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pearlisinpain · 2 years

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Purify - (Medieval Fantasy AU)

Chapter 3: The King Election

Summary:

Orange received a letter from the Octavia Royal Council about a request to be the High Judge of the Election. He seemed to doubt the situation, after all.

Dark whispers spread in a dark corner where the election commenced, a soft glow illuminating from the weapon, fused with the deadliest kind that mankind ever created, with the swarm of the most lethal creature alive, ready to make a show out of it.

CW: violence, blood, wound, minor character death

=*****=

Eventually, for the citizens of the abundant Octavia Kingdom, the next day had come by in a flash, with everyone worrying about how this would turn the tide of the kingdom's future. How the new king would make changes to the rules. No matter what happened, they had to hope for the best.

The next morning came by, and a dove swoop inside Orange's bedroom, with a letter with the royal crest. He woke up like usual by rolling off the bed in surprise, as he noticed the bird and took the letter off the bird. Stroking the avian, he set it on the table while he quickly opened the letter, and was taken aback by its content.

Greetings to the High Royal Artist of the kingdom,

You might have received the sorrowful news of the king's passing, and the paramount King Election will commence today at noon. This arrangement was seen as new to the royal inhabitants, and we require a person with wiseness and judicially. This is an important role we need to hand to the exact person.

As you are the person that had the requirements, on the behalf of the castle's inhabitants, the Court of Octavia formally inquires about your appearance at the Grand Election as the High Judge for the arrangement.

Please give your response as soon as your letter had arrived.

Sincerely,

The Sovereign Octavia Royal Council.

He looked dumbfounded at the letter as he tried to recall any moment of himself being a 'wise and judicial person' the castle was looking for. He scratched his head for a moment before standing up from the floor, dusting himself before rummaging through his drawer for his quill.

It seemed like he had no other choice.

Did they count the person who had only advised his Majesty twice in his life?

As an artist too?

...he decided not to think about it again, as he dipped the quill into the ink bottle and started scribbling away for the letter. He would never know why he agreed to do this, but he guessed he would not refuse it. This was a sign of trust the High Council was putting in him, and it occurred to him why they didn't handle the situation themselves.

Finishing the letter, he folded it carefully before tying it to the bird again and sending it off into the sunrise. It rose like a glorious firey red globe, the orange aura signaled a new day slowly approaching. But the sun's rays were not as strong as yesterday anymore.

He felt something was... off about this.

He looked at his golden bay leaf pin shimmering in the weak sunlight and frowned a bit. It was one of his lucky charms, based on his experience with it in the past- what past? It gave a weird signal that only he could feel its presence before it lay motionless again. He didn't quite remember the last time it warned him about something. Maybe he was living in peace for far too long to get back to the constant danger before.

This time, it was giving out something he could not describe. Something like a bad omen, it was well-hidden that he could not contemplate.

He smelt out the stinky metallic aroma lingering inside him before it eventually faded away. The thoughts slowly ate him as he glanced solemnly at the scenery that grew duskier even when the sun was not at a considerable height.

Then, something - a blur of blight red flashed across his windows as he stood up and backed away, dumbfounded. He could not describe his sudden chills, as he stared at the window frame for a whole minute before breaking his paralyzed state.

It did ring the bell inside him about that blur, but it was just out of reach.

"What..." he muttered quietly. "...the heck just happened?"

He then stood up and glanced at the door, hoping to hear any movement or sound coming from his friends, just to make sure, before walking out of the room, mentally sighing in relief.

This was not going to go well.

*****

"Hello? Earth to Orange?" Red called as Orange snapped out of his trail of thoughts and looked up at them, the small piece of tomato fell off his fork since he knew when visibly confused. "Are you good? You didn't hear what we have been talking about, did you?"

"Uh... sorry, just zoning out a bit..." he mentally panicked as he quickly put up his sleepy facade and yawned. "You know, those sleeping disorders kill me each day."

"...and you gracefully accepted it into your life since when and start nodding off ever since." Blue sighed as he finally got a cup of juice for Orange before drinking his own again. "You should try to find the cure for the disorder. Really, it might be progressively becoming worse. I'm afraid that potions can't do much in this field."

"Don't worry Blue, I am perfectly fine," Orange waved half-heartedly as he drank a bit of the liquid, feeling a bit more awake as he stretched his arms. "Any thoughts about what is going to happen today?"

"Oh, they did announce that this morning, didn't they?" chimed Red, as he had finished feeding the farm animals, if not striking a long 'talk' with them. The group knew he had connections with animals, but they would never know how he had the patience to sit with them for a whole hour. "I heard them marching outside our house early this morning- like it was still 'sleep o'clock'."

