Beyond Good or Evil

 "To the battlefield"

The room broke into confused murmurs . The dozen or so people could not get their heads around what new nuisance the notorious prince was up to now. Mikhail was infamous to have an unpredictable personality.

"No you cannot." The queen tightened her grip on Vidan and spoke in a pleading voice. "It's dangerous... that is a Queen's command." Vidan could see she the desperation in the Queen's eyes, but he had to do this.

"Everyone leave. I wish to talk to my mother in private" Vidan mimicked the prince as best he could.

Within seconds everyone made their way out, and now it was just Vidan and the queen. 

Vidan looked at the queen and gently held her hands. He stood in the same position for a second before speaking with utmost affection. 

"The heavens must have showered me with blessings to have such a loving mother as you and I cannot be more grateful for it.

Not only that you are an equally great ruler, and the whole Kingdom can second my opinion."

Vidan's tone slowly took a rough edge as he continued. He was aware that in the whole kingdom, it was only the Prince who could knock some sense in her in such dire times.

"I am aware that your love for me often hinders your duty as a Queen." 

Vidan paused and looked at the queen for any denial or change of expressions but she stood there quietly listening to him.

 Taking it as a green signal he continued.

"And at such times you have always chosen me, for which I am glad. But Mother I am grown now and as you said earlier I am to sit on the throne someday. 

My heart aches while talking to you in such a rude manner Mother. Oh my dear Mother..." Vidan bent and rested his head on her palms "...but mother someday I have to carry your and father's legacy, and as I am right now I doubt I could do justice to it. I couldn't fail you as a Queen and more importantly as a Mother. 

So Mother I have to be strong for our Kingdom. Mother- "

Vidan was mid sentence when the queen spoke with a wavering voice which was oozing with emotions "Oh Mikhail, you have grown to be such a brave boy. I am so proud of you my son. You have made me the proudest mother in this whole world.

Do as you heart wishes son." she spoke now almost tearing up. 

Vidan sighed inwardly this had proved way too easy than he had predicted which in itself stood as a little problem now. 

His announcement earlier about going to the battlefield was just a hoax.

He had anticipated that the queen would retaliate and with prolonged pleading and negotiations he would eventually convince them to go and he would stay back. 

He had misjudged the blind affection of the queen had for her son. 

Vidan thought for a while, there was no chance he was going to the battlefield when he wasn't even prepared for it, and who knew what might happen in the war.

The emotional queen continued speaking about how brave and capable Mikhail was at great lengths. 

Vidan couldn't believe how much she credited the Prince, and once her emotions had settled down Vidan cleared his throat and spoke again.

"But Mother there is problem ?" he faked sadness "If I do go now this would not only be disrespecting you as my mother but would also be disrespecting your word in front of your council as a Queen.

And nothing in this whole world could make me do so.

But imagining our Kingdom's magic barrier being destroyed at the hands of those Drakmoorians brings me the utmost misery.

I don't know what to do mother, the dilemma of such makes me weary." Vidan touched his head and acted like it was too heavy a burden.

"Mikhail" the Queen almost jumped up and put both her hands on his shoulder "My sweet son you should rest here, it is for us elders to bear such burdens. You don't need to worry son. I at once would send a word for the soldiers to gather and I myself would lead them to the battlefield. 

Those despicable Drakmoorians would be stopped at any cost. 

And as for your concern regarding my decision earlier, a Queen has every right to change her decision at her will. It brings me no shame as a queen to take such wise advice from the future King and as a mother nothing makes me happier."

"Mother" Vidan's face lit up. 'Bulls Eye.' he thought praising himself a little, but he was unaware of the fact that he had not only taken the Prince's body but his life skills and way of thinking too. The present him was a mixture of both Vidan and Mikhail.

The queen then at once sent a messenger and after bombarding Mikhail with praises one last time took her leave. 

He felt a little sad for emotionally manipulating the queen like that, and he could have done things in a better manner only if he wasn't sitting a ticking bomb. 

Once alone Vidan delved into his memories to look for basic geographical facts of the Kingdom. Just as earlier the information slowly unlocked.

