The Empires Rise

- Drake's POV -

In the depths of my rage, I hear the door open and see them walk in: Ritotorous, Laxreal, and Eleanor. In a cacophony of visual noise, notifications assault my vision.

- Mana Veins 56% Complete... 72% Complete -

My vision is the first thing to change as my veins clear. Not only am I seeing red with rage, but I also see specks of light in the air congregating around me. Next is my ears; I hear whispers telling me I can become more powerful. Telling me the secrets of what this world could become if I only gave in.

Gave in? To what? And that is when I see shadows moving in the room. My father and Laxreal are talking. I don't know what about, but I cast a spell, shooting it wide of Xelyphe. I am not aiming to attack them, though. I want to get their attention since I can't talk anymore.

With all the fury in my heart towards my family at this moment, all of it is overshadowed by the manifestation of these figures around us. No one notices them, but I can see them. They taught, laughed at, and mocked us in their language. How can no one else see what I am?

My nose is almost clear; the smell of sulfur and brimstone fills the room. I look around again and see one of the figures close to Ritotorous. I cast my spell and hit it. The laughing only intensifies.

I see my father is charging at me now. I still can't hear his words, and his intent is unclear. Does he want to kill me? Why is he getting closer to one of these figures? I cast a shield on myself as everyone is taking defensive actions toward these beings.

Not long after, they are attacking my barrier. I cast Nature's Grasp to try and slow them down, but that doesn't stop them. They get through. I am whirling around, trying to avoid being grasped by these figures. Not long after, my shield breaks, and they are upon me.

I weave as best I can through the assault, but I am too slow. I am caught. Not wanting to go down without taking one of these figures with me, I glare at the only one in front of me and cast Arcane Shot. The figure collapses, but this is only the start of my struggle as they bring me to the ground.

- Ilpheus' POV -

We get him onto the ground, and I pounce on him to prevent his head from moving so he can't cast spells at us anymore.

"Eleanor, what do we do?" I ask

"We must follow Laxreal's last plan since neither of us can manipulate mana like he could." She is as shocked as I was about Laxreal's passing.

Looking around the room for something sharp to focus on, I find nothing nearby. "Xelyphe, go to the kitchen and get me one of the knives," I shout. This will be bloody. I'm sorry, Drake. This is for your good."

Shortly after, Xelyphe returns to the room. We are struggling to hold him down. I can tell the mana raging through his body is making him stronger than anticipated. I hear them approach behind me.

"Xelyphe, you have to be the one to make the cuts."

"B-B-But I don't know if I can do it."

I look up and stare deep into her eyes, "This isn't a request, Xelyphe. You have to do this for your brother. Let us make up for not being able to help him before."

Resolve takes over, and they approach Drake, who is still struggling and squirming. "Madoka, go and get more people. We don't know how long this will last, but we need more people to hold him down at this rate."

Running off, it doesn't take long before I can't sense her anymore. With a grim smile, I look back at Xelyphe, "Are you ready?"

"No," is the only response I get.

"That's good because I am not either. Let's make this count." I look at Eleanor. "Be ready to hold him tight. I don't know what is going to happen."

- Drake's POV -

A second set of hands grabs my head and forces it to one side. I can't see my assailants. I can only see my family chatting in the corner and not noticing the pain that I am in or the fact that mysterious figures are on the floor holding me.

I hear footsteps approaching me and getting near my legs. I continue to squirm as another set runs off. In my enraged state, I try to retake control. I focus on the training Laxreal has given me. I push mana into my hands and push it out from my palms.

I fail at getting the mana to take any form that can help me. I continue with this process until there is a throbbing pain in my right leg. It feels like someone is dragging a knife down my veins. I can feel my blood flowing out of the wound.

I lose my focus from the pain of the wound, I continue to struggle, and I get my right hand free. I bring it down over the wound and quickly cast Mend. Feeling the wound close, I try to bring my hand around to cast another spell.

As I flail the arm to try and grab the attacker holding my head, it is quickly pinned down against the ground again.

There is another stabbing pain in my leg as a new wound opens. Unable to focus on any spells anymore. Slowly, my vision starts to go black. Not wanting to fall unconscious as these beings are holding me down, I bite my tongue to wake myself up.

- Ilpheu's POV -

"How is it going down there, Xelyphe?" I call back.

"I don't understand. I can see I am puncturing at the correct place, but why isn't it working?" Hearing the panic in her voice, I tried to calm her down.

"Xelyphe, take a deep breath. What can you feel? You are the best person for this situation. Feel out the problem; don't let it consume you! Eleanor, do you have any ideas at all?"

