2 - Chapter 2

From the outside, the fog tower looked long and vertical, but in the inside, there was a wide and straight road ahead. The mages went deep along the road, passed through a double-opening door, and came to an impossibly wide vaulted hall.

The throne of the Skeleton King stood on the high steps deep in the hall. The steps are made of obsidian, and throne was made of numerous bones. The skeleton of a giant dragon sits on the top of the throne. The empty eye socket on the skull were burning with an eternal flame.

Burris approached the throne slowly, stopped at a sufficiently polite distance, and bowed to the old friend he hadn’t seen for a long time.

The man on the throne, like Burris, wore a black cloak and hooded his face. Seeing Burris, he slowly stood up: “My friend? Is that you?”

“My Lord, it’s me,” Burris replied. “I kept my promise. I’m here.”

The Skeleton King came down the steps and slowly took off his hood.

Seeing his face, Estel, standing behind Burris, was taken aback. In her imagination, the appearance of the Skeleton King was similar to that of the Lichs: the shriveled skin clinging to the bones, and there were many gems embedded in them… However, the creature walking towards them were far beyond her expectations: his head indeed had the Lich style, and his eyes also had the kind of fire common to Lichs and necromancer knights, but he had a pair of demon like long horns and four pairs of beast like fangs, and his exposed skin was covered with black scales, with red polarized light, which looked like a ripple of blood from a distance.

The Skeleton King went straight to Burris and took off his hood. What happened next made Estel, who was watching, be even more surprised: The Skeleton King was silent at first, and then stepped back, covering his mouth with his scaly hands, and the flames in his eyes kept flashing.

“Burris Gershaw?” The Skeleton King said in a low and majestic voice. “No, this can’t be you… In my memory you have charming greyish green eyes, soft flaxen hair, dexterous and beautiful hands… but now this… it can’t be you! The mage in front of me is plain, without ears, is missing one hand, and doesn’t even have hair!”

Burris awkwardly coughed, pointing behind the coffin: “My lord, I’m very old and at risk of sudden death, so I have changed my body for the time being. My original body is over there.”

The Skeleton King walked to the side of the coffin and looked at the old man’s peaceful face in the crystal window: “But… he doesn’t have hair either.”

“I’m eighty-four years old, my lord.”

So, the King carefully identified it again: “Oh, yes! If you take a closer look, this face does look like you did.”

Burris made another curtsy and murmured urging: “My lord, I kept my promise and found a way to return your freedom. Now I invite you to leave the Fog Tower and go to my world. Why don’t we reminiscence about the old times then?”

The King nodded: “It makes sense. What is your method?”

Burris looked back at Estel again, and she felt inexplicably cold.

“I looked up a lot of ancient books and finally found this method,” Burris said. “My lord, you have to be mentally prepared. This technique is slightly indecent, I am afraid it will make you laugh.”

“I’ll try not to laugh. Tell me”

“I have activated several spells in advance, successfully weakening your bindings… Uh, now…after that….”

“Why are you hesitating? Keep talking”

Burris turned around, grasped Estel wrist with his thin hand, and pushed her to the Skeleton King: “I will offer you the Silver Bloodline, the Chanter of Dawn, the only descendant of the Knight King Passia –Princess Esteline Passia of the Sago empire.

“What?” Estel exclaimed. When she was a child, she had always believed that ‘it was not good for an adult to call your full name all of a sudden.’ it turns out that this was also true in adulthood!

She subconsciously broke away from her mentor’s hand. Burris’s new body was crippled and weak, and his strength was simply inferior to hers. When she tried to escape, the Skeleton King pressed her shoulders. Estel didn’t dare to look back. She could clearly sense the smell the death coming from the Skeleton King, and his cold, scaly hands made her shiver.

The Skeleton King steadied the princess and looked at Burris blankly: “What did you just say?”