"Well, I doubt that, since it was such news." Green shrugged as he popped another tomato slice into his mouth. "Well, any other things we need to be cautious about?"

"I just got the request letter from the Council to be a judge for the election-" Orange joined in suddenly, the letter finally getting its attention after all that ruckuses in his mind. "I-"

Orange looked up, only to see four sets of eyes at him. He glanced around, confused and all. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked, mentally praying that he was not being an idiot in front of others.

Well, he didn't expect this was the reaction. He had thought they would be more optimistic about this, but this silence as an answer could be a good one too, indicating that they all felt something fishy was going to happen.

"I know, this is not going to go well," he decided to continue when the silence was too long. "I think something is up about the King suddenly passing away, he was certainly normal when he gave out the speech at the summer festival not very long ago. He didn't seem to have severe symptoms of an incurable disease. But..."

He swallowed.

"I think someone else is getting a hand in all of this. It might be a shot in the dark after all, but I am not one claiming without evidence."

Green nodded as he silently looked away. Orange was right, royalties could have such a conflict that residents could never be imagined having once in their life. How they would do the dirty work to achieve what they want, or a secret, forbidden alliance with enemies over the borders. Royals and normal citizens like them were not the same at all.

"I notice that," mused Yellow as he finally decided to join in the conversation that was getting deeper in observation and investigation. "Did you notice the conflict between House Embezzle and House Pelitos? You all know, the House of Wisdom and Medical respectively in the Royal Octavia Academy. The two powerhouses of the Academy, yet they are in conflict for a year under his Majesty's very nose!"

"Oh yeah, I do notice that," Blue remarked. "Also, have you heard about the Viceroy also? With his aide, I think he seems to be plotting something."

"The role of the King is a spot that everyone wants to reach, yet when they have reached it, they had no idea to keep their kingdom's prosperity," Green said, joining in after shaking his head violently, letting himself back into the real world.

"Does that have anything to do with the upcoming Election after all? I mean, about what Orange is going to go through?" Red asked, and soon they all focused on Orange again.

"Orange, you know how honorable and dangerous this can be. One wrong decision and your head might be off by the Grand Council, this can affect the whole future of the kingdom." Green stood up and looked into Orange's soft green eyes, which were blinking in a puzzled manner. "Just, please. Keep yourself."

"I know Green," the orange-haired man smiled as he shifted his position on the chair again. "I just wanted to say that... you all need to be safe. I can also sense a row later on, and maybe a commotion."

"We all need to prepare for that, I agree, but can we save the serious talk for later?" Red finally said again, his face frowning. "Morning is supposed to be calm and relaxed, or at least energetic, not like this serious attitude we all have to wear all day."

"I supposed you are right," Blue sighed before standing up, smiling a bit. "All right, who wants some good drinks?"

"Make me a watermelon juice!"

"A cup of coffee, then, would be nice to be a little bitter."

"I will go with a cup of cinnamon tea then."

"I'm going with some fresh juicy strawberry for a change then."

"Be patient! Coming right up, fresh just for you all!"

*****

Orange was nervous as soon as the guards pushed the door open, revealing the royal family themselves. He had remembered his curtsy, he had prepared himself the best he could. Never had he ever gotten himself roped into this kind of formal situation, even when addressing his Majesty in person himself a couple of times. But this was a whole lot different than the King's himself.

"Greetings, your Majesty, your Royal Highnesses, and your Graces," he bowed to the people inside. He swore he could hear his heart thumping louder and faster than ever. "I am here for recently receiving a requested letter to be the High Judge for the Election."

The woman gestured at him, a small and sad smile planted on her face. It seemed... forced? "Greetings to you, we have been waiting for your arrival."

"No trouble your Majesty," Orange said again, trying to keep his tone level. "If I may ask the Grand Council for the requirements for the later Election," he turned to an old male at the corner of the room and nodded. "If you please, Grand Councilor."

"I hereby introduce to you the Royal Highnesses: the eldest Prince Arthurous Octavia, the younger Prince Caspetor Octavia, and the youngest Prince Aelliouso Octavia," the old Counselor said and gestured to the three people standing near the Queen. "They will be competing for the throne in today's Election."

He was pretty sure that the names of the Princes were more royal-liked versions of the elegant, yet simple.

(He was pretty sure that the Princes' names are respectively Arthur, Casper, and Aelius. The royals were like that, just adding more letters into the normal names to make them seem unique and interesting. Nor did he deny that those names were actually good.)

