old turned toward their new breakfast guest. “Why are you here, anyway? Shouldn’t you be doing royal stuff?”

  “Brian!” Samantha hissed, looking more embarrassed than Asher had ever seen her as she turned toward the High Prince. “Your… Emperor of the World, I am so sorry for my brother’s question, please forgive him.”

  “Oh, realms, please forget I ever said anything,” Donvath pleaded, groaning as he rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, I forgot we don’t know each other well enough for jokes like that yet. One of the issues with constantly peering into the future is that it’s easy to forget how things work in the present. You in particular take quite some time to adjust your mental image of me from how you always envisioned the High Prince acting. Sorry to disappoint.”

  “You just said your skills don’t work like that though,” Asher pointed out, still trying to decide if he liked the High Prince or not based on their few interactions. He was happy that the man wasn’t some uptight noble like he’d feared, but he’d pretty much known that wasn’t going to be the case ever since receiving his letter from Bordan.

  “I know what I said.” Shaking his head, the High Prince pulled out an amulet from within his shirt, tapping the massive green gem set in its face. A small, shining barrier suddenly popped into existence around them, and Asher recoiled as the rest of the world outside the barrier went dark, as if they’d been swallowed up by a void.

  “That will ensure all the different people following my every move can’t hear us,” Donvath said, returning the amulet to his shirt and leaning back in his chair. “As I said earlier, I won’t tell you the specifics around most of my skills, but I will say this. I have my ways of receiving information on future events, but the one used most frequently is my Timeline skill. I am able to view my personal timeline if I focus enough, but it’s not nearly as helpful as you would think. The farther out I attempt to view, the more variables occur, and the more the timeline fractures into different possible futures. There are certain critical points that, for some reason, always seem to almost drag the timeline back towards them, regardless of minor fluctuations, and those are what I spend most of my time focusing on. Events large enough to destabilize the entire kingdom, or things of that nature.”

  “So The Council of Death sending a small army of demons to burn down a dozen villages on the edge of your kingdom…” Asher asked, deciding he’d be the one to bring it up as Samantha was still reeling a bit as she tried to figure out how to act around the High Prince. “…You’re claiming something like that wasn’t one of your critical points?”

  “As much as I hate to say, no, it wasn’t,” Donvath said, a sudden darkness creeping over his face. “I was distracted by the actual critical point that was set to occur only a few days after that. The destruction of all of Whikoga and the tens of thousands of deaths that would occur when the demons razed the city to the ground looking for you.”

  The room went silent at the sudden declaration, and Asher paled as he finally realized why Donvath had sent him a letter strongly suggesting he flee the city. The High Prince seemed to understand the effect his words had, as he sighed and gave them all an apologetic look.

  “Trust me, your reaction is about the same as everyone else’s whenever I choose to finally reveal my element and abilities. The fact of the matter is I am but one man doing his best to prevent horrific tragedy wherever I can and steer my people toward a brighter future. I am not omnipotent, and I am not omniscient. I do what I can to influence the stream of time whenever possible, but it is a heavy burden to place upon any one man’s shoulders. Even if I am lucky enough to see a particular tragedy in time, that is no guarantee I am capable of preventing it. When I first came into my element, I tried to devote myself to bringing us toward the perfect future, one where nothing bad ever happened and everyone was happy.”

  Donvath paused, his eyes going distant as if he could still see that perfect timeline, drifting just out of reach. “…Let’s just say I quickly learned that was impossible. Instead, I use my truthseekers and my resources as the High Prince to do what I can, where I can, when I can. It is rarely enough, but it is still more than nothing.”

  Once Donvath had said his piece, Asher glanced over at Samantha and Brian. The twelve-year-old quietly poked at what was left of his breakfast, looking like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to yell at the High Prince, or shrink up within himself and wait for the man to finally leave. Samantha had a hard look on her face like she didn’t quite believe the man’s excuse as to why her village hadn’t been saved, but she looked as if she still wasn’t comfortable enough to argue against the High Prince, and Asher couldn’t blame her. Deciding that was enough heavy stuff for one breakfast, Asher cleared his throat.

  “Thank you for giving us a bit more insight into how your skills work,” he started, getting a small smile out of the High Prince and a nod of thanks. “Honestly, it feels somewhat nice knowing that you’re not some God of time playing with all our fates like we’re puppets attached to your fingers. I never liked the whole idea of fate as a whole, or that my actions were predetermined.”

  “Trust me, your actions are far from predetermined,” Donvath said with a chuckle. “I swear, I don’t know if it is your personality or your elements, but you are one of the biggest wild-cards in the entire stream of time. It’s because of people like you that I focus exclusively on critical points. Attempting to predict anything else is a lesson in futility. Anyway…” pushing back his chair, Donvath got to his feet and gave them all an excited look, the somber tone that had washed over them at all the talk of tragedy seeming to vanish in a heartbeat under his gleeful expression. “I’d say that’s enough of all that for one morning. You all should be far more excited!”

  “Why is that?” Samantha asked, unable to stop herself at the High Prince’s sudden change in mood.

  “Oh yeah, none of you know yet,” Donvath said, laughing to himself. “The news was announced last night, but you would have all missed it, what with Lily bringing you straight to the palace.”

  “What news?” Brian finally managed, perking up himself.

  “Why, the last-minute addition to the Grand Auction that’s happening this afternoon!” Donvath said, grinning at him. “Some slayers just brought in a Wing element, and it’s going up for auction today!”

  Discord