“I said, “I want to offer you…”

“No, what did you call her? Why is her name so long? “

Burris felt a tightness in his chest… What happened to this meeting? Why is the atmosphere totally different from what he thought before? His magic arts are all right, and the king’s attitude is good, but he had a strange feeling about where this is going…

The mage secretly made a judgment: it must be because there is something wrong with the temperament of the Skeleton King. In his memory the Skeleton King was noble and majestic, and his body was covered with awe inspiring power. Ordinary human beings are as humble as dust in front of him… But when he thought about it carefully, the Skeleton King did not say much at all. Most of the time in the conversation was Burris himself talking non-stop… After the exchange of promises, the Skeleton King had to return to the other dimension. Therefore, Burris thought that he did not understand the King’s character

“Her name is Estelin Passia.” Burris explained patiently as much as possible. “You don’t need to remember such long titles and names. I usually call her Estel.”

“You say she is a princess? “The King looked at the girl in his hands. “Why do I see her more like a mage? She has been by your side just now, I thought she was your apprentice or your daughter.”

“She is indeed my apprentice, and she is also the princess of the Sago empire. My lord, you may not know those human kingdoms. The Sago Empire is the most powerful country in the Confederation of Ten Nations. Their royal family claims to have inherited the blood of ancient demigods…”

The Skeleton King was not interested in history and mythology. He watched Estel carefully: the texture of her robe was better than that of Burris. The jewelry and hair accessories she wore were simple in style but very textured, and with long golden wavy hair and sapphire eyes, she was indeed a standard princess image.

“I’m still surprised.” Said the Skeleton King.” In my impression, the human nobility would never be tainted with arcane arts, not to mention studying necromancy. What’s going on now? What has become of your world? The princess has become a necromancer?”

Burris sighed. “My lord, let’s continue with the matter of returning your freedom. Let’s talk about these details in the future?”

“No, I’m going to listen to it now.” The king held his head high.

“It’s a matter of priority…”

“No.”

“I do it for your own good…” A layer of sweat floated on Burris’ bald head.

“It’s not just for my own good, it’s the mutual benefit of the two of us. I want to be free again, and you want my help. So, tell me, I’m curious”

“Well.” Sighed Burris. “Well, many years ago, the king and queen of Sago were invited to a settlement country in the southeast, and they lost contact with their ministers because of a barbarian ambush. They avoided pursuit and wanted to return to their country as soon as possible, but they fled into the ‘Mountains of No Return’ by mistake.

“What are the Mountains of No Return?”

“It is the place where my mage tower is located. That land does not belong to any country, only belongs to me. In short, the king and queen were hungry and they broke into my experimental field, pulled out my Dragon Blood flowers, dug up my Blackstone grass, and cooked a pot of what looked like beet potato soup… while they were eating, the queen fainted. The king also felt unwell. He took his wife to the mage tower with his last strength. He cried and begged me to save her… The queen was pregnant, and the situation was very dangerous.”

“Let me guess! The crop they ate must be have been your experimental medicine, right? You were very angry about this, so you put a cruel curse on the queen’s child…”

“I didn’t…” Burris helplessly looked at Estel. The apprentice stared at the ground calmly, seeming to have given up struggling.

The Skeleton King continued to speculate: “Otherwise, you promised to save them, but you have a condition. The condition is that they have to give you the child that is about to be born! So, you got Princess Estel! You locked her up on your tower. She sits at the window and combs her long hair every day, and she often sings…”

“It’s a little close, but it’s not that.” Burris said feebly. “I did have a condition, that the Mountains of No Return would sign a treaty with the Sago Empire, and that my land would be protected. The king agreed. I also told him that the queen was in a special situation. Although I could save her life, I could not guarantee the future health of the child in her womb. The child was attacked by poison before she was born, and it is likely that she would not live to be 14 years old in the future.”

“I suggested that they send the child when she was young, and I would take care of her. After confirming that the child was healthy, I would return her…but the king disagreed. As the years passed, Princess Estel’s health became worse and worse. At first, the royal family gave her to the temple. As a result, those people could not save her at all. Her condition was deteriorating day by day. When she was 13 years old, the king thought that she might not live to be 14 years old, so he quickly sent her to my tower.”

There was a very delicate expression on the Skeleton King’s face. Because his facial structure was different from that of human beings, Burris could not tell what the expression meant.