Sunspire Kingdom was a small kingdom, almost similar to a mid-sized city of Vidan's world. What was really satisfactory to Vidan was the huge natural advantage it had.

 It was located on the foot of the Great Aporia mountain belt which acted as a natural barrier on its three sides. The best part about Sunspire was it was a self-sufficient Kingdom , thanks to Aphoria's Jura forest on the foot of the Aporia mountains. 

Sunspire without a doubt was blessed by nature.

On the exposed end, Sunspire shared a large part of its border with Drakmoor, and a smaller portion with 'Frostnitch Kingdom'. 

Keeping the geography aside for the time being Vidan accessed the map of the kingdom inside his head. He went through the streets and jumped from building to building searching for what he was looking for.

'Right there.' he found it. An ideal four-story building that stood at a safe distance from the battle. This would provide him with a great spot to watch the whole battle.

He wasn't the type to just sit in a room while there was a magical battle happening outside. He had planned the whole thing so he could explore and be safe at the same time.

Vidan was still lost in his thoughts when four people entered his room, two of whom Vidan recognized from earlier. 

"My prince." the four spoke in unison and after giving a slight bow, took to a corner of the room. Vidan had expected the Queen to allot people at his disposal.

Two of them were middle-aged men. 

One was bearded with a heavy build, the impression of his heavy armor was clear on his robes. There was an axe sigil behind his robe which meant he was a brawler. 

The other one was a timid-looking fellow with glasses on. He was in a plain-looking sage-green robe with a sigil of a glass beaker. He was a healer. 

The other two looked around his age.

One was the starry girl from earlier. Her glassy were still raging and they eyes screamed that she hated being here. Her robe had a flame for a sigil this meant she was long ranged. 

Vidan quickly looked away as she caught him staring at her. 

The other person was a young boy who looked a few years older than the prince. He had red hair. His eyes were focused and his back straight, he had the demeanor of an upright soldier. He wore a thin armor inside his robe and he too was a brawler.

Vidan got off his bed to change into something more appropriate for his educational site seeing. He looked around his room to spot any kind of wardrobe but there was none. The room altogether did not had any heavy furniture except for a chair and a mirror. 

Vidan checked in his memories, and was excited on what he found. He walked towards the wall on the left side of his bed and touched the wall with his hand. He gently brushed his fingers making a hand gesture of sliding a wardrobe. 

Suddenly glowing geometrical designs appeared on the wall, and a door out of nowhere slid open itself inside the wall. The space inside the wardrobe looked vast, and the prince's clothes were neatly arranged inside of it. 

The wardrobe had a wide variety of clothes enough for many lifetimes. It was like the prince had a small clothing store in his room.

Vidan picked up a plain white shirt along with brown pants. He then picked up two robes one dark green and one black in colour. After thinking for a while he decided on the green one.

He threw the black one casually inside. The robe floated in the air and arranged itself neately as if it had a mind of its own.

'Wow' Vidan lips turned into an O upon seeing this. Even his attendants were surprised to watch the piece of cloth arrange itself.

From the lower section of the magical wardrobe, he picked two shoes one brown and one black. Keeping the brown one aside he tossed the black one inside with a little force.

It was just for the magic display.

In a similar fashion like earlier the shoe arranged itself. This was so pleasing to the eye that he could have done it a dozen more times if he had time and was alone.

After he was done choosing clothes, he asked his attendants to stand out, while he quickly changed into his outdoor clothes. 

Vidan was all fired now, it was not every day that one gets to live their fantasy. He casually strolled out mimicking the Prince.

The four attendants became active seeing the Prince going somewhere.

The timid-looking man gathered some courage and asked hesitantly "If I may ask My prince? To where are you going ?"

"To watch the battle." Vidan spoke, and in the prince's careless manner started to make his way out.This was one of the perks Vidan had being a prince. He did not have to devise reasons for his actions, rather he could just act without caring and be the prince.