"I am sorry, Ilpheus. I don't know what to do. Laxreal might have been known as a failed scholar in our world, but he had one of the largest libraries for different procedures. Without him, I don't know what we should do!"

"Gods above," I shout. "Try again, Xelyphe.”

I feel Drake squirm underneath me as Xelyphe once again stabs into his leg. "This will be over soon, son; just hold on." I don't know if I am trying to comfort him or myself.

This continues for several minutes, during which Xelyphe stabs and heals himself while Eleanor and I hold him down. A couple of times, he can free one of his hands from Eleanor's grip, casting one type of spell or another. This is mostly harmless, as he shoots at random points in the room within his sightline.

One more time, Xelyphe stabs into his leg, and not long after, several sets of steps come running into the room. When they entered the manor, I sensed them and was not shocked by who was brought.

Draemish comes in first, followed by Rognar, Zul'Zara, and Slyvasti. They all stop when they see the Laxreal's bones and Ritotorous lying on the table.

"What happened?" Draemish asks.

"Not the time," I say through grit teeth. "We need to get his mana veins under control. All we know is we have to get the mana to flow, but we don't know how."

Rognar comes over and grabs Drake's arms from Eleanor, and she retreats a few steps to breathe.

Draemish comes over and helps keep his legs steady. "What is going on with his veins?" That is all I hear from her.

"We don't know; all we know is he was angry at us since we all have bloodlines, and he doesn't, making him the only one in the family from knowing the truth of our world."

"Hmph," is the reply I get. It sounds like you deserve his anger. You can deal with this later when we return your son to a more normal state. Is there anything in this building we can use to increase his mana? From what I can see, nothing will change even if we continue what you have tried."

Seeing a light reach Zul'Zara's eyes, she searches for something when I hear her call out. "Sylvi, we be needing to look for a chest. It be called a Personal Evolution Box." Another minute passes as we hold down Drake. Xelyphe has stopped stabbing Drake's leg under Draemish's recommendation.

Finally, they return. I look at the box and become curious about it. "It is a personal evolution box. How is this supposed to help?"

"All we be needing, is for Drake to open it. I be receiving an excellent treasure for myself."

"How are we supposed to get him to open the chest without one of us being exposed to danger?" I ask.

She scratches her head. "My best plan be one person holds him till we all clear out. Then hopefully he be having enough brains to open the chest."

I turn to Draemish, "Is this our only option?"

"Well, we can always try grabbing and tossing him in the room and then shutting the door behind us."

I think about it before shaking my head. "While it sounds like it would work, we don't know if he will open the chest. Can anyone write something on the chest, maybe?"

"Like what? Open Me?" Rognar scoffs.

"Yes," I respond.

"You can't be serious. Do you think he has enough will to open something that says 'Open me'?"

"Here is to hoping there is one other option, but I would hate to do this."

"What?" Madoka asks, fear in her voice.

"I stand behind him, with his hands tied to his feet in front of him, and I hold the back of his head while having my sword against his throat."

"That is too extreme, Ilpheus." Madoka shrieks at me.

I look and growl at her, "What would you have me do? This might be our only hope. I would rather he hate me for the rest of his life than potentially lose him with a solution right in front of us."

Shaking her head, I can see tears start to form. "If this is what you need to do, then do it. I can agree with your sentiment."

"Does anyone have cloth or something we can use to tie him?" I ask. No one moves. "Anyone?"

"We haven't gotten any clothes since we have been here. How would we have something to spare?" Rognar shoots.

"Xelyphe, have you seen your brother's items? He must have gotten this robe while he was here. See if you can find his old shirt or something."

Madoka, Xelyphe, and Eleanor go out to find anything. They return shortly after holding his old shirt. Ripping it apart, we form a blindfold and wrist and ankle ties to keep him from moving too fast or casting spells.

After another minute, we are ready to try the plan.

- Drake's POV -

This torture has been going on relentlessly. I can feel my will crumbling, just wanting it to stop. The pain is excruciating. The stabbing isn't helping either. Eventually, another couple of sets of hands hold me down more firmly. I am finally unable to move at all. Breathing out, knowing it is my final moment, I sigh. At least the pain will stop, and I close my eyes to accept my fate.

Several minutes pass with nothing happening before I feel a cloth covering my eyes, and then I am forcefully lifted to my feet. I can't walk well since my feet are tied very close together. Then I feel my hands being brought to the front of my body before also getting tied, this time more tightly.

I feel a claw against my neck, slowly moving back and forth across my skin. I hear a jumble of words, and the blindfold is removed.

