It was close to sunset and the sky above the kingdom looked beautiful.
In the castle, in the throne room - Aven was still lying on the carpet, his legs and hands still tied using ropes.
The 3 people are still kneeling and gazing at the king waiting for him to speak.
The king cleared his throat before saying.
"You should stand and you don't need to be in that position forever," the king said.
Those 3 listened to the king and just stood up. As for Aven yea that didn't apply to him and he was still there lying like a sack of potatoes.
The king let out a big sigh before saying - "Can someone untie that person lying on the carpet because I feel bad seeing him like that at this point" the king said.
Wait, what do you mean? you felt bad seeing me like that? If you didn't feel bad you wouldn't have asked someone to untie me? This is so crazy, he thought.
The next moment the girl with a book said something and the rope tying Aven was burned into ash.
Aven blinked.
Wait… what the heck just happened?? Where did the rope go and why isn't my clothes not burned? That shouldn't be possible like what did she do? he thought.
Aven kept looking around his clothes for any burn marks but he only saw the holes on his uniform. The 3 people and the king were staring at him like they were seeing this reaction for the first time which may be true.
"He's trying to process how the ropes were burned but not his clothes," the sword said loudly.
And the king and those 3 people just nodded.
That's when something dawned on Aven.
Wait…. Is this like magic? No, that shouldn't be possible because isn't magic just the tricks of hand? But wait could this be like how anime shows some people can use magic but wait anime isn't real. Then how the hell did the rope just get burned and not my clothes, he thought.
He then looked at the king and those 3 people who had just ignored his existence a while ago. He wanted to ask questions about why he was tied, treated like a sack of potatoes and ask how he could go back home.
"Thank you," Aven said.
Yeah he just said thank you. The king did look shocked a bit and those 3 were staring at him like he's something alien.
"Well that was unexpected," the sword said loudly.
The king just cleared his throat again.
"May I ask your name, boy?" The king asked.
"Huh? I'm just Aven," he said.
"Aven is a good name," the king replied.
Then the king looked around and forgot something to say. Yeah he had forgotten to introduce himself.
"Oh I forgot to introduce myself, sorry about that. I'm king Baldur, the king of this kingdom Veldran, the one who wields chronos, the sword master of Veldran, the husband to my queen Virella…" the king said aloud.
What the hell? Is that his name or is that his resume like you ain't applying to a job here. You are introducing yourself. And I can't say it aloud even if life sucks I don't wanna go away this soon and especially dying for laughing at a king that would be embarassing. But I swear to God if he keeps going on I'm gonna start rolling in my mind because I don't want to offend the king by rolling around, Aven thought.
"...The father to my children…" the king said.
The king got cut off in the middle of him introducing himself. Yeah if he wasn't cut off in middle he would've gone on for another 2 minutes.
"I don't want to hear that anymore. So just get to the point. I can't fathom why your name is so long," the sword said loudly.
The room went silent and everyone was staring at the sword floating beside Aven.
Even Aven was staring at the sword.
The king broke the silence by saying -
"Well sorry for that. When I start giving my introduction I don't stop. Well you 3 should also introduce yourself to Aven," the king Baldur said.
Those 3 for the first time actually stared at him.
"I'm Fell, the wielder of Lux Spes and before you ask, yes Lux Spes is the name of the sword floating behind me. Fell is my nickname btw as I don't like my real name. Nice to meet you Aven," Fell said.
"I'm Evan, the best shielder of Veldran. I know you are worried that I might kill you with this shield but don't worry I don't hurt people who aren't my enemies. Nice to meet you Aven," Evan said.
"I'm Alina, the best mage in Veldran. If you are still wondering how I burnt the rope you were tied to then keep wondering. Nice to meet you Aven," Alina said.
Aven just nodded.
Wait Fell, Evan and Alina the names are good. Fell said his floating sword has a name and called it Lux Spes? I think that's the correct name. Evan looks chill even though his shield is still massive. Alina is kinda mysterious but yea she is scary because like I understood she's a mage and can do stuff like burning the rope but imagine if she didn't hold back and burned me. I would've ended up with burns along side back pain and chest pain all at once, he thought.
