Chapter 11: Duchy of Inferna [2][What am I?]
As I was lost in the hypnotic dance of the flames in the fireplace, a soft knock on the room’s door startled me.
The alarm bells in my mind began to scream.
Trying to maintain my composure, I called out, "Come in."
After the long silence, my voice came out hoarser than I expected.
The door opened.
And the person who entered was not Iris or one of the maids. It was Elara, the purple-haired woman with the piercing gaze.
She wore practical yet elegant armor, her hand resting on the hilt of the sword at her waist. She looked less like she was visiting a guest and more like she was here to remove a dangerous beast from its cell.
Her eyes swept the room, checking every corner as if searching for a threat, before finally locking onto me.
"His Grace, the Duke, is waiting for you in his office," she said, her tone devoid of any emotion. "Follow me."
It was not a request, but a command.
I rose to my feet. My heart hammered against my ribs as if it would break free, but I took care to keep my face a blank mask.
If there was one thing I learned in the laboratory, it was to never show your fear.
Fear was like the scent of blood that drew the predators.
As I followed Elara down the corridors, I realized how different this journey felt from when I had first been brought to my room. We passed through the magnificent halls reserved for guests and entered a plainer, yet more somber wing of the palace.
Here, the walls were not adorned with paintings, but with detailed maps of the Duchy’s lands and strategic drawings. My footsteps no longer fell on soft carpets, but echoed with a firm, distinct sound on the polished wooden floor.
This was the heart of the palace, its nerve center.
Finally, we stopped before a set of massive, double-winged oak doors, emblazoned with the Duchy’s coat of arms. Elara knocked, and a deep voice from within commanded, "Enter!"
Elara opened the door, stepped aside, and motioned for me to go in.
The moment I stepped inside, the power of the room settled on my shoulders like a physical weight. This was not the opulent throne room of a monarch, but the study of a commander and a ruler.
A colossal library, filled with hundreds of volumes reaching to the ceiling, covered nearly an entire wall.
In one corner stood a suit of gleaming steel armor, polished and displayed on a mannequin, clearly a relic from one of the Duke’s past wars.
At the center of the room was a desk, carved from oak, as large and imposing as a war table.
And behind that desk sat the Duke.
The man was in his early fifties, with a strong, stern appearance. Strands of silver streaked his black hair. The sharp lines of his face and an old scar on his jaw screamed that he was a leader forged on the battlefield, not an aristocrat who sat behind a desk.
His eyes were as gray as a stormy sky, and the moment they fixed on me, I felt as if they were trying to bore into the deepest parts of my soul.
In the chairs beside the desk sat Duchess Seraphina and Iris. The Duchess wore a worried expression, but her posture was dignified. Iris, however, was anxiously biting her nails as she looked at me. Her eyes seemed to plead, "Please, don’t do anything wrong."
Elara had silently entered and taken her place by the door, effectively cutting off my escape.
The silence in the room was broken by the Duke’s deep voice from behind the desk.
"So, you are the mysterious boy they found in the forest."
His voice filled the room like an iron clamp. "My daughter and wife would have me believe you are an innocent victim who has lost his memory. But I find it difficult to believe that a boy who survived in the Frozenwood for more than eight days with nothing but a bearskin, and on top of that, managed to take down a Silverback, could be ’innocent’."
His gaze was like a drill.
"Tell me the truth, boy. Who are you, and what are you seeking within the borders of my Duchy?"
I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly parched. I repeated the lie I had prepared.
"I don’t remember, Your Grace. When I opened my eyes, I was in that forest. Other than my name... there is nothing."
The Duke’s expression did not change. "Amnesia... How very convenient."
He turned his eyes to Elara. "Captain Elara, repeat your report."
Elara took a step forward. "Your Grace, as I stated, I detected no mana core activation on the subject. However, the flames he used to destroy the Silverback gorilla were one of the purest and most destructive forms of elemental magic I have ever witnessed. This contradicts all known theories of magic."
The Duke turned back to me. "Mages train for years to use their power. They develop their cores, they learn to control their mana. And yet, you tell me you know nothing, but that you can turn a beast that would challenge a knight into ash in a fit of rage."
He rose slowly from his chair. He walked around the desk and stood directly in front of me. He was even more imposing up close. He smelled of power and authority.
"I am going to administer a test, Cassian," he said, using my name for the first time. "This test will, at the very least, tell us what you are not."
My world shattered at his words.
In that moment, I understood that this luxurious room, this warm fireplace, these clean clothes were not gifts; they were the trimmings of a cage. Until now, the only thing I could rely on were the lies I had painstakingly pieced together from the wreckage of my mind.
But now, the Duke’s eyes and that gleaming crystal told me that not even my lies could save me from this.
Damn it!
Why must I always fall from one cage into another?
I spun around involuntarily, a sudden, wild impulse to escape seizing me. But my breath caught in my throat when I saw Elara standing like a statue by the door. Her eyes were on me, her hand on the hilt of her sword.
I knew that even if I managed to miraculously burst out of this room, the corridors would be filled with guards.
My escape was impossible. The trap had closed perfectly.
Helpless, I turned back to the Duke. I met his gray eyes. He looked at me with the calm of a predator who has cornered its prey and is enjoying its struggles before the final move.
I tried to suppress my fear, my panic, that primal scream in the depths of my soul. I had to hide my weakness.
Forcing my voice not to tremble, I sought a tone that was as calm and steady as I could manage.
Lies would not work. So, I would have to try the truth. Not all of it, of course, but a piece of it.
I would give them what they wanted: a story. A story in which they could find a piece of themselves, a story that might feed their mercy, and perhaps, their doubt.
"Before your test," I began, surprising even myself with the false calm in my voice, "will you allow me to tell you the story of my life?"
The Duke paused for a moment, as if weighing the audacity behind my words. His eyes narrowed slightly. He hadn’t expected a response, and certainly not a challenge.
I heard Iris hold her breath. Duchess Seraphina watched me intently, analyzing every twitch of my face.
Finally, Duke Kaelan gave a barely perceptible nod.
"Speak," he said, his voice flat and uncompromising. It was not a grace, but a permission with a time limit.
I took a deep breath, trying to fill my lungs with courage.
I slowly took a step forward and reached my trembling hand toward the cold crystal on the desk. The moment my fingertips touched its smooth surface, the pale blue light rippled faintly, as if reacting to my touch, weighing the energy, the lies, and the truth within me.
I placed my hand fully upon it.
"It all began when I was just a newborn baby..."