Chapter 21: Chapter Twenty One: Token Evil Teammate

“Oh yes, for your curse!” The Exiled Princess said. “Well, there are two Mages powerful enough to break a powerful curse. This first is the Healer Mage, who you will find in the infirmary.”

 

“The second is a secret ally of ours, the Mage Advisor to the Evil Emperor.” The Exiled Prince said. “He specialises in fire and curses.”

 

Qube stared at the royals, feeling there was something very wrong with them having a magical secret ally who was advisor to their greatest enemy, but unable to articulate why. The Chosen One scratched his chin.

 

“Well I’ve already got a Healer, so I’ll go for the fire guy.” He said. The Prince smirked as the Princess pouted.

 

“You will find him in his Wizard’s Tower.” The Prince said. “Speak my name and he will help you.”

 

Without even saying goodbye, the Chosen One turned on his heel and walked out of the room. Qube took one last look at the two royals, amazed at her ability to withstand their royal-ness. She felt a warm glow inside of her - she really was becoming an even better Companion. Soon she would be able to withstand anything or anyone that tried to get in the way of her guiding the Chosen One!

 

“AH! What! How did you get stuck in here? No! Move DOWN the stairs!” She heard the Chosen One yelling. “Sewer Bard, pull her towards you!”

 

“I always knew you couldn’t wait to get your hands on me, darling.”

 

Qube just wished she knew how to control her own companions.

 

---

 

The “Wizard’s Tower” was tall, dark, and poorly built. Qube wasn’t even sure how it managed to stay upright, it had so many bits of it sticking out at odd angles. Even if this Mage Advisor was using magic to keep the whole thing upright, he could have at least put some thought into the aesthetics of it. Part of it also looked like a dragon had sneezed on it, as it had soot in some kind of blast pattern on the side.

 

Qube eyed the castle next to the tower nervously. Even though the Evil Emperor technically could appear anywhere around the kingdom, in reality he spent almost all his time in the castle that dominated Cobbletown, gathering each day to give a speech to the troops, watch them parade around the inner courtyard of the castle and then spending the rest of his time sitting in his throne room doing… whatever it was that Evil Emperors did.

 

Since the Mage Advisor was frequently required to go speak to the Evil Emperor, it made sense that his personal tower would be right next to the castle. However, it still made Qube uneasy to walk from the line of houses through the exposed courtyard around the tower. If the Evil Emperor happened to look through the castle windows, he would be able to spot them easily! 

 

When she’d mentioned this to the Chosen One, he’d just laughed, and said that it wouldn’t be an issue. Was this because the Evil Emperor had let them go once already? He’d said it was because he wanted to see how they would progress, but Qube wondered if he was following his own Evil Prophecy (she wasn’t sure what colour that would be. What was the opposite of golden? Blue? Purple? Was he following his own Purple Prophecy?) and this was all just an elaborate trap.

 

Even if it was though, it wouldn’t matter. Because they had the Golden Prophecy behind them, and that was undoubtedly stronger than any Evil Emperors’ traps.

 

Down the very bottom of the tower was a large dark door. As soon as the Chosen One approached it, a face appeared on it.

 

“Speak.” It commanded.

The Chosen One ignored it, and tried to push the door open.

 

“Speak!” The wooden face commanded more sternly.

 

The Chosen One kicked the door, which squawked at him, then turned and looked at Qube thoughtfully. Qube resisted the urge to pull a face at him.

 

“Please don’t try and break things.” She said.

 

“But it’s who I am!” He exclaimed, his eyes wide and innocent. “Don’t you think we should test this Mage’s power?”

 

“No.” Qube replied. “I think he should cure me.”

 

“But he’s the Advisor to the Evil Emperor, shouldn’t we make sure he’s good by having you secretly go into his base?” The Chosen One stopped abruptly. “Wait, why am I actually negotiating with you on this?” He rubbed his face, suddenly looking tired. “This game is messing with my head way too much.”

 

Did he think their back and forth was a game?

 

“Whatever, whatever.” The Chosen One said, waving his hands. “Prince dude sent us.” He said to the door. The door, still glaring at him with its wooden eyes, opened. It must have some kind of truth spell woven into it, Qube thought, or else that would be a serious security risk.

 

The inside of the Wizard’s Tower made even less sense than the outside. Qube barely had time to take in the sheer size of it before the Chosen One groaned.

 

“Seriously? Stairs? You couldn’t have a teleportation spell?” He asked the face on the front door. The front door sneered at him, then went to sleep. “You had better stay here, I don’t want you getting stuck.” He said to Sexy Screamy Spider Lady. Sexy Screamy Spider Lady pouted.