Aven's back pain was gone for a bit. Yeah but it was the silence before the storm as it hit him hard when the pain came back. He just bent his back forward a bit as standing straight was painful.
Nah, the back pain came back when i mentioned it. This pain is crazy and standing straight makes it worse, he thought.
The back pain didn't return because he mentioned it — it came back because his body had gone numb after being untied.
"Are you okay, Aven?" the king asked.
"Yea just the back pain came back," he replied.
"Oh okay but wait I totally forgot why you are here. You are here because you touched the sword and considering its floating beside you. You are officially the wielder of the legendary sword, Tenebis Veritas," the king said.
The king expected joyous or even a shocked expression from Aven.
But he saw that Aven didn't look pleased.
"So you are telling me I'm the wielder of this damn floating sword. And wait, you mean this thing is not actually haunted by a spirit or ghost of someone? And that it can actually talk. Wait, you are telling me now I'm stuck with this sword that threw rocks at me and then started chasing me? And you call this clunk of iron legendary?" Aven asked.
"Mortal now you are stuck with me until the day you die. So, now you can't escape me. So, you better start training because you can't even lift an iron sword let alone me. I may look like a clunk of iron but atleast I'm not as weak as you," the sword said.
Aven's jaw dropped after hearing that.
"Well I mean you are indeed stuck with this sword until the day you die. I mean you chose to touch it. Now pay for the consequences of touching it. It might look like a clunk of iron but it's still a legendary sword," the king said.
Aven just nodded after hearing that. But he had a different question in his mind already.
"Wait, how can I understand what you speak but not what others speak?? I mean I couldn't read the warning sign, what guards spoke and what the people were talking about? Like how can I even understand you or should I say how can you speak English?" he asked.
The king laughed a bit and then said -
"I mean I can speak English, it's that simple. But how can you not understand the language here? That doesn't make sense. Because Fell, Evan and Alina could understand the language the moment they came to this world. Wait, you seriously can't understand this world's language?" the king asked.
Aven just nodded.
"How is that even possible because I haven't heard of this happening ever in the history of this kingdom and world," the king said.
"I guess the language just doesn't like me?" Aven said.
The king sighed.
"Well Alina, can you just plant the language of this world into his mind?" the king said.
Alina just nodded and said something again.
"Well now he should be able to understand the language of this world," she said.
To confirm the king spoke to Aven in the language of this world and he nodded which basically meant he understood it.
"Wait, what was the reason for me getting tied and thrown around like a sack of potatoes? By that I mean why was I even arrested in the first place?" he asked.
"Well I was informed that a boy came out of the dungeon and the legendary sword Tenebis Veritas was chasing that boy. So, the guards assumed that you had angered the sword and when you nodded to the fact that you ignored the warning sign and touched it they arrested you. They were also kind of scared of what may happen to them if they don't arrest you after the sword had chased you so they tied you up and brought you here," the king said.
Aven just stared at the king for a minute, opening his mouth and closing it like 10 times.
"Okay I don't blame them I was kinda at fault. But at least they didn't kill me. That's a win ig?" he said.
"Well I'm happy that you aren't angry. Oh wait your clothes are all torn out and your back is in so much pain that you can't stand straight right? For now I will just tell a servant to show you to your new room and give you a butler or maid depending on who's free and if you want anything to drink or eat ask them. I will also tell them to send you a change of clothes and will send a healer who can actually heal your back pain and other injuries you suffered. Hope you accept this hospitality," the king said.
Aven just nodded and says thank you to the king.
"So umm does that mean I'm not getting executed?" he asked.
The king, Fell, Evan and Alina just laughed.
"No, you aren't getting executed but your training starts tomorrow. As you are the wielder of Tenebis Veritas that means you need to start training," the king said.
Aven sighed in relief.
That's good but seriously training? That's gonna be a pain in the ass, he thought.
"Well this ends the discussion. You guys are free to go and Aven I will call over a servant in just a minute," the king said.
