Lord Luthor was there, so no

Vel was finally back in his bed, having been deposited there by Adeline after a very tense supper. Vel didn’t have many good things to say about his father, but one of the man’s few redeeming qualities in his eyes was how rarely he joined his family for meals, usually being too busy to do so. Sadly, tonight had been an exception. It could have been worse though; his father had mostly talked about his meeting with the local leaders the twins had seen him riding with. Apparently, they had been discussing preparations for an elven delegation that would be passing through on its way to the imperial capital. That was pretty exciting, Vel couldn’t deny that. Elves were a rare sight in the empire, so rare that Vel had never seen one. He knew there was an elven ambassador in the capital, and his uncle had sent him a letter about an elven ship docking at his port only once. So, a whole delegation of them coming through was incredible. The only problem was, if his father was going to meet with them, there was no way Vel would be allowed to attend.

Vel had also found himself damn near unable to use his newfound ability. Pushing his mind out had taken great effort, it had been like straining an already exhausted muscle. He supposed that made some amount of sense. He’d pushed his mind hard today, first by experimenting with this new power and then by spending hours reading. Of course, his mind was beat.

Being as exhausted as he was, it didn’t take long for Vel to drift off to sleep. He dreamt, and in his dream, found himself in an ashen wasteland. He wanted to check his legs, to see if he was whole in this dream, but looking down revealed only a long flowing robe that concealed both of his legs. He also appeared to be floating a couple of feet above the ground. A voice startled him out of his inspection “Greetings, my liege, it is good that you are finally here.”

Vel’s head snapped around, looking for the source of the voice. It seemed to be coming from all around him at once, so he wasn’t immediately sure where to look. On his right, though, he spotted a figure standing a few feet away. It was of vaguely humanoid shape, but entirely covered in dark robes and what appeared to be billowing smoke. It was actually hard to tell where the robes ended, and the smoke began. Unlike him, the figure was standing on the ground.

“What is going on?” Vel voiced the only thoughts he could really muster. The figure seemed to chuckle. At least Vel heard a chuckling sound from all around him, and the smoke rippled for a moment. “Your confusion is understandable, my liege, but all will become clear in time. For now, our connection is not yet strong, it has taken me a long time to even track you down. I must admit, when one of my scouts told me it had found you, I barely even believed it. And yet, there can be no mistake, you are the one.”

Vel’s mind was working in overdrive, trying to sift through everything the figure was saying. “By your scout, do you mean the strange beast we encountered?” The voice sounded pleased “Very good, my liege, your mind works swiftly. Indeed, the beast as you call it is one of my scouts. It was searching for you, and as soon as you left a mental imprint on it, it rushed back to show me.” That was one question answered, onto the next one “You keep calling me your liege, that implies you are my underling, why and to what end?” It was difficult to tell with the billowing smoke, but Vel thought the figure nodded “So I am, my liege. As for the why, it is my life’s purpose to ensure your survival and success. To what end, you ask? To see you take your rightful place as ruler.” There was really only one reply to that “Ruler of what?” The reply came immediately, as if the question had been expected “Of everything.”