"What did you say!?" An elderly man shouted at the top of his lungs. He stood swiftly from his chair, his hands firmly planted on the marble-top table below.
He wore a mage’s robe, his beard long and white. He sat at the center of a table that was long and curved outward like the letter "C."
Eleven more mages sat behind this table. Before them lay a grand hall filled with thousands of souls.
The table lay on an elevated platform, a few lowered steps leading up to it. The rest of the room below resembled a courthouse.
There were two stands on either side of the table, with three-sided railings, and also a large railing stopping all others from encroaching upon the platform.
Guards stood watch, these ones clad in heavier armor. They wielded long spears, their armor gleaning with a golden hue.
Chatter spread amongst the crowd of people below as the twelve mages sitting at the opposite side of the table discussed what seemed to be a very important matter.
"All the alarms went off!?" The elderly man standing behind the center of the table yelled at a lowly guard standing before him.
The guard was separated from the other three, who had also met Dorian. He alone was forced to give his recollection of events.
"Yes--" The guard was interrupted.
"How?" A stern voice came from another mage, this one still sitting. "How could something so preposterous be possible?"
The guard gulped. "I don’t know... however, we may know a person who could be a potential suspect behind the phenomenon. A man walked by us before it happened... he almost spoke in riddles. We didn’t understand what he was saying, but the alarms were unleashed mere seconds afterwards."
The mage at the center furrowed his eyebrows. "You waited this long to tell us? We must verify the identity of that man as soon as possible!" He barked, glancing at a single mage sitting at the edge of the table.
The mage had long gray hair and wore a white robe embroidered in red patterns. He simply nodded in retortion before standing.
He walked out of the hall on a long carpet path that carved through the center of the room.
As he left, five robed figures appeared beside him out of nowhere. They all wore blank white robes, their authority seemingly less than that of the one in white and red.
In the meantime, Dorian took a piss in a nearby public bathroom. He was whistling while aiming his stream to knock a piece of dried shit off the side of the toilet bowl.
He walked out, glancing at the king’s palace once again.
Where he stood, there was a small patch of grass and trees in the center of an intersection. On that patch was the public bathroom.
"Tsk..." He clicked his tongue. "Looks like those foolish magistrate dogs haven’t made a move yet. I wanted to do this more casually, since I’m feeling nice today. But I guess I’ll just barge into the king’s castle instead." He said his thoughts aloud without a care.
"Not so fast!" A voice sounded from behind him. "You won’t be doing anything without answering to the highest authority of Meniras first!"
Dorian raised a brow as if to challenge the authority of this voice as he turned to face the speaker.
It was the same mage adorned in white and red robes. Behind him were five other mages cloaked in white.
They all had furrowed eyebrows and serious expressions, while the center mage seemed calmer. Yet, he maintained a stern tone.
"Highest authority?" Dorian said with skepticism, "So you are of the magistrate?" He quickly surmised.
"Indeed. I am Rose Cornwell, seventh of my heritage and one of the twelve Great Mages that sit atop the Holy Magistrate of Meniras." The forward mage spoke with pride, "Now that you know my name, tell me yours, intruder." His brows furrowed, as if to say he had already discovered Dorian’s method of entry into the kingdom.
"The highest authority within this... Meniras; is the king above all of you. But currently, that highest authority is me, simply because I am within the confines of this kingdom." Dorian replied, his tone uncaring. He walked forward, getting only a few feet away from Rose’s face.
Rose’s gaze didn’t waver, but the mages behind him exchanged a few worried glances as they saw how brash this young man was acting with one of the twelve magistrate members.
"Do you think of me as some mere criminal? Some petty intruder? I am Dorian Vaal Morvayne, fool. Do you understand now? If you wish to have your life spared, I am still willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. After all, my goal isn’t to destroy the Holy Magistrate. So... if you want forgiveness, bend down and lick my feet." Dorian smirked slightly, his eyes peering down with arrogance.
"Morvayne? Pfft... a long forgotten name. You think lies and bluffs will help you in this situation?" Rose replied, nearly scoffing at the idea.
Dorian’s smirk disappeared. His eyelids lowered with slight irritation, and he twitched at one side of his lip.
"If you don’t wish to give me your true name, I can find it out myself." The mage’s eyes widened slightly.
’Scanning magic?’ Dorian said inwardly. "Hmph." He let out a slight chuckle.
Rose continued staring at Dorian with the same look on his face for a few seconds too long. Then, his eyebrows began to furrow with confusion.
After a few more seconds, one of the mages standing behind him leaned into his ear: "Are you not done scanning yet, my lord? It’s been a while." He whispered.
The mage happened to be so close to Rose that he could notice the slight shaking of Rose’s entire body.
Now, Rose’s expression had turned into one of horror. But still, he looked as though he didn’t know what he was seeing.
"I..." Rose suddenly uttered, "I can’t find the bottom." He said, his voice almost breathless with shock.
"What?" The mage standing beside him asked in confusion.
Rose didn’t utter another word. Tricklets of blood began to drip down his nose, and then his ears.
The mages behind him widened their eyes, taking a few steps back with bewilderment and shock.
Out of nowhere, Rose clawed at his face with his hands before letting out a terrified shriek at the top of his lungs.
His face and skull abruptly caved inwards like wet clay, absorbing into itself before condensing his entire body into a ball of flesh, hair, and meat and dropping to the ground.
Dorian clicked his tongue with disgust, "Ugh..." He exclaimed, "Every city has an idiot who thinks curiosity is courage."