 

“Are you implying that I wouldn’t fit?” She asked, insulted.

 

“...Yes.” The Chosen One said, then started climbing the stairs… and climbing… and climbing…

 

By the time they reached the top of the tower, the Chosen One was in a filthy mood. Slamming open the door, he marched into the wizard’s ...lair? Attic? Bedroom? Qube wasn’t entirely sure what this place was, besides a massive mess. The place was lined with bookshelves, some with ingredients and potions on them, others with massive books and clothes.

 

The Mage Advisor looked up from the ancient looking tome he was studying.

 

“You-”

 

“I’m not doing those stairs again.” The Chosen One snapped. “So you’d better have a way to teleport us down again.”

 

The Mage Advisor blinked.

 

“I don’t-”

 

“We already did the forest temple, we’re doing the fire one next. It’s stupid. We should have gotten you before the forest one, and I’m pretty sure the one after fire is water where you’ll be useless.” The Chosen One moved past the Mage Advisor and started picking up various potions. He turned to Qube.

 

“Here, put these in your backpack.” He said, handing them to her. “Guy’s not a party member yet otherwise I’d do it myself.”

 

Qube, utterly bewildered, stood directly before the Mage Advisor and started taking all his worldly possessions. The Mage Advisor, second in command to the Evil Emperor who ruled the kingdom, secret ally of the Exiled Prince and Princess, watched in silence as the Chosen One, Saviour of All, used his invisible friend to steal everything.

 

Sewer Bard played his “Fire Solves Everything” song for him while they waited. The Mage Advisor did not seem appreciative.

 

While she was busy taking everything she could, Qube took the opportunity to examine the Mage Advisor. He was not at all what she had imagined a Mage Advisor to a ruler to look like. She had expected him to be old, with long white hair and beard. Possibly with some kind of owl familiar as well, and definitely a pointy hat. 

 

Instead the Mage Advisor was young, with spiky red hair and dark red, mystical looking tattoos on all his visible skin. Of which, if Qube was being honest with herself, there was a bit too much on display for her to feel entirely comfortable. While she herself was a fan of short sleeves on robes, the Mage Advisor had taken that even further, and cut the front of his robe into a deep V shape that travelled down his chest.

 

He also had a hooded cloak, but Qube figured that was pretty normal for the people living in Cobbletown. Probably a regional fashion thing. The blood red colour was unusual though.

 

As they continued looting the place, the Chosen One looked at the Mage Advisor.

 

“Okay, you can do your backstory now.” The Chosen One said graciously. There was a pause, as the Mage Advisor struggled to find words. Qube was pleased to note that even such a powerful person was subject to the First Exposure to Chosen One effect.

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“What worm dares enter my inner sanctuary?” He finally managed.

 

“Door let me in. Prince word. Fire temple.” The Chosen One said, picking up one of the stray ingredients from a bookshelf and putting it in his mouth. “Hmm, poison.” He said thoughtfully.

 

“Chosen One please!” Qube said.

 

“Oh yeah and my Companion is cursed to be invisible by your boss.” The Chosen One added as an afterthought.

 

“That’s not what I meant!” Qube said, “Please stop eating things without checking with me!”

 

The Mage Advisor paused again, his expression pained. He glanced at Sewer Bard, then back to the Chosen One.

 

“So you know of my secret allegiance to the Exiled Prince and Princess.” He said, trying to wrench the conversation back on track.

 

“Yeah I’m sure that's totally legit and you aren’t gonna backstab them at any point,” the Chosen One said. “Look, are you going to join my party or what?”

 

“I have much work that I cannot simply leave.” The Mage Advisor said uneasily. “Some of my test subjects are rather... restive.”

 

The Chosen One rolled his eyes. “Sure, they’re not gonna torture themselves. Do you have a quest you need me to do before you’ll join?”

 

“...No.” The Mage Advisor eventually conceded.

 

“Then come on, Definitely Bad Guy, let’s go.”

 

Definitely Bad Guy, so named to help sell his disguise to the Evil Emperor no doubt, glowered at the Chosen One.

 

“Um, Chosen One? Shouldn’t he use his room filled with all his magical things to break the curse?” Qube asked.

 

“Good point.” The Chosen One praised Qube, making her beam. “Definitely Bad Guy, can you make her visible?”

 

Definitely Bad Guy looked at Sewer Bard, noting his long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and his puffy shirt. “I see no curse.”

