Prelude II

  (Third Prince Theo Fiammata)

  (The Royal Estate)

  The third prince sat in his office, reading the report that Minister of Intelligence Goffard just handed him.

  After reading the short report twice, Theo Fiammata paused and looked up, locking gazes with Goffard, and spoke.

  “Is this accurate?” Theo asked. Hearing the tone and seeing the importance of answering honestly Goffard paused before answering.

  “As far as we can tell, it is. We have already been aware of the rift for a matter of time now. Given how long it has been there unmolested, it is possible that the rift could have enough residual power to allow for such a beast to appear. Additionally, Madame Bloom herself has vouched for the authenticity of this data and is personally seeing to the closure of the believed infiltration rift, sir.” Goffard replied, answering as factually as possible.

  Hearing the comments Theo just nodded to himself then rubbed his hands against hist still aching head. After the events of last night, his head was still painful, despite having no lasting signs of any substances left in his system. A blessing and a curse. A blessing in that he was no longer subjected to act so foolishly in front of others. A curse in that an Earth affinity user could have found some of the traces of the substance and possibly found out its origin point. As it was, he already had his suspicions as to how he ingested the substance, but that only complicated matters.

  “Fine then, to curry favor with her, we will agree to the Bloom’s request for resources to help repair Bloom Park,” Theo concluded.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Actually, that will not be necessary, as Madame Bloom withdrew her petition for support, at around the same time she declared her intent to offer her new foster child the first right to refuse to be her Apprentice,” Goffard noted.

  Hearing that note, Theo’s mind went back to that very Apprentice, with her dazzling pinkish purple eyes. At first, Theo thought the old matriarch had gone mad, but after seeing her in person and seeing her composed presence in the face of fire, he realized the old matriarch had as good an eye for talent as ever. Somehow able to see the diamonds in the bags where people only saw pebbles. For the second time in as many minutes, Theo found his thoughts going back to her, the person who cured his condition. Finally, he paused his thoughts about the new Bloom Apprentice, and shifted them back to the matter at hand.

  “So what do you propose we do now?” Theo asked.

  “If it is true, that a Death Eater has entered our city it will cause panic, especially as there are no other alerts, other than the two noted soil samples provided by Matriarch Bloom’s courier.”

  Hearing that, Theo then shifted his gaze to the gold resin footprints of a boney foot that could only come from a Death Eater. A Death Eater who clearly walked over Bloom Park grounds, as per the soil sample analysis conducted. A second report confirmed.

  “Is she still at the park?” Theo finally asked.

  “I believe so, closing a rift of that size should be daunting. Particularly as they would have likely avoided removing the Rift Shadow Guardian Seal as is standard protocol.” Goffard responded.

  At that, Theo paused, realizing that his Minister of Intelligence was correct, that most people avoided the Rift Shadow Guardian, figuring them to be mostly invincible, especially as they seemed to be beings that were separate from the normal diseased and rot infested creatures that one would face. In fact, given a choice between facing a Rift Shadow Guardian or a Death Eater, most would chose the Death Eater, if for nothing else than the fact that most attuned Skills could at least affect the Death Eater. Even though death was almost certain for either case.

  The reason it was important to note that the Rift Shadow Guardian would be left alone, was that it meant the rift itself would be ten times more dangerous, and therefor anyone clearing out such a rift would need to take their time.

  “Very well, prepare the royal carriage, as we will see what abominations await us, if we choose to continue to neglect the cleanup and care of Bloom Park.” Theo stated as he began to get up.

  At the very least, he figured a nice quick trip would at least get his body moving and hopefully dispel the lingering effects of last night.

  Had Theo known what he would have found, or that one Vivianne Voyou would be there with her betrothed, he would have tried to avoid the meeting entirely.

  Book II.

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