Jude had quickly unsheathed his sword and was ready to defend himself against this mysterious person with a long glowing staff.
"Relax young one, I am not going to hurt you." The man said, walking closer to him.
"How do I know that?" Jude said as he pushed himself back before quickly getting up while pointing his sword at the man. "Stay back."
"I don't exactly know how but if you think I am going to hurt you just keep your distance and tell me who sent you here." The man said.
"Huh?"
"Who sent you was it the king?" The man asked. "He still hasn't learned that those stones can't be retrieved." The man said pointing at the cage with his staff.
"What king are you talking about?" Jude asked.
"Aren't you from Asaka?" The man asked.
"Yes, I am from Asaka," Jude said.
"Then I'm talking about your king, Roy." The man said.
"You know our king?"
"Yes, he used to send his knights to come retrieve these stones but they always failed because of the shadow enchantment used on the cage housing the stones."
"What's shadow enchantment?" Jude asked.
"A special spell cast by shadow witches or wizards to protect something, once cast the spell can only be broken in two ways." The man said.
"Is that what that purple aura is?" Jude asked.
"Yes, Roy had stopped sending his knights for ten years now. I am surprised to see that he decided to try again and with a single…."
"I wasn't sent by Roy," Jude said, cutting him short.
"You weren't, then who sent you?" The man asked.
"Nobody sent me, I really need those stones for something important," Jude said cautiously, drawing closer to the man with his sword.
The man stared at him for a while, he had a hood on but Jude knew he was staring at him.
"I'm sorry but I can't help you young one." The man said as he turned and began to walk away.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Hey wait, you seem to know a lot about Asaka, can I at least know who you are?" Jude said.
The man had stopped walking as he turned back to Jude.
"It makes sense that you don't know who I am." The man said.
"Huh?"
"You weren't born then." The man said, walking closer to him.
Jude was still being cautious as he held his sword firmly, one of the lessons that stuck to his head at knight school was never to trust anyone easily no matter how nice they may try to be to you.
"When?"
"When your king banished me." The man said.
"You were banished, why?"
"King Roy had a plan and I was getting in his way, at least that's what he thought." The man said.
"What plan?" Jude asked.
"It's a long story and I don't think you'll like standing for long, follow me." The man said as he turned and began to walk back to where he had come from.
Jude thought of the many ways this could be a trap and didn't want to follow but he needed something and this was only a strategy to get it.
He followed him but cautiously in case, this was a trap just like he had thought.
He didn't have a problem following the man as the glowing staff provided good lighting for him to see where he was going.
'I wonder how he's making that staff glow.' Jude thought as he followed him.
The man led him through one of the halls until they had entered one of the cells which had its bars ripped off by the man.
Apart from the man's staff, the area was pitch dark until the man had hit his staff on the ground.
Balls of white light shot out from his staff and attached to the wall until the room was as bright as ever.
"How did you do that?" Jude asked with an expression of awe on his face.
"Have a seat." The man said as he walked to one of the rock seats he had around a rock table.
Jude kept looking around the room from the wooden bed by the side to the cupboard and the kitchen utensils hanging on the wall.
'He lives here.' He finally realized.
"So you made your home here after you got banished," Jude said slowly sitting on the seat opposite the man.
"Yes, it's nice right?" The man asked.
"Yes, but you still haven't told me why you got banished," Jude asked.
"Oh yes, I was getting to that but I think it's appropriate you see my face clearly before I start explaining." The man said as he slowly took off his hood.
Jude had expected to see a very old face due to the long beard and the voice but the face he was seeing now was that of the middle-aged man who still had that good masculine look.
"I thought you were…."
"Old." The man said. "A lot of the knights who came here thought the same but you're right I am old in my own way."
"So how did you get banished?" Jude asked.
The man looked around for a while and took in a deep breath before he began to speak.
"Have you ever heard of light wizards?" The man asked.
"My dad used to tell me about them when I was a child," Jude said. "Are you a light wizard?" Jude asked after realizing that may have been the reason why he asked him that question.
"I can see you're a smart one." The man said. "Yes, I am a light wizard."
"That explains the glowing staff and lights," Jude said, looking down at his staff before looking up at the lights.
"I was the light wizard of Asaka, keeping out the evil spirits when they still roamed the lands and making Asaka a peaceful place." The man said.
"If you did all these for Asaka then why and how did you get banished?" Jude asked once again.
"King Xavier, Roy's father, was a good man who treated everyone equally and during his time Asaka was at peace as he was content with what he had.
"But after his death, Roy took over everything changed, he raised taxes because he wanted money, and soon his greed brought about the desire to extend his land, to extend Asaka.
"There was a kingdom named Rovere, not too far from Asaka and because they didn't have well-equipped soldiers Roy decided to take over their land.
"There were six travel stones and according to tradition, the light wizard had to keep three while the king kept three, Roy sent spies to set up the crystals in Rovere as he was planning to ambush them at night.
"Did he succeed?" Jude asked.
"His spies succeeded but when he came to me for the remaining three stones to get there, I refused to give him the stones.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"He still went through with his plans but his soldiers had to get there on foot, he managed to take over the kingdom but because he had lost more than the number of soldiers he has estimated to lose, he banished me from the kingdom and tried to take the stones by force.
"I got help from a friend of mine who helped me bind the stones to that wall with a shadow enchantment spell."
"Your friend was a shadow wizard?" Jude said.
"A shadow witch." The man corrected.
"Ok, so what happened after you were banished?" Jude asked.
"He knew I was here and kept sending the best of his knights every year to retrieve the stones, I would show them where the stone was and they wouldn't be able to retrieve it and after many years of trying and failing, he finally decided to give up and leave me alone."
"So you've been living here since then," Jude said.
"Yes and I'm not complaining, young one."
"You said I wasn't I wasn't born yet when you were in Asaka," Jude said.
"Yea and I'm sure of that young one." The wizard said. "So tell me, what is your name?"
"Jude Blackstone," Jude said.
"Blackstone."
Jude had taken note of the reaction from the man on hearing his last name.
"Yes, and I found it strange that you didn't mention your name throughout your narration," Jude said.
"Pardon me, my dear, my name is Festus Light."
"You're Festus Light?" Jude said.
Looking at his face you could tell he was in a serious state of awe.
****
Mass release goals...
Normal update: 2 chapters daily
1 magic Castle or 300 power stones= 1 extra chapter
2 magic castles or 500 power stones= 2 extra chapters
3 magic castles or 700 power stones= 3 extra chapters
4 magic castles or 1000 power stones= 4 extra chapters.