Once Rector had greeted the procession into the city, Rex breathed a sigh of relief, he was petrified he would have had to do it, turning to Rector, who was currently watching the procession open and the governors of each region coming toward the pedestal, “Where did you go?” Rex asked quietly. “I shall tell you later my son, I apologize, I had something important to look into” Rector replied, turning to Rex with a soft expression on his face. Nodding to Rector, he turned back and watched as five cloaked people came forward in a line parallel to the pedestal, stopping just a few feet away from Rector and Rex, bowed and removed their cloaks one at a time. “I am Augur Strix! Governor of Bhutan, this is my region’s representative, my daughter Lizzetta!” Augur roared, turning and pointing to Lizz, who strode forward and stood next to her father, the crowd cheering loudly, Rex’s mouth dropped open at the announcement, once Rector dipped his head, both Augur and Lizz bowed, stepping back

The sudden voice entering his head woke Rex with a jolt, he remembered dreaming about spending his night swimming with Lacey, and before he knew it, a voice starting whispering silently into his ear, asking him to kill, he had no idea where the voice came from or why it came to him, but it was alarming enough to wake him. Opening his eyes and sitting up, he could tell it was close to dawn, seeing the faintest glow of red light behind the horizon, so he decided at the minute that he would just get himself ready for the day and practice trying to open his magical space while waiting for Ley’s summons. Once he readied himself in a nice fitting training outfit, Rex moved into the middle of his room, sat down cross legged, closed his eyes and after steadying his breathing, he started trying to clear his mind. It took a while for Rex to successfully empty everything from his mind, he kept feeling the faintest pull in his mind to hold the sword, like his mind needed him to do it, shaking th

“What sort of training do you typically do?” Rex asked, trying to alleviate the silence that had seemed to happen while following commander Shurr. “Most think we are brainless oafs, so all we must do is lift this up heavy shit up, put it over there, drop it, lift it up again, but in here we actually train our bodies, minds and souls, today is your lucky day, it is shield ball day” Shurr replied in a slightly irritated tone. “Shield ball?” Rex inquired, they had finally reached the end of the tunnel they were traveling and the area suddenly opened into a huge mini-city, with rows of tiny huts to his left and right, paths that led into each row, joined by stairs that ran vertically along the rows of every 20th hut, “You have your own town in here?” “We look after some incredible treasures for the emperor around the clock, so we live, eat and train down here” Shurr replied. “Like what sort of treasures?” Rex asked, he was interested in what would require its own mini-city and army for

Not wanting to look incompetent in front of his commander, the Bohl captain disregarded all of his training and charged Rex head on, he planned on using brute strength to over power him and teach Rex what happens to those who mess with the Bohl. Sensing the change in the Bohl man immediately, Rex knew what he was planning to do, he could see from the look on his face and feel in his aura that he now intended to hurt him, with this in mind, Rex decided to end the game, beginning to channel half of his remaining energy into the ball, after a few moments it was complete, he could see the weird hairy ball start to move and wriggle around in his hand, the whole time it glowed a faint yellow colour, ‘The f**k is this thing?’ Rex asked himself. “Throw ball Prince!” his team’s captain roared. Looking towards the goal, Rex’s sight was overshadowed by the Bohl warrior who was now mere feet from him, his shield in front of him with the intention to charge over the top of Rex, spinning quickly

Once the hours had passed, Rex had forgotten how much reading he had done, learning the basics of the battle games, a chosen few from the surrounding nations would take on the role of competing in a set of games that would test their strength, cunning, strength and resolve, these activities would be proposed to the nation leaders, by another leader, and if agreed upon, would become the events the participants would compete in, the winner would then become the champion of the battle games for that year, bringing them fame and most times fortune. “Fame and fortune, a bit redundant for me, isn’t it? More people know me here than I could ever imagine, and being a prince, what need would I have in riches?” Rex thought to himself out loud, confused by his participation in the games, he could think of quite a few other talented warriors that could have easily taken his place. The other book he had finished reading was titled, “Guide to magic requiring emotional input.” He thought it was an