33 Risen#re

The hours quickly passed, the expedition arrived and joined the banquet and before long the sun went down, and the party moved inside the manor.

There wasn't a single place in the manor that wasn't lively as people walked around chatting and enjoying the music that was being played by a full orchestra.

Within the ball room dozens of tables were lined up on the side as people took to the dance floor and moved to the music.

At the centre of everyone's attention was the empress in her beautiful gold dress and the emperor who was looking much better than when he first arrived as well and to the dismay of many of the ladies he was fully clothed.

Sitting right besides them in the seat of honour was Lirian and at that moment he was downing a large glass of wine like it would run away if he left it alone for even a second.

Through the hustle and bustle of the crowd Lirian could hear many conversations going on about him, it was primarily the people from the expedition that were speaking.

After their arrival the nobles couldn't stop them selves from asking about the course of events from the students because unfortunately for them Lirian seemed to have no intention of saying anything to them.

At first the students weren't all that eager to speak, but after they were very tactfully fed several glasses of wine and offered very generous amounts of credits by the nobles, they started to open up.

Before long the story spread and there were those that felt the need to add in their own details, and before long a fantastical tale with multiple different version had been created, and the nobles spiritedly discussed the events with each other.

Lirian was fine with it at first, but soon the topic turned to him and Edith, some one had let it slip that Lirian and Edith had sex in the forest and they gave a very detailed description of the sounds Lirian and Edith made.

It was at that point that Lirian started on his first cup of wine, but before long there were some very daring nobles that actually came forward to Lirian to get a confirmation, they wanted to know if what they had heard was true.

Lirian had almost hit a few people when they came forward, but lucky for them the empress immediately sent them away when she saw the anger in Lirian's face.

But despite that Lirian could still hear many a story about him and Edith, and by this point he'd lost count of the sheer number of wine cups he emptied.

"Lirian dear," Taliyah said to him from the side, "Don't you think you've had a little too much to drink?"

"I know I said you can drink for today, but I think you're pushing it," she complained to Lirian as she realised that he had downed what must have been the twelfth glass that she had seen and who knew how many more he downed when she wasn't looking.

"Mmm-May I leave the party-y-y-y and go to my room?" Lirian asked with a slurred voice.

"This party is for you Lirian, it would be rude of you too excuse yourself," Taliyah whispered back to him as she looked on at the dancing crowd.

"Then I haven't had enough to drink," Lirian said, this time his words weren't slurred, but Taliyah could hear the effort it took for him to speak properly.

"Lirian you still have to climb the talent steps and complete the tests on the empires history, power structure and lineage trees, you can't do that if you're drunk as a door nail," Taliyah complained and snatched the drink that Lirian grabbed from a passing waiter.

She caught the waiters sleeve and said, "Tell the staff my son is cut off, no more drinks for him for the night."

"Urg, mother, I could pass those tests in my sleep let alone if I'm a little drunk," Lirian complained and sneakily moved his hands to take the wine glass back.

Taliyah smiled in amusement and caught his hand, "Your slight of hand is amazing as always dear, but you've gotten so drunk that you slipped up," she said with a giggle to Lirian and emptied the wine into her mouth.

Their entire conversation was heard by the crowd and many people were looking at Lirian with amused smile's, and there were those that were looking on with displeasure, those ones were undoubtedly the princes and princesses.

Every candidate was allowed to challenge the unbeatable challenge once, and most of them at least attempted it before they left for their trial.

The talent steps were the first part, as long as someone successfully climbed to the ninth step they were free to take on the next test, but the first test was already more than most could handle, simply reaching the fifth step was challenge for most candidates.

Albus sat beside Taliyah and listened in on the conversation with an amused smile as he swirled his drink, "Boy you're very confident in yourself," he said loudly bringing all attention onto their conversation.

"How high do you think you'll be able to climb up the stairs?" he asked Lirian, the emperor felt that the party had gone on for long enough, which made it time for the main event.

"How… high?" Lirian muttered with a hiccup between his words and a frown appeared on his face.

The people all thought that he was so drunk that he couldn't think of a number.

"Are you trying to say that people are allowed to take on the test even if they don't climb all the way to the top?" Lirian asked incredulously, in fact he seemed horror struck by the thought, what would be the point of the test if someone could pass without completing it was all Lirian could think at the moment.

Lirian's question caused a sudden silence to pass through the halls and several people started to laugh loudly as everyone turned they found that it was none other than a group of princes and princess that were sniggering while clenching their stomachs.

Seeing who it was that was laughing no one dared to rebuke them for being rude.

"Did you all hear that," Prince Kaher said to the crowd in a smug tone, "It sounds like the empress's brat thinks he can climb to the top of the talent steps," he said with a resounding laugh and this time many people joined in.

"The talent steps are artefacts sent by the gods to the six civilisations," the emperor explained to Lirian as the laughter echoed, "No one has ever come close to the half way mark let alone reached the top," he explained with a calm smile, he did nothing to stop the mocking laughter and neither did the empress.

This could be said to be an affair between the younger generation so unless things came to blows they would just watch on without getting involved.

Lirian also ignored the laughter as if it didn't consider him and asked, "What was the highest step ever reached?"

Lord Albus sighed slightly, "That record was made during the time of the mother of the current era, lady Titania of the fairy race achieved the 24th step, and no one has ever reach the 24th step since then, both your mother and I managed to achieve the 22th step though, the same as our founding father his majesty Clovis himself," he said with feint reverence on his face.

"So absolutely no one reached the top?" Lirian asked a little incredulously, if it was here since then it meant that in 52 billion years there was not a single person who had enough talent to reach the top.

Albus glanced at Taliyah and she just lightly shrugged her shoulders as if saying 'entertain him' with a light smile on her face, she always wanted Albus to get along with their children, but he never chose to meet them, seeing that he was here now and voluntarily speaking with Lirian she hoped to see more of them talking to each other.

"Well it's just a rumour to be honest, but during Quaria's time, she was said to have had a lover, and that man was the strongest of all her guardians, I'm sure you heard many stories about him,"

"Arthur Pendragon the man who single handedly killed the black dragon of despair that was born from a desolation,"

"Arthur Pendragon was always very lowkey in his actions, but his name is known for having been with Quaria from the start of their journey, rarely did he ever fight but when he did no one ever survived a single strike of his,"

"And the black dragon of despair went on a rampage when Quaria's people invaded its world, from there it travelled to many of the worlds causing absolute chaos, it destroyed forty worlds in its rampage and none of the guardians were able to defeat it not even Titania, even when they joined hands,"

"When all seemed hopeless Arthur Pendragon arrived with Excalibur in hand, the blade was said to have morphed from a sword into a mighty axe that eclipsed the sky, and with a single strike he brought down the black dragon of despair,"

"He was the greatest warrior of all time who none could compare with, however did you know that no one ever saw him climb the steps," he said to Lirian with a secretive smile.

"But just between you me kid, there is a mention of Arthur climbing the steps, in the journals of his majesty Clovis and the other founders of the empires there is a detail they all mentioned,"

"It's said that Arthur climbed the steps in private with only Quaria to bare witness, they tried to hide it but after Arthur climbed up the steps it released a phenomena that could not be hidden, they all witnessed the spectacle, but they never saw how high Arthur climbed,"

"But because the steps released a phenomena they believed he ascended to the very top," Albus said to Lirian with a feint smile.