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Prince Varan pushed into heavy iron door, which opened with a loud screech somewhat similar to a sound made by cat whose tail got stepped on.

"Damn."

He shouldn't be in this part of the castle, in fact, nor servants, nor guards were allowed to these halls on direct order from his bellowed father, the king. Varans's curiosity, however, got the better of him and after seventeen long summers, he finaly plucked up the courage to visit this wing of the castle under the cover of the night.

He still wasn't quite convinced, that it was a good idea to sneak in, but it was too late to chicken out now. His heart was constantly in his throat and whenever he heard a noise, even the quietest, most innocent howl of a wind, his right hand quickly slid towards the gold-adorned hilt of his faithful steel sword. The feel of that weapon, securely fixed in a sheath on his belt made him feel safe and boosted his volatile confidence.

He have passed countless shady rooms, that spread out one after another into every direction, it felt like being in a giant maze, giant maze that someone hid in your home.

All the rooms were perfectly tidy. There was not a piece of furniture in any of them, but strangely enough, in every single room, there was either a torch or a candlestick illuminating it with a flickering warm light. There wasn't any sign of human presence, nor the presence of any other living creature in fact, no cobwebs in the dark corners of the rooms, no bats hanging from the ceiling, there wasn't even a trace of dust either. It all felt very unnatural and this strange surroundings significantly affected Varan's resolve to continue on, his determination prevailed in the end, but he still did not feel to be himself.

He continued on through grim halls, endlessly alternating with empty rooms, one identical with another. It almost seemed like he wandered through one room over and over again.

At times, Varan sudenly stopped and stiffened, just like a meerkat that spotted an enemy on it's watch. He tried to focus on any sound, or anything at all, that could help him to determine which direction should he take.

He heard nothing, even the wind stopped whispering it's heartwarming tunes. Everything was as silent, as a forest visited by a predator, with prey silently hoping to evade it and live to see the light of another day.

Varan opened another door, leading to another chamber, that looked like a perfect reflection of the previous one. It was like looking into a mirror, creepy mirror eternally reflecting shady rooms. All the premises were built in a chessboard order, in every single room there were four wooden doors leading into four corridors, each of those corridors led to another room, identical to the one before. It was stupefying, monotonous and Varan quite often considered to give up his journey and return to his bedchamber. Hours have passed since he ventured forth into those god forsaken halls, he never strayed away from his path, always continuing straight forward into the unknown.

"This goddamn castle is not even that big!"

If he was younger, and still believing in the stories told by his wet nurse, he would surely call this strange phenomenon a witchcraft or sorcery. Now however, he knew that that was highly unlikely, as the growth of power of the inquisition and somehow linked near-extinction of dragons, believed by many, truth to be said rather insane scholars, to be the source of this magical power, made anything supernatural, besides the three gods of course, rather unlikely to exist or occur.

Despite everything, he knew in the deepest corner of his soul, that something wasn't quite right about this place. Constant, burdensome feeling of being watched followed him with every step he made, he had to keep looking back, it was the only thing that could keep him calm.

Varan though, looked into every direction in vain, nobody was there, actually there wasn't a thing anywhere, nothing but shadows, cringing in every corner like ashamed children, that have been naughty and now are serving their punishment.

"HALLOOOO!" His voice resounded through the hall.

...

...

...

Silence.

"HALOO?" Echo could be heard after a long moment, as if someone answered his call with his own voice. Shiver went through his body down his spine, from head to toe.

"Fuck that." Whispered Varan for himself.

"Alright," he tried to sound as confidently and unwaveringly as he could, but his voice betrayed him and came out to be trembling significantly.

"I will continue forth, but if someone is here, respond and show yourself in the name of the king!"

Raising his voice, he stopped and remained on spot.

"My name is Varan Ventreas of house Heartfell! I am the crown prince and the single rightful heir to the throne!"

Subconsciously straining his chest while saying those words, he forced himself to stop pressing legs together in spite of his need to pee.

"Not answering to your lord and future sovereign is a crime punishable by death!"

...

...

"...death?" The sound of an echo came sooner this time, but still it took suspiciously long.

Slaves quilty of disobedience were once in a while sent in here as a punishment, they were never seen coming out again and the true reason of all that was apparently known only to his father, who would never mention anything regarding any of this.

Several feet of cold, cobblestone floor followed by a door, then another few feet of cobblestone and another door, on, and on, and on, always the same, over and over again.

Time seemed to be passing differently in this wing of the castle and the monotony of the hallways and rooms only highlighted this phenomena. Varan did not know, how long he had been there, dozens of minutes, hours maybe. He started loosing all hope that the monotony of the place would change and that an end of this madness would come, whe suddenly, he entered a room, not unlike all the others that he had passed through before, but still, this one was significantly different, as it had only single wooden door with steel forging, excluding the ones he used when he entered.

This is it. Time of a great revelation is here, what is my beloved father hiding from the reach of the world?

Varan unsheathed his sword, holding it at the level of his waist with his right hand. The tip of the blade aimed resolutely forward. He slowly pulled the iron ring on the door using his free left hand untill they opened with a loud creaking sound.

Pitch black was everything that could be seen behind them, at least at first, untill the eyes got used to the darkness. The only thing, that lightened up that seemingly endless space with no walls was a small candle, slowly burning on a small wooden stool.

Varan carefully, with uncertain steps, entered through the doorway.

"Is anyone here? Answer me, in the name of the king!"

...

...

"I am here, my friend dear. Eyes of gold, heart of cold."

"What? Who are you and what in the name of Sorven are you doing here?"

After a short time of undisturbed silence, he made another few steps forth, he was now within the reach of his hand far from the candle, about twenty to thirty feet away from the entrance leading into this room or, more likely a cave in which he stood.