In front of me is a chest. I have been holding one of my chests, hoping to level it up. In my blood are the words: Open Me.

Feeling a push from my back, I almost stumble. I step forward. Why do they want me to open this chest?

I feel the claw dig deeper into my flesh, and a trickle of blood starts to come out. I take another step closer to the chest. It wasn't far from me, so these two steps put me in range. I could open it if I reached out.

Feeling this might be my only hope of freeing myself from these figures' clutches, I open the chest.

Inside the chest is a pill. It floats up and into my hands. I analyze the pill, and nothing happens. That's not right. Something should have happened. I try to analyze the pill again and again, but nothing. Over and over, I try all to no avail.

I feel the claw drag against my skin again. The intent is clear: it wants me to eat this pill. Steeling my resolve to kill this being, if this pill is helpful to me, I swallow it.

I feel a power burst through my body before collecting all the mana. Then it condenses down. From the storm of mana, it forms a small orb about the size of a needle. I can control the orb, and I have it push through the blockage in my right leg.

Once the orb has passed through, the rest of my mana follows. The orb keeps going as it gets down to my ankle and then through my foot. I can tell it has lost a lot of energy from just those two sections, but it continues with my left leg bursting open with a little more effort from my mana circulation.

By the time it reaches the ankle of my left leg, the energy has almost its course. I continue circulating my mana through my almost cleared pathways. Not long after, I got the notification I was expecting.

- Mana Veins have reached 100%

Mana Heart 65% -

I was shocked that in just one session of circulating my mana, I could get an additional 40%. Then I think about all my anger for my family. It isn't as strong as before.

I open my eyes to look around the room and don't see my family off on the other side; there are chests, and that's it. Also, there isn't a claw on my neck anymore.

It's a sword. It doesn't stay in its position for long before it is moved away. Then I heard the words from a familiar voice, "Drake, are you there?"

That's when some of the rage comes back. What does he mean? Am I here? Of course, I am here. I spin around to confront him. "Yes, I am right... here." The wind is taken out of my sails as I look at the relief on my father's face. I look past him to see the door opening, and my mother and sibling walk in.

They aren't the only ones outside; I can see more people. Right in front of them are Zul'Zara, Uxa, and Strauvana.

I ask quietly, "Where's Laxreal? And where is Ritotorous?"

"A couple of things need to happen before we talk about that. First, I'd like to apologize to you. I didn't know how you would feel with this big secret coming to light. I knew it would be bad, but the gods above you frightened me. Second, I want to apologize for having my sword at your throat. We had to take drastic measures to ensure you didn't try anything you would regret."

I consider all he is talking about and then describe what I saw and felt throughout the ordeal.

"So, you weren't trying to attack us. You were trying to defend yourself from these mysterious figures. Did you try and reach out?"

"I did, multiple times, but no one noticed. It felt like a bad dream, but the pain," I shiver thinking of all the pain that was brought upon me. "It kept me from succumbing. I don't know what I would have done if I had fallen unconscious."

Xelyphe comes over, "Drake, I am so sorry. But we had to keep trying to help you; we had no other way. Laxreal only gave us two options, and no one that we could find quickly was skilled enough to help us in the manner he could have. All we were going off of was the scant information he provided before he was shot."

I want to say that it is alright, but that whole process was torturous to me. "Give me some time. I don't blame you for this instance, but the memories hurt right now."

My mother is next to approach and apologize. She holds me there for a few minutes, and I hold her.

Letting go, I step back and look at my family, "Please, no more secrets. I don't know if I could handle any more."

"That is fair, but you will have to get used to us doing things you wouldn't expect," My father says.

"Dad," I look at him, "we are in a world of magic; I think we all can agree that maybe being more of ourselves would be for the best."

"We tried that, and look at how that turned out," Xelyphe remarks.

"How about showing me slowly, but at your own pace when I am not around? I don't want to hold you all back, but I still feel bad knowing you all kept something monumental from me. Even the whole world was keeping secrets about its existence."

They all nod. "One more thing, Drake," Dad says. "We have to plan a funeral for Laxreal."

Hearing those words, a stone drops to the deepest pit in my stomach. "Yeah," I say quietly.

Looking up, I see Draemish, "Are there any traditions in your world we need to observe for his funeral?"

She shakes her head. "Death is not unknown to us; we all know that we must move on at some point. For those undead that perish, we try to send them back to their tombs, wherever they may lie. Our world has protections to prevent evil necromancers from raising strong undead servants."

"That is fair, then let's do that," I say while collecting his remains.