"I was wondering something, Sir," Orange interjected after the man had finished his line. "If we could identify who is the eldest among the three Highnesses, shouldn't we just declare the eldest prince to claim the throne?"

"Oh, I forgot to inform you, our young royal artist of the kingdom," another Council member joined in the conversation, and Orange noticed that the Octavia Royal Family had left. "In the Octavia Kingdom, inherited after the fall of the Indigous Empire, puts the ability to its equal. We could not have a ruler with such good combat skills yet without knowledge and the judicially that the people need, upon fitting the three requirements: strength, knowledge, and the rhetorical and judicial mind to gain the trust of the inhabitants."

"I see..." Orange muttered as he tried to picture a perfect king that fit all of the requirements. He had only seen King Octavia the Seventh as the most inspiring ruler so far, yet alone having his fair share of art and beauty, kindness and festivities. "When shall we start the Election, your Graces?"

"It should be around a few more hours, so you have plenty of time to prepare yourself."

*****

"Why am I actually worried about this?" Red asked as he held a book close to him as he ran behind with his friends, realizing that they were late to the scene as they were rushing forward to the town square. "Like, something in Orange seems off today."

"I know Red, we will just have to hope for the best," Blue said before stopping himself to have a breath. "Gods, I cannot imagine how nervous he would be when he faced the royal family himself, yet along with the members of the Council. He had only been there once only when doing a painting session with the royal family?"

"I gotta say, as someone who once experienced life there, it is quite stressful," Green said as he looked into the sky. The sun was illuminating every place, and the clouds did not attempt to seal the harsh light. "It is kinda triggering some of the things I should not remember... I need not remember it..."

"Green, it's alright," Yellow pat his back as they finally encountered a crowd surrounding a high-up stage inside the castle grounds. "Come on, see if we can make our way closer to the stage. The princes are the mystery to every citizen, you know."

"Yeah, that does make sense," Blue agreed while he double-checked his pouch. "Okay, I hope I have not over-prepared anything. The potions, the netherwart..."

"Why are you bringing your netherwart into this? What will the people say?" Red practically jumped at the amount of the red fungus Blue was having inside his pouch. They looked like they were stuffed into the place, and it seemed to take too much place for the potions. "And how on earth did you bring this many? We are not going to a festival! And this is not food either!"

"Well, it is my comfort food, it eases my mind when coming to situations stressful as this," Blue replied dryly as he munched some netherwart he retrieved from the pouch. "It does not seem like a big deal to me."

"We must be quick, the Election is starting at any moment now," Yellow interjected as they all nodded and sprinted faster into the city, silence slowly embracing them as they tried to get what was going on.

Why is there smoke and screaming everywhere?

Why is the sky suddenly turn black- or red?

*****

To Orange's view, it had been going pretty swell so far. Prince Aelliouso was sure to be the King because of his immense intelligence with keen strategy in battle. Although his strength was not the most ideal, he was overall good. The two Princes were the two main powerhouses of the royal trio, but intelligence in battle was one needed. They did inherit their kindness and juidicialness from their father, which was a plus.

As a High Judge, he had to make sure no cheating is allowed or sabotaging of other competitors. He had also been tasked with checking the surroundings if there were any impacts from the outside that could potentially help the competitors to cheat, or cause severe damage to the royal family. Of course, the general was also in charge of the safety of the royal inhabitants in the audience. But observing from the closest, it had to be him. After all, he was the only Judge. So he must ensure the safety of the Princes.

About the High General, as if he had seen him before... he looked so familiar, maybe he had connections with him also, but could not quite recall the moments. Maybe it was just hallucinations.

Gosh, he needed to stop sleeping too much...

"Time for the third round is up, all contestants please put your product down! Now for the High Judge to determine the weapons!"

He totally didn't forget to judge the third round of the Election: weapon forging, did he?

Orange stood up, sweat rolling down his forehead as he stopped by the first Prince. He slowly picked up the spear. It was a pure iron one, the blade being shaped in such an elegant style of a pen. He took it carefully and swung it after maintaining his distance to not hit his Royal Highness. He smiled a bit before placing it back on the table.

"The durability is high, your Royal Highness," he said, smiling calmly, trying to keep his composure. "However, the tip of the blade is not as sharp as usual, for it has to be enough for..." he traced his finger carefully on the edge of the blade, and lifted out, his finger barely having a scratch. "This, the finger would have been cut a bit if the edge was sharpened enough. Overall, this is still a good spear, but it could use some more sharp-edged."

