Muhahaha and The Emperor’s Origin Story

  I love the smell of confusion in the morning. Smells like students listening and thinking…and … who am I kidding. I just like messing with their minds. Muhahahaha And 3…2…1

  “The Emperor was a slime?” “What a strange world?” “What hit him.”

  Oh. The joys of knowing a secret. Welp. Back to the presentation.

  “All will be made clear shortly. Let’s continue with the Emporer’s story.” Ragnel said, choosing his words precisely.

  “Professor. Your mother is the Warmaster. Your grandmother is the Mad Matron. You were trained by the emperor and the empire's finest warriors. You are known to be excellent with the twin sword fighting style as well as having at least two affinities and are very skilled with illusions. Are you the shadow emperor?” A student in the third row asked. The crowd was instantly silent. All heads turned toward the stage.

  Ragnel let out a long sigh and lowered his head. “Son. Do you realize what you have done?” The room darkened and the professor looked up with purple glowing eyes and shadows began crawling out of his skin. Dragonkin dungeon guard surrounded the auditorium and began moving toward the crowd. “Every person in this room’s life would be forfeit for knowing such a secret.” Ragnel continued. The dragonkin had almost reached the closest students when suddenly everything went back to normal.

  “But I’m not. However, I will offer some advice. If you ever see the Shadow Emperor or suspect you know who he is….keep that information to yourself. So… shall we continue with the presentation?” Ragnel finished and the crowd chuckled nervously.

  John opened his eyes and saw… an enormous claw smash his head.

  John opened his eyes and was cut in half by an enormous orc.

  John opened his eyes and jumped to the side away from an enormous armored lizard and was cut in half by a laughing orc.

  John opened his eyes and ducked as an armored human redirected his swing to avoid cutting John’s head off. An orc stabbed him in the back.

  John opened his eyes and stepped behind an armored man who was distracted by John’s appearance and was hit in the shoulder by a glancing blow from the orc’s ax. John ran around the man to the other side and hit him in the shin with the small staff he was carrying. He was pretty sure that was the orc that had cut him in half earlier. The orc slammed the axe down on John’s head while the armored man’s sword cut the orc’s head off.

  John opened his eyes and saw 5 armored men riding away on enormous armored lizards running over the orcs in front of him. Having learned his lesson, John ducked and spun looking for the next danger coming his way. A group of 3 orcs had spotted him and rushed towards him only to be met by what looked like a butler who casually swept their weapons to the side with his right hand and sent the orcs flying with a swing from his left hand.

  The king had made a wise decision meeting the orcs where their calvary on their armored drakes could be used to the greatest advantage. Despite being outnumbered, the fight was already over for the most part. The orcs could not stand up to the charge of the calvary and the king’s men were all veterans having defended their small kingdom from all kinds of threats over the years.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  The king had protected the main vein of essence that ran beneath his kingdom. The surrounding countries had allowed theirs to be mined. Now they seemed to believe they had some right to mine the kingdom’s essence also. The king disagreed with them and the king had drakes, so that overruled their contrived claims.

  These orc’s were different. They weren’t from this planet. A bigger player had entered the mix. Drake was worried. He had found this kingdom living in harmony with a lounge of drakes years ago. None of the creatures were near his level and none had yet achieved sapience, but they were noble beasts loyal to the people they coexisted with. But now, he worried for their continued existence. He still felt the pull of fate as if he had some mission to accomplish here, but he was running out of time. This orc force was just an inexpensive way to determine how much resistance the kingdom could muster. More trouble would arrive shortly.

  As the battle was beginning to wind down, Drake felt a disturbance in the essence. It felt as if a portal had opened and closed, but it felt like there was a hint of divinity mixed into the disturbance. And each time he felt the disturbance, it felt as if fingers had strummed the strings of fate. Curious, Drake left his position with the infantry troops protecting the archers and moved towards the king. As he approached one of the members of the king’s battle staff stepped away.

  “Drake, there have been reports of a small boy on the battlefield. Would you like to take a look and see if you can get him out of there/” the king asked.

  “Yes, Anthony. I have felt something unusual occur the last few minutes and was going to investigate.” Drake said as he felt the disturbance again and flashed across the battlefield weaving around cavalry and running over orcs. As he followed the path of a recent charge, Drake spotted the young boy duck and spin looking for danger and finding it in the form of 3 orcs heading his way.

  Drake dispatched the 3 orcs and turned to remove the boy from the field, but the boy’s appearance stopped him. His rough spun clothing was in tatters, but there was not a mark on the boy. The boy stared at him evenly while holding a small staff in front of him as if ready to defend himself if necessary. And Drake smelled no fear. Anger, annoyance, confusion, but not a trace of fear. Something was different about this child.

  Drake moved to intercept another small group of orcs but stopped and turned back to the boy. Drake pulled a staff from his dimensional storage and said, “Move your hands closer together. You will have less power, but you will have better control. And slide one foot back. It will allow you to move in all four directions.” Drake demonstrated as he watched the approaching group of orcs while the child adjusted his grip and stance.

  “Mimic my movements.” Drake instructed as he used the most basic of parries and attacks to dispatch the orcs. Turning he saw the young boy copying his movements. “Good, but keep your weight centered over your feet. Put your weight behind your blows, but always keep it centered.” The boy went through the movements again. “Excellent. You learn quickly.” Looking around for more opponents Drake found some.

  “Follow me and continue practicing what you see me use.” Drake moved to a larger group of orcs and attacked. Drake drove back all that tried to maneuver around his spinning staff. However, when three orcs charged from one side, another orc got around him and charged the boy, but Drake summoned his tail and used it to swat the orc away. After Drake finished the last orc, he turned to the boy who was angrily staring at him then looked at his backside and back at Drake as if to say, “How the heck did you expect me to do that?”

  Laughing Drake started moving towards the next group of orcs, but paused and looked back at the boy. “You wouldn’t happen to be named John would you?” The boy seemed to think about it for a second then nodded. “Nice to meet you John, I’m Drake. Are you ready to learn some more?” The boy nodded enthusiastically. Drake continued towards his next targets. Shortly after they arrived, the king and 4 of his guard approached, dismounted, and joined Drake in the fight while their Drakes rampaged through the remaining orcs.

  The king motioned with his head at the boy studiously copying Drake’s every move, “Interesting rescue technique you have Drake. And why are you using a staff?”

  “Just stick close to us and you will see.” Drake replied. A couple minutes later the king seemed distracted for a second and took a heavy blow on his shield before dispatching the offending orc and turning his head to give Drake a wide eyed nod.

  After the fighting died down, Drake turned to the boy and asked, “DId you gain many skills, John?” The boy croaked out, “Yes” sounding as if it was the first time he had ever spoken and was trying a new skill.

  “Mind if I have a word with Drake for a second, uh, John? The king asked as he walked past the pair. The boy nodded and Drake followed. The king stopped and looked back at the boy who was watching before leading Drake much further away. “So is he some sort of godling?” The king asked.

  “I’m not sure what he is, but the blessing suggests that the gods are involved.” Drake replied.

  “I’m thinking we do our best to keep him safe and happy just in case anybody comes looking for him. Keeping him safe may be the easy part. Several men reported seeing him killed only to reappear shortly afterward. We’ll offer to help him get wherever he needs to go. Maybe he’ll enjoy some training. I'm sure the boys won’t complain about a permanent increase to essence and skill gains.”

  “I think that is an excellent plan, Anthony.” Drake replied as he and the king began walking back to where the boy stood talking with the king’s guard.