Raguna's neck prickled as he snuck through the dark, stone catacombs under the Palace. His steps were measured and quiet. His muscles tensed, ready to leap or flee, depending on the circumstance, upon encountering the magicians. In his right hand the man carried the Grimoire medallion, symbol of the royal Sech family; and in the left, the Dragon Requiem Staff, a powerful magical item said to have been forged by four elemental Dragon Gods and blessed by the Harvest Goddess. The staff, though mystical beyond comprehension, possessed little power in Raguna's hands at the moment. It was said that only the chosen Earthmate, when the time was right, would be able to remove the seal placed within it and unleash the Staff's full powers in order to protect and restore balance to the earth.
In spite of this, Raguna had brought it with him. Ever since he arrived at the palace six years ago, after the widower king had revealed that the blue eyed thirteen year old farm boy was his son (and he took the boy's mother as his new wife), the staff had always seemed like a beacon to the lad. In one of his many endeavors to gain the boy's favor and affection, as well as attempting to make up for all the time he had neglected Raguna (for he'd been after all illegitimate), the king had given the staff to his youngest son as a present.
Sure, some of the royal magicians objected at first, claiming that the staff was a sacred article of mystical, though yet dormant, powers, and not a plaything for a peasant's child, but the king overruled them stating both that Raguna was his son, now fully installed prince despite his past, the next in line for the throne (after his older brother), and also the fact that the staff had lain in the palace for centuries and that no magician, earthmate, king, or anybody else for that matter had been able to activate it. The magicians, not wishing to further anger their king backed off, but pleading the king that should the staff's seal be removed, the boy must relinquish it. The king agreed.
Someone else who'd complained had been Koen, the king's eldest son, twenty two at the time, claiming that as next in line for the throne, he had a greater right to any royal heirloom, especially over some bastard farm brat. That had gained him a fearsome beating from his father, and had in turn resulted in the prince developing a seething aversion to his younger half-brother.
The silence of the catacombs was pierced by a low humming sound. Many, many paces away, the man discerned a weak, golden glow. As he neared it, the light grew stronger and the humming louder, until he recognized it as the chanting of dozens, and then as the chanting of the royal magicians and their countless acolytes. He reached the doorway and crouched, peering inside. The three magicians stood, forming a triangle, chanting and gesturing in synch with the acolytes and the music around them. In the middle of their formation stood a cloaked figure, tall, broad shouldered, and glowing with the magic the others wound around him. The cloaked man seemed to be breathing in the power; he started to laugh, reveling in the magic, as his dark blue eyes fell on Raguna's. The figure raised his hands abruptly and the ritual stopped. All faces turned to the intruder. Raguna's body froze, and the next thing he knew, he was kneeling in front of the cloaked man. The man laughed again and exited the ritual, taking a seat in a stone carved throne at the back of the room. All around, some at ground level, some in platforms, some higher still, stood the acolytes, holding candles and strange items; soon these resumed their murmured chanting while the three magicians closed in on the youngest prince.
"What," the cloaked figure spoke darkly, "might the young prince be doing lurking around the catacombs?"
One of the magicians knelt by Raguna's side, gripped his chin and jerked the boy's face up, staring into the prince's azure eyes. The man chuckled, "Why, my lord, it seems the boy is not as foolish as we had assumed. It seems indeed that he has made out a part of your glorious plan."
Raguna tensed. It took all his strength to move his gaze away from the sorcerer and towards the hidden man in the throne. "K-Koen…"
The man stood, clapping, and the cloak's hood fell back revealing the eldest Sech prince. Koen drifted forward. His features were sharp and frightful, despite their immense beauty. His hair was the color of midnight and his skin snow pale; he was the complete opposite in every aspect from his half brother. The only trait they shared was their eyes- those sapphire eyes that were signature of Sech royalty. "What has he discovered, this bastard brat? No, no Cadman, do not tell me. I want to hear my brother speak for himself. Speak, Raguna, what made you come down here? What is it you've learnt?"
"I- You- You're behind this?" Raguna gasped. The strain against his body produced by the magicians' powers felt overwhelming. It took all his concentration to keep from slipping into oblivion.
"I am."
"But- But y-you… You are betraying the C-Covenant of t-the…"
"That old thing?" Koen scoffed. "Yes, yes, the Covenant of the Seven Empires. Ha! A worthless treaty created to impede any of the seven empires of our world from taking more power than it should. Bah! The Sech Empire will no longer stand for it, Raguna. I shall lead our glorious empire to absolute control! I shall give the Sech nation the greatness it has always deserved! Are we not the most advanced of all the seven empires? Our technology makes the rest pale in comparison- And with the power of the magicians, why we are unstoppable! The only reason out nation does not control the world as it should is that none of our leaders have had the brains or courage to do what they must! It is our great nation's destiny to-"
"You're insane!" Raguna cried. "Do y-you he-hear y-yourself-f?! What you speak w-would only- AH!"
"Silence!" the first magician cried, "How dare you speak so insolently to your king?!"
"King?! F-Father is k-king, and he w-will never a-allow this!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, poor little brother. Had you not been meddling where you're not welcome, you'd have already learned, nay, perhaps even stopped it. Father is dead. Just an hour ago he perished, poisoned. In other words, I am king."
"Y-You…" The boy's breathing sped. "You m-murdered f-Father… Mother…"
"No, Isabella still lives, and I've no intention of killing her- it would raise unnecessary questions… Of course, I can't give your mother free reign. I hope she enjoys her new castle at the edge of the empire for she'll have to remain in it until the day she dies."
"Now, young Raguna," another of the sorcerer's spoke, "you posses pride in our nation, do you not? Then why do you rebel against his majesty's magnificent plan?"
"What he feels doesn't matter," the king interrupted. "He will not live enough for it to matter. Of course, I do feel generous. Why leave you in the dark before I kill you. Yes, it serves well that you should at least know what I intend to do before you die. It'll make it all the sweeter for me when you posses the knowledge and yet are unable to stop me- Ha-ha-ha!"
A rumbling buzzing sound filled the room.
"How unfortunate," Koen shook his head, "Father's funeral is about to begin. This means I'll have to leave you for now. No matter," he turned to the servants, "Do as you wish with him. All I expect is that he will no longer be a nuisance by the time Father is buried and I have taken the crown."