"How do you know about all this?" the eldest Prince frowned at him and asked, he could not help but gulped a bit. Prince Authurous was intimidating and quick-tempered, so Orange needed to make sure he didn't get to his bad side.

"Your Highness, I have been honing the weapon crafts for some years before I decided to continue with art," he said, fighting to keep his tone level once again so he could conceal his nervousness.

"Very well," the Prince sourly said as Orange heaved a sigh of relief, before going to the youngest Prince to check on his dagger. A silver-coated dagger, but he couldn't quite make out the actual material used for the dagger. Sharp, the techniques were really good, but it seemed that they lacked the strength needed to make the piece of metal flatter. He tried swinging it in his hands before looking at it closely.

"Your Highness, Prince Aelliouso-"

"Just address me as 'Prince Aelius', if that makes you comfortable."

"Uh- uhm, I'm sorry your Highness," Orange quickly apologized and went into his work. "It seems like you have some knowledge about blacksmiths, but it appears that your strength isn't enough to flatten the blade out, even though it was coated, and well-made. Req"

He moved on to the second eldest Prince, the last one he needed to check on was the iron sword, but not before he smelt something metallic lingering in his body again. He tensed up for a moment before turning his back to the Prince, taking the sword, and quickly slashing the red blur launching right in front of the royals.

"My apologies..." he muttered as the crowd practically exploded with screams as a swarm of red covered the supposed blue sky. He motioned to the guards and the General, who immediately took action. "Protect her Majesty and their Royal Highnesses!"

The crowd was horrified, and everyone wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. The swarm of red covered the unlucky people and slowly made them dissolve, adding even more to the scene.

Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow were running forward instead, aiding the guards in capturing the imposter of all this ruckus.

The guards were trying to aid the royals in evacuating, even though the Princes insisted on helping the inhabitants. They rushed forward, weapons in their hands, and started fighting back.

A horrific scene opened before people's eyes as the three courageous Princes rushed forward.

A red blur, as fast as lightning, went across their chest as they tumbled, trying to keep themselves grounded, but soon buckled to the dizziness and the exhaustion catching up, before closing their eyes, laying there emotionless, letting the crimson liquid pooling out of their chests.

The Queen let out an agony shout for her sons before falling with a strike, the guards could not catch the moment.

Orange was horrified, as he felt something rushing from behind. He only took out his small paintbrush and countered the attack with a loud clank, as the brush turned into a shape of a spear.

"What?" he breathed out as he swung the spear forward and pushed the hooded figure back. He swung again, performing a perfect uppercut that made loud contact with the other's pair of blades. The hooded figure rushed forward again, briefly disappearing before his eyes as he looked around, desperately trying to comprehend what was going on.

A loud clash from behind, and he was barely in time to counter it once again. He would have been dead if his reflexes failed him this time.

"Reuben, forward!"

Orange perked up at the sound to see Red with his book levitating as the powerful pink boar appeared out of nowhere and rushed towards the figure. They seemed to let out a 'tsk' before disappearing, but not before their voice slipped into only Orange's ears.

He looked around, confused, and tried to listen carefully, hoping to hear the sound of the same person speaking the same words to him. Green rushed forward as he quickly embraced Orange, which pinks spread on his already red cheeks.

"Gosh, Orange, are you safe and sound?"

"I- well, yeah, I sorta am..." he mused quietly as he glanced at his four worried friends again and had a small smile. "It was supposed to go all smooth sailing... but instead..."

"Man, it was not your fault letting the massacre happen," Blue said softly as he withdrew a pink glowing potion from his pouch. "Here, you look like you have just survived a war, drinking the potion might help you get better."

Orange took it hesitantly as he took a quick chug, feeling the liquid going through his body as he slowly felt better. Now he felt the sore muscles catching up to him as the spear turned back into a small paintbrush in his hand.

He could not help something chilling running through his veins once again as he remembered what had happened.

At the corner of his eyes, a devious smirk was visible.

The sharp tone rose again in his ears. The words to him, and for him only, that started to cast doubt on himself.

"We will meet again, the Second Coming."

=*****=

A/N:

Question for this chapter:

How many Houses (representing the fields of the Kingdom) are there in the Octavia Royal Academy? What are they?

(this question is just for fun, answer if you want to because hell I put a lot of Kingdom's lore in this. Also, the Royal Academy will be shown as an important location for the story later on!)

Also, did you notice any small details of the story that might hint the content of the next chapters?

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