“Are you so kind, then? Why do you help the king and queen for no reason? why save the princess?”

“It’s not for nothing,” Burris looked at Estel again, and he felt that the following words would make her feel uncomfortable. “To help the king is to sign an agreement with Sago, and to save the princess is to consolidate relations with their country. Can’t just refuse to pay for the benefits, right? Originally, Estel was just my patient. Later I found out that she was talented in casting spells. She also showed great interest in the secrets between life and death… In this way, she was a princess in the empire, and an apprentice to me. I appreciate her very much, and she can also help me.”

Sure enough, Estel said bitterly: “Mentor, I finally understand. What you said about admiring my talent… was it a lie? Do you agree with me only because I am useful?”

Burris looked at her with love in his eyes: “No, my princess, you are really talented, I didn’t lie to you. You are the youngest of my apprentices, but the best qualified… At the same time, you are indeed very ‘useful’, these two things are not contradictory. Many things in the world are not either one or the other, but the result of many reasons. You are young, but you will understand when you are old…”

Estel sneered and shook her head: “You said before that you need an important assistant, so you asked me to come here with you. As a result,… you just need to sacrifice a princess, and I happen to be a princess…”

Burris was shocked: “Sacrifice? Who wants to sacrifice you? This silly child…what are you thinking?”

“Eh? Isn’t it…”

“No!” Burris cleared his throat and looked at the Skeleton King, “My Lord, my explanation was interrupted by you, now I’ll explain it to you again. In addition to the spellcasting I completed in advance, to break the curse and take you away requires an indispensable step… this step is what I found in the classical books, it sounds very simple, very classical…and It’s also funny. The specific method is to…ahem, it’s needed that a princess of noble blood gives you willingly a kiss.”

The Skeleton King was stunned: “Am I a frog?”

“Of course you are not.” Burris said. “Think about it. It seems simple, but it’s hard to do it. Who can casually find a real princess? Who can connect to the door of the other plane casually? Who can weaken the bindings of the cursed plane? Who can easily take a living princess without guardians? Who can make a princess voluntarily kiss without forcing her? It took me a long time to prepare for it, so I can look as confident as I am now. “

The king nodded, thinking it was very reasonable. He looked at the princess in his hands and asked her: “Then, come and kiss me, and I can get rid of the curse on me.”

Estel raised her head, stared at him for a while, and kissed the back of his hand helplessly. After the kiss, of course nothing happened.

Burris reminded: “Of course not his hands. You have to kiss, my child! It’s forgivable if you don’t read enough spell books, but haven’t you even read fairy tales? A princess’s kiss must be a kiss on the lips to succeed!”

Estel looked disgusted: “Mentor, I have always respected and trusted you, but you didn’t tell me anything in advance. You tricked me into coming here, you want me to inexplicably kiss a higher undead creature who doesn’t even have lips… I am the princess of Sago! My father has no other children, so I am not only the only princess, but also the first heir to the future throne! Do you treat the future queen like this? The princess or the queen can kiss anyone?”

Burris reminded her: “Your uncle has two sons and one daughter; he might do something to you in the future…”

“Didn’t we agree that you would help me one day…”

The necrom ancer said: “So, child, in order that we can continue to work together in the future, now you have to give something, right? Just need a kiss, not your throne or virginity. Do you know who this lord in front of you is? The Skeleton King was born in the divine realm and appeared in the Black Lake in front of the Hall of the Dead…Do you know how many spellcaster have tried to find him? Now he is willing to deign to be our ally, and you don’t even want to offer him a kiss? My child, you have also promised before the god of the Arcane that magic is the only truth, and worldly interests are second… We can even sacrifice our souls when we need to, but now you are stingy for a kiss.”

The speech was recited for a long time…The princess listened indifferently and sighed: “All right. I can kiss him. But… I have never kissed any man in my life. I don’t know what to do. Mentor, you kiss the king first and give me a demonstration.”

“What?” Burris’s hand gripping the staff trembled.

“You kiss the Skeleton King once, and as long as you do it, I will do the same.”