Fell, Evan and Alina bowed to the king once and took their leave.
The king then called a servant and ordered him to take Aven to an empty room.
"Also don't forget to assign him a butler or maid," the king said to the servant.
The servant just nodded and then bowed to the king and gestured to Aven to follow.
Aven just followed the servant until they stopped at a room.
The door looked good. The servant then opened the door and then gestured Aven to enter. The room had a single person bed with a table and chair beside it with a lamp on the table. There was a window with red curtains and a bathroom which was pretty normal but it didn't have a place to take a shower.
"Well, where is the place to shower or take a bath?" he asked.
"There's a big bath which you can use in the lower floors of the castle but there's no different bath attached to your bathroom," the servant replied.
"Oh wait, what is your name?" Aven asked.
"My name is Fen. I'm just one of the servants who follows the order of the king," he replied.
The servant left the room and closed the door when he went. There was a knock at the door. Turns out it's the healer the king had said would come and heal his back pain.
"You are Aven right? The one who has back pain?" the healer asked.
"Yea that's me," he replied.
"Just sit on the bed, the healing won't take even a minute," the healer said.
Aven sat on the bed and the healer started saying something and after he was done saying.
"Should be done," the healer said.
The pain in Aven's back was gone and he had no other pain. Aven started moving his body a bit to check if the pain was truly gone and then sat straight.
"You actually did it. Thank you so much. What's your name?" he asked.
The healer smiled.
"Just call me Elric and you are welcome. So I will take my leave and don't forget to take care of your body," he said.
Elric left the room and closed the door behind him and Aven laid down on the bed. After a few minutes there was a knock again and this time it was the butler. The butler was obviously old with wrinkles and white hair but he definitely was trained because he looked like someone who had done a lot of training. He was also taller than Aven and had a jacked body for his age.
"You must be Sir Aven right? I will be your butler and also will help in your training. So, just think of me as your trainer and your butler too. My name is Theren," he said.
"Nice to meet you Theren. But do you mind not calling me Sir or any other titles it feels weird? But I doubt you'd let me bring my coffee myself anyway. So considering you are older than me, you don't have to call me Sir instead I will call you Sir," Aven said.
Theren just nodded.
"Do you want anything to eat or maybe drink?" he asked.
"Sir Theren, I would like maybe just 2 cups of coffee and also some toast," he said.
Theren just nodded and went out. After a few minutes he entered the room again this time with a change of clothes with 2 cups of coffee and some toast.
"Here you go and first get changed before eating anything," he said.
"Thank you, Sir Theren," Aven said.
Aven changed his clothes quickly and placed his torn uniform on the table. Then started drinking his cups of coffee and eating the toast.
While Theren just stood there even when Aven offered him a cup of coffee he just refused.
Aven's new clothes was a red t-shirt with black pants.
Surprisingly the t-shirt looked better than what Aven had ever seen on Earth and it was the same case for the pants.
"The coffee is great and the toast is so good but I feel like it's been so quiet. Oh wait, where's the sword it's name is Tenebis Veritas right?" he asked.
"The sword is lying on your bed," Theren replied.
It was indeed lying on the bed and Aven just realised that it was already night now.
"Oh it's already night. Well I should probably sleep. I'm tired anyway," he said.
"Well good night Aven. And don't forget you have training tomorrow and I will be your mentor or teacher whatever you call it. So sleep for now cuz next day will be hell," he said.
Aven knew he was cooked. Theren left the room and closed the door behind him. Aven just laid down on the bed staring at the ceiling.
This is crazy. My life changed so fast, I still can't even process this. And wait did the king Baldur just admit that Fell, Evan and Alina are from Earth. So I'm not the only one from Earth huh? That's good I guess. I should probably sleep cuz tomorrow will be training. I'm gonna hate this so much, he thought.
Aven fell into deep sleep as he was tired from what happened today and Tenebis Veritas was lying beside him.
What does tomorrow hold for Aven? Only pain, probably. And coffee - lots of coffee.
To be continued…