There were no noticable walls, everything was enshrouded in darkness and when compared to the rest of the castle it was surprisingly cold, not freezing though. Fresh breeze was gently blowing throught that spacious room, no matter how implausible that seemed to be so deep in the heart of the castle.

Varan kept looking around into every direction, but he could see no one, nobody replied to him anymore and his heartbeat was calm once again but just for a little while. All of a sudden, door leading to the room in which he stood slammed with a loud bang behind him, it was as if somebody had shot a gun. Thereafter, a click of the lock could be heard, there was no way back.

"Show yourself!"

His voice was all shaky and silent, he couldn't keep it together anymore.

"I-I... I command you! Show yourself or be damned!"

Anger and fear were mixing inside of the young prince, until he could no longer control himself, starting to furiously swing his sword around, whilst swearing and insulting an invisible foe. It closely resembled a squire, practicing his fencing skills, or a group of children, blithely playing knights with wooden sticks. In spite of how it seemed, Varan wasn't carefree at all.

"Not today my scaleless child, the day will come, you will turn wild."

The voice seemed cold, uncaring about the world around. Ironicaly and seriously, sadly and hapily, it was peculiar and Varan did not know what to think about it. As far as he knew, it did not belong to a human being as it was unnaturaly powerful and mighty, the cave shook with every word this unknown creature said.

"Stop rhyming for gods sake! And speak to the point, if you have anything to say at all!"

"As-you-wish."

He quivered.

"Who are you?! And where are all the servants my father sent here?!"

Varan screamed from deep within his lungs.

"The darkest shadow in the night. The worst doubt in your heart. The beginning, the end. Chaos and order, both of those and none. I am the nemesis of mankind, the end that draws nearer with every steps of your beloved inquisition, with every step of your deceitful brother and your mendacious father. I am the opposite of your fake idol. I AM YOUR FUTURE!"

Varan's throat tightened, he couldn't catch his breath for a brief moment.

What the hell?!

"O-Okay."

"So... What do you want from me? Gold, fief, or a title of a duke?"

"You are the one who came looking for me."

Knot of the candle was shorter with every second and Varan's patience was runing low on a similar speed.

"I want no gold, no title, as I am the lord of everything. Every living creature, from the tiniest bakteria, to the biggest whale, is just a puppet dancing to my endless tune."

What the hell is bakteria? Some kind of a damn ant that's for sure... And why the hell does he talk for so long. Nothing he says makes any sense.

Varan tried to calm himself by disparaging everything the mysterious creature said in his mind, it did not work very well.

"Fine! Tell me then, what do you want from me? And when will you allow me to leave this goddamn room?"

"You are the one who so desperately wishes for one thing or another. You, just like the rest of the mankind, everyone so extraordinary in his own mind, yet so usual and boring when conflicted with the triviality of life."

"Do not be shy and make a wish. I know your stories, for now, pretend I am just a gold fish."

"Very funny... What did you say, a wish?"

He did not understand what the unknown entity just said.

"What wish, what fish? What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Anything that you desire, anything my noble sire."

"Chest of gold, or..."

"Silence!"

Varan burst out in rage, he had enough of this nonsense and life spent at a royal court made him rather rude towards people who annoyed him.

"What did I tell you about rhyming?!"

...

Loud, dissapointed sigh could be heard from the shadows.

"I-will-fulfill-you-one-wish."

Varan fell silent and delved deep into own subconsciousness. Is this what father hid away from the whole court? Invisible being, hiding in the shadows and fullfiling everyone one of his wishes? Why hadn't his father brought him his sooner, why did he hide this truth away from him his whole life? Why did he never... Thought remained unfinished, as another, more terrifying one came up on his mind: If it is that easy, where are the slaves and servants sent here by his father? Varan didn't encounter them on his way here, but perhaps they could have gotten lost on their way, in the very same halls he, so surprisingly, have passed on his own. This one last thought was reassuring, it covered up darker, more chilling ones. One shouldn't contemplate so much about the deceased.

"One wish?"

His voice stopped trembling, now, for the first time since his arrival into this quarter of the castle, he felt confident, as confident as a card player, holding a highest combination firmly in his hand.

"Only one, no less, no more than your father."

"What?"

"Make a wish scaleless one."

The creature seemed to be annoyed and it strangely relfected in it's voice.

" Why do you keep calling me scaleless? Why would I have scales? I am not a lizard or anything.."

"Close, but not close enough. You will be allowed to try again, not now, make a wish and LEAVE!"

"Then I, Varan of house Heartfell, heir to the kingdom of Kenvarth and the duchy of Lonewood, wish to become the most powerful ruler in the history of my house. I want to destroy all our enemies and kill all those treacherous subhumans, that hide in the woods. All those wanted by the inquisition: dragons, gryphons and even those unthinking barbarians with sharp ears, that dare to walk on two legs like us. Fulfill my wish, but do not presume to be above me, as only the god is!"

"Very well my lord."

His adressing of Varan was ironical, but the young prince seemed to be ignoring that, for now at least.

"Your wish shall be fullfiled. But, in favor, you will have to give me something as well. A thing, which I will collect when I find it appropriate."

"Yeah,whatever. When I get what you promised to me, I will give you as much gold as you'll want."

"Very well. It is time for you to wake up and rise into a new day filled with pain, fear, blood and... Hmmm... You shall see her for yourself."

"Who? What the hell?..."

"One last think before you wake, you shall be evil, dishonest and two faced. But in the end, you will try to make things right, I will make sure, that you will never succeed. Never try to opose me and hide away what I rightfully deserve. White scales, white soul, she will be mine, remember your promise young prince, remember your promise."