The two aged attendants looked at each other in tired fashion, and then hurriedly followed the prince followed by the young boy. The young girl stood there in her place for a while, the irk on her face only deepened. After taking a deep sigh she too followed them.

_____

.

Vidan looked at the whole Kingdom which was surrounded by tall walls. As the castle was upon a cliff the whole Kingdom was visible from outside the castle gate.

The streets at the moment were in an upheaval as thousands of people were on the streets. Vidan could spot soldiers among the crowds throwing orders to guide the masses to the nearest bunker.

Some people had brought along them their valubale loaded carts which made the streets more conjusted. 

In such situations, these things were expected, and on looking a little longer Vidan felt that the Kingdom and the soldiers were doing a great job with the evacuation.

The houses and buildings were mostly wooden, mostly two stories, but everything was arranged in a neat manner. There were some bigger buildings too close to which belonged to the Elites. Overall the Kingdom gave a very natural and fresh vibe, unlike the contaminated vibe of his previous world.

Towards the far end of the Kingdom boundaries Vidan could see small projectiles aimed over the wall.

Surprisingly those projectiles would burst like crackers in midair as soon as they reached above the boundaries. This was the doing of the magic barrier Vidan. Mikhail wanted to see everything from up close.

He quickly spotted the four-storeyed building which he had seen in his memories. It was at a perfect distance from the battlefront.

"TIK TIK TIK" Suddenly the clicking noise of like a horse sounded from behind Vidan, he faced the direction, and his eyesbrows raised.

The brawler was walking with five beastly looking creatures, which as per his memories were called Camuse. This creature looked like a camel and even had a hump on its back, but looked like it was on steroids. What stood out most in these creatures was its hump which had intricate tattoos over it.

At the moment the brawler was holding a rope-like thing to walk them up to them, and that rope seemed to come from bottom of the neck of the beast. 

Vidan was not sure if these beasts actually roamed these lands or were lab-made as the creature looked too covienent. According to his memories speed of these beasts were similar to the horses back on Earth. 

What made these beasts unique was that they could use stored water as a fuel to boost their speed to almost three times, for a short period of five minutes.

It was no easy task to ride these beasts at it's top speed, but thankfullyy the Prince was not only a skilled rider, but one of the best in the Kingdom. 

Vidan excitedly seated himself on the hump of the camues. Suddenly the design on its hump started to glow and a web of tendrils extended and tigthtly held Vidan's leg and stomach for better and sturdy support.

Two thick tendrils branched out and arranged themselves in front of Vidan like two joysticks. As per the memories it was to control the speed and direction of the beast. 

'This world is amazing.' Vidan thought to himself as he charged down the cliff to the streets followed by the other four.

Vidan's hair danced in the air as he cut through the streets of Sunspire. He had made sure to stay away from the crowded area even if it meant taking a short detour. 

As he neared the boundaries the shouting and the bombarding sounds became clearer and clearer.

"My Prince. We are getting closer to the battlefield." The timid man shouted from behind with a slight panic in his voice.

Vidan quickly accessed the map in his head and took a sharp turn. The sounds were much clearer now, Vidan could even hear the clanging of swords from here. 

He leaned forward and pushed the motion tendril of the Camus to the furthest. The tendril turned blood red and the beast started to sprint like crazy. Vidan could only see the blur of the passing images. 

His heart was thumping with excitement, this was the most rush he had felt ever. 

After maintaining that top speed for minutes the red colour of the tendril started to fade. This meant the fuel reserves were almost over.

With short intervals he started to pull the tendril in rhythimic motion which slowed the the speed of the Camus and eventually it came to a halt just a few blocks away from the four storyed building.

Vidan looked at the building and was left in complete awe. It looked grand in his memories but up close was a totally different thing. It was like seeing something on a hazy screen and experiencing it in real time.

The building was like a castle, and its high conical domes pierced the sky making all of its surroundings look puny and unimportant. 

Vidan was still in complete awe of the building when a purple light pierced the sky. After reaching great height it stopped in its place for a few seconds, and in the next instant divided into several smaller lights.

In the next second the smaller lights rained down on where the battle was happening.