AIMON
Emperor Lloyd foldedhis hands together in front of him and nodded his head. “That makes the most sense. I'll give you full access to the potion room, and you can have access to any ingredients we have in there, but none of what you require is in there.”
“Yes!” Bastian cried out, fist-pumping the air before slowly lowering his arm and rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, that's really exciting. I’ve been trying to get into that potion room for a while now,” he admitted with a chuckle.
Fawn smiled at him, shaking her head in amusement.
“You were about to go to the potion room before you got hexed, and then you made a batch of potions that turned everyone into rats,” Emperor Lloyd told him with a blank face.
Jasper shot Bastian a seething look. “Iwas the one that kept getting turned into a rat every time he would experiment on me.”
“It wasn't even experimentation! I was just hexed! I was trying to do nice things!” Bastian defended himself, pouting.
Emperor Lloyd cleared his throat. “As valid as that is, the point is you were a liability in the potion room after it was built.”
Silas nodded his head. “Absolutely right. Sorry, Bastian, but you did kind of give me wings.”
“I don't even knowwhatpotion that was,” he cried out, shifting his robe that had fallen off his shoulder a little.
“It was a shame we didn’t have the potion room before you had gotten hexed, but you have full access now,” Emperor Lloyd assured him before focusing his attention back to all of us. “Back to the major issue, you found how to kill Matthieu.” His expression turned grim, and he grabbed the edges of his throne before pushing himself to his feet. “It is a hard feeling to grasp still, but I know killing him is for the best. I have learned from a few contacts in the Revivium Empire that the mage population has more than halved.”
Fawn’s eyes widened. “Why? I mean, I know why, but what do you mean by halved? How in spirits did he manage that?”
“Unfortunately, Matthieu and his horde of monsters demolished the palace first before going to the capital and then to every single village, even remote dwellings in the Revivium Empire, and reducing it all to rubble. Then he continued with the Allura Empire, taking out three southern villages before the adventurers’ guild. He has almost completely demolished all the southern villages in the lower portion of the empire. He was last seen approaching the capital. I've sent all the reinforcements I can to the manor of Emperor and Empress Lovington, and I have extended the invitation that they and their people are welcome here if they need a safe haven.”
“How is he controlling monsters?” Fawn murmured, shaking her head as she began to pace back and forth. “It sounds ridiculous and impossible, but I never knew Matthieu was capable of anything that he's done.Spirits! He blindsided us so bad!” she shouted, and a gust of wind burst from her chest, sending air whipping through the room.
“Monsters can't be controlled,” Casper muttered bitterly, shaking his head.
“Well, that fucking weirdo figured out how,” Jasper growled.
“Spirits help us.” I looked up to the ceiling, praying the spirits could intervene somehow—someway.
“That's not entirely the worst part…” Emperor Lloyd continued. “All contacts have lost sight of Matthieu and the monsters. They were last spotted heading toward the Allura Empire early this morning.” He snapped his fingers, and a guard approached with a box toward Fawn, holding it out to her with a trembling shake.
“This arrived sometime last night, and it's addressed to you from Matthieu,” Emperor Lloyd spoke carefully.
Shock stunned me, and Fawn’s spine snapped straight like a rod as she took the box from the guard, who bowed briefly before walking back to his post at the door.
“How is Matthieu able to transform back to his original form?” Her voice cracked.
“He is a metamorphose mage.” Silas shook his head, running a hand through his hair. “How he was able to transform into a monster in the first place is insane, but to transform back from that? I have no idea.”
“You said he took a potion, so maybe he took one that altered his metamorphose affinity. I don’t know how that would work, but his control of it has to be the most frightening part.” Emperor Lloyd frowned.
“If only I could get my hands on that potion.” Bastian tapped his foot on the ground. “I could figure out exactly what it did and make an antidote so he could stop turning into that evil thing.”
“There is not one part of me that wants to open this.” Fawn pushed out a shaky breath before doing just that. Her wind ripped the top open, and she let the cardboard lid fall against the ground as she sucked in a sharp gasp.
Pain funneled through the bond, striking each of us through our chests.“Spirits, no!”Fawn cried out, shaking her head back and forth.
The box fell from her hands and hit the stone floor, the contents bouncing out and scattering at her feet.
There was an entire braid of bronze hair that looked exactly like Ash’s, along with Fawn’s locket that she had reclaimed by the shrine Matthieu had of her in his room. I didn't even remember him taking it from her.
“Spirits, this has Ash’s magical signature. It’s definitely hers,” she choked out, tears flooding her face. “I never wanted to lose someone to him again.Dammit!”
Jasper bent down and grabbed the paper that had been in the box off the floor, his gaze skating over it. His nostrils flared as anger flooded the bond.