 

Sewer Bard bowed. “There is another - possibly in this very room,” he looked at the Chosen One, who nodded, “who is afflicted with a curse most foul. I beseech you, Definitely Bad Guy, to bring her back into the sunlight that so befits her beauty.”

 

Definitely Bad Guy looked around the room, puzzled. Still seeing nothing he closed his eyes, and muttered a brief spell. His tattoos pulsed red for a second, and when he opened his eyes the veins had become visible, and his pupils looked like deep pools of blood.

 

He scanned the room, not even pausing as he looked past Qube. He turned back to the Chosen One, looking extremely annoyed as he released his spell. He blinked a few times as his eyes returned to normal.

 

“Where exactly is she?” He asked Chosen One.

 

The Chosen One put his hand in the middle of Qube’s back and shoved her forward. “Right here!” He said cheerfully. Definitely Bad Guy picked up a handful of white powder from his pocket and blew it towards Qube.

 

“Argh! Why?” Qube asked as she got hit in the face with… flour? Why did he have flour in his pocket? How would you even keep it loose like that without it clumping? She started coughing as she accidentally inhaled some.

 

Definitely Bad Guy steepled his fingers together as he examined the flour covered Qube.

 

“I can’t see anything.” He admitted eventually. “My reagents just disappeared.” Qube looked at him, then at her flour covered self. Sewer Bard squinted at Qube.

 

“I think I can almost see her.” He said, awestruck. 

 

Definitely Bad Guy's look of annoyance deepened.

 

“It makes no sense that you would be able to see her and not I. This is clearly a very strange and powerful curse.” He said. “Did you say this was done by the Evil Emperor? When was this?”

 

The Chosen One looked rather sheepish, for some reason.

 

“I’m not a Mage,” he said eventually, “but she’s invisible to people. Look can you fix it or not? I don’t actually care-”

 

“Hey!” Qube interjected angrily.

 

“-but she complains about it a lot. Like, more than I would have thought she’d be able to.”

 

“Use this salt to draw a circle around her. Then I will need to conduct some experiments,” He looked at Sewer Bard and Chosen One, “without interference.”

 

Chosen One raised his eyebrows in surprise.

 

“You want me to leave?” He asked incredulously.

 

“Your auras interfere with my tests.” Definitely Bad Guy said. “It’s magical, very difficult to explain.”

 

“I’m not walking down those stairs.” The Chosen One said firmly. Definitely Bad Guy sighed.

 

“Use this pendant, it will take you wherever you want to go within my tower.” He handed out a dark red teardrop shape to the Chosen One. “Do not disturb my experiments.”

 

Qube didn’t remember seeing any other rooms that they had passed while climbing the tower. Instead it had just been a giant spiral of stairs leading to the very top. Why Definitely Bad Guy had felt the need to build his room on the top floor was, admittedly, a mystery to her but she assumed it was to reduce the risk of harming anyone if an experiment went wrong. Where, then, were these test subjects and experiments he was referring to? They’d already taken everything out of his room, so it couldn’t be that.

 

Qube felt the familiar pain behind her eyes she got whenever she tried to think about such things too much. While it wasn’t the mind-breaking power of the Prophecy that used to grip her, it was still a gentle-ish warning from her brain that trying to apply logic to magic led mostly to madness. It was probably pocket dimensions, similar to the pocket magic used in her backpack.

 

Oh! She perked up. Now they had an actual Mage, as opposed to her limited Healer knowledge, she would be able to ask him all kinds of questions! Like the key magic! And how pockets worked! She beamed at Definitely Bad Guy in anticipation. He had studied magic his entire life, and was good enough at it to become a trusted ally to the Exiled Prince and Princess as well as being good enough to trick the Evil Emperor! And at such a young age as well! She would finally have answers for all the questions that burned inside of her. She hugged herself so she wouldn’t move from the salt circle the Chosen One was drawing around her.

 

“I’ll be back once I’ve finished checking out the other rooms.” The Chosen One said quietly to Qube once he’d finished encircling her with salt. “He’s a party member now so I can take all his stuff.” He paused and rubbed his forehead. “And once again I’m explaining things to you. I think I need a break after this before I go completely insane.”

 

He raised the pendant and instantly teleported away. After a few seconds, Sewer Bard also popped out of existence. Definitely Bad Guy sat on his dark red wooden chair with horns twisting from the top of it, and once again drew on his sight spell, focusing entirely on the space Qube was standing in. Even though she knew he couldn’t see her, Qube smiled at him encouragingly. 

 

She just couldn’t wait until they could talk to each other. She had a feeling they were going to be the best of friends!

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