LITMIR.BIZ

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only mage from Rhaedarian, and he even wrote a spell book in Rinonic. And he’s just a Lynx who somehow learned to control the energy of his soul in a strange way. Yes, yes, that’s why you and I, my friend, cannot perform true magic. Managing magic is not our strong suit! Although I can cast spells. Well, you know… Use various energy-charged ingredients. It is possible to place them in a special liquid if you are preparing potions. The main thing is to bring everything to the required energy potential for the spell from a special magical book. There are a lot of nuances and various branches. True, some, as I mentioned earlier, I began to forget. One thing I know for sure… Now, for me, the main potion is strong ale. It would also be nice to have good listeners like now. Occasionally, girls wouldn’t hurt either. But now, unfortunately, there are none.

      It seems that in my attempts to recall something about the magic I once studied, I completely forgot about the main event in my life – the Battle for the entire… Empire. I could fight on equal terms against a dozen trained Rhaedarian warriors. I even managed to hold my own as the victor. It was a mere trifle. By the time of our duel, I was prepared like never before. But that didn’t instill even a slight confidence. Fear… it kept me from sleeping and eating.

      When the time finally came, I shook hands with my mentors. The duel for the right to rule the entire empire was supposed to take place in a strictly designated location. In the capital of the Rhaedarian Empire, on the main arena of the military border perimeter of the city. The path to this arena led through the east-west passage of the city – a large street that extended from the city center, where it connected with other passages, to the center of the eastern perimeter zone. So… What am I talking about? Oh yes… And here I was, already approaching the exit from the castle. The morning sun blinded my eyes. I knew I had a long journey ahead. Ahead of me, with the imperial convoy, they took away my uncle – Megala. I was also supposed to ride on a special imperial chariot, pulled by young Irlings of a special breed with light fur. // Note: Irlings – resemble camels without humps with faces slightly resembling dogs. // I was also escorted by the imperial guard, starting from the castle gates. When we set off, I felt a very strange, incomparable feeling. As if the calm before the storm in my soul. The closer I got to the duel site, the stronger the storm in my soul woke up, as if feeding on me, and it tried to break free. At a certain point in this trip, I felt fear and excitement, not only because, as a prisoner of my uncle for many years, I had never been so far from the castle.

      Here we are, almost at the first wall – the first monumental structure that encircles the entire city, built by the great Rhaedarian architect – Noran. He could have been a good ruler, but his element was not war, but architecture and construction. It was he who made the Great Wall of Illyrion even higher. Although, by the time of the conquest of Illyrion by the Rhaedarian Chief Sanre, who became the first Rhaedarian emperor, this wall was already called great – and not just like that – nevertheless, it was Noran who made Illyrion absolutely impregnable.

      So… And here I am, accompanied by my convoy, crossing the first wall and, finding myself on the border perimeter, I see the arena with a crowd of people, and beyond it, I see the second wall, called the Great one, although, I think it does not need an introduction. The Great Wall also encircled the entire city, but already including the border perimeter. It shaded part of the morning sun and cast a shadow on part of the arena – it was so great. To see this wall so close in person, not in paintings. It also stirred up a storm of emotions. I must have been the only person in Illyrion who had not seen it so up close before. But still, I couldn’t be distracted because I was about to face not just an important battle, but the most important one… As the man who accompanied me immediately explained, all four kings of the other Rhaedarian realms gathered in the arena stands. I realized that the entire nobility from the entire empire had gathered to watch this spectacle. I was also accompanied to the arena under guard. When I reached its center, I finally saw him – my uncle, who killed my mother and father. I felt the blood in my veins flow with the same rage as seven years ago when we met face to face for the last time.

      The musicians beat the drums and blew the horns. I was dressed in the standard armor of a Rhaedarian warrior. We were both clad in the same armor, excluding the helmet. Different helmets were then issued to us, so that the audience could easily distinguish between us. He was given his black and gold helmet. I, on the other hand, received a plain one in the colors of the Rhaenean wood, with uneven blue stripes, probably just to make me stand out a bit from the regular warriors standing around the arena on guard. Megal put on his helmet, then I put on mine, and the sounds of drums and horns abruptly fell silent. This was the moment. The moment when the storm inside me finally burst out. At that moment, my entire life path flashed before my eyes. It was either me or him – there was no other option. Swords were given to us. The sun had not yet warmed the day, but I was already breaking into a sweat. And a moment later, military trumpeters sounded the horns typically used by the Rhaedarians to announce a military siege or attack. This sound signaled that the battle had begun.

      Megal approached me, dragging his legendary sword through the sand, the same sword with which he had deprived countless noble warriors of their lives. It seemed as if he was somewhat upset. Perhaps it angered him that during this battle, he was not the emperor of a mighty empire. Now we were… equals. This brought at least a slight relief to my soul. But I still had to win. The first strike, of course, came from him, and it wasn’t difficult for me to deflect it. I couldn’t help but compare this battle to our previous one. This time, I held a sword almost equal to his, though it was the most ordinary Rhaedarian one, and this time my sword was not much larger than me, and it wasn’t as heavy as it was back then. This realization strengthened my spirit. I convinced myself that my hope for victory was not unfounded. Filling my hands with my own fury, I directed it towards my enemy.

      I dared to try to land a couple of ordinary strikes on him, and he blocked them with the same ease with which I did later. Well, then we decided to circle each other a bit and look into each other’s eyes. I think he was trying to see something in my eyes, but he could hardly see anything there except rage, although I tried to contain it. He, on the other hand, seemed completely calm. After a few moments, he took off his helmet, threw it aside, and said, “Now I see… You haven’t learned anything.” Then he sighed and immediately declared, “Today, it will kill you!” – and a barrage of strikes rained down on me. I could barely defend against them… Then I finally realized that he was just waiting and studying me – and he had enough time to see me as if in the palm of his hand.

      Then we clashed swords like dogs ready to devour each other. I leaned on my sword, and he on his. We looked each other straight in the eyes. “Why measure strength when you should measure intelligence,” I thought – and then I realized that his fist was flying towards my face, covered by the helmet. There was no time to think. His foot immediately followed the fist, directed to the same spot. It seemed that he just wanted to remove my helmet in this way, as it flew off and fell somewhere near my feet. Then he gracefully shifted slightly to my left, so that I was directly between him and the helmet. In other words, the helmet was behind me, and taking advantage of my confusion, which still hadn’t left me after the previous blows, he began to advance. Accordingly, I started retreating. And where did it lead? Right! While retreating, I stumbled over that same sword. It was unexpected. In my position at that moment, it was already difficult to expect anything. Everything happened so quickly… I had no moment to think. I didn’t even realize that I had already lost. After landing on the sand with my back, he simply knocked the sword out of my hand, forcefully hitting the hilt with his own sword. After that, he immediately pounced on me and began to pound my head into the sand. Brilliant, fast, and simple. He had simply planned the sequence of actions in advance and executed it perfectly, as if he had done it many times before, leaving me no moment to reconsider and understand anything. Only after that did I realize how truly strong, experienced, and intelligent a warrior Megal was. He must have been born with a predisposition for this. All my strength, experience, knowledge, skills that I had carefully honed throughout my life, and even my will,

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