Blankly, the man stared down at his feet. His mouth hung open as if he were a fish gasping for air. The next moment, he was in motion again. He dashed toward one of the windows and yanked it open.
The window had no glass yet. It was just a hole with wooden frames around it. But the man's body was powerful enough to tear through them like paper. A sheet of ice flicked out from behind him, but it wasn't fast enough. The man's naked body slammed right into the window frame.
He didn't stop moving after that. Even though he'd hit something hard, he continued running straight ahead. Just as he reached the edge of the window, he thrust his arms up and jumped.
His hands caught hold of the top part of the wall like a bird catching a branch in its beak. Then he pulled himself up with incredible force—so much so that he lifted off the ground and hovered there for an instant before continuing to climb.
"What is this guy?" I muttered to myself.
I could have sworn that I heard someone answer my question: "An otter."
It wasn't long before we saw him again. We also got our first clear look at the inside of the palace.
What greeted us was a surprisingly simple room. There were three doors—two on the left side and one on the right. The only way in or out was by those two doorways.
In front of each doorway were large iron-barred doors. They looked like they belonged to cells in a prison. That's probably because they did.
There were two guards standing outside each cell. Their spears were already drawn, ready to attack anyone who tried to enter. However, even if we wanted to escape, there was nowhere to go.
As far as I could tell, the only thing in the entire room was the center of the floor. And there was another man sitting in the middle of it.
That man was a giant. He was easily over eight feet tall. His white hair and beard looked like snow, while his skin glittered like gold. His eyes were deep blue, piercingly bright.
And he was dressed head to toe in robes made from black fur. It seemed like some sort of ceremonial outfit for a king.
But despite how extravagant it looked, the robe was decorated with strange designs. There were no patterns on it at all—just lines of different colors. I couldn't make heads or tails of what they were supposed to mean.
The man turned his head slightly toward me. I thought I saw the corner of his mouth twitch up into a smile.
"You're not exactly the type of person I expected to see here," he said. "Who are you? Is your name Gaius, by any chance?"
"Gaius...?" I repeated dumbly.
Then I finally remembered who this guy was. "Oh! You're the guy who came out of that mirror!"
"Yes, I am," he replied with a nod. "Are you a friend of mine?"
"Uh..."
Was that even possible? This place was too strange to grasp. It felt like every time I thought I knew where I stood, everything went sideways.
"If you're friends with me, then why don't you come here? Come on. Don't give me that face. If I'm your friend, then you should want to be close to me."
"No, it's not that..." I began, but the man cut me off.
"Don't worry about it. Let's forget about that for now. Do you know who I am? Or rather, who my brother is?"
He was clearly trying to start a conversation with me. Was this guy really a king? Did he have magical powers? I had plenty of questions, but I figured I'd better wait until I got answers before asking more.
"All right," I said instead. "I guess I can talk to you for a little bit."
"Excellent. I've been waiting for this moment for quite some time." He gave me a big grin. "Now let's go inside."
At that, the guards holding their spears pointed them at me and started to move in.
"Hey!" I shouted. "Wait! You guys aren't going to hurt me, are you?! I'll listen to whatever you have to say, so just wait for a second!"
This was one of the rare moments when I wished I was taller. At five foot ten, I was barely above average height. Most people in the world were taller than me, so whenever I needed to shout, I was always forced to get louder than usual.
"Hold on there," said the guard who'd spoken to me. "We haven't decided anything yet. What do you think we should do with him?"
"Hang on, just a minute," I said. "I'm not the enemy. So unless you have evidence that I'm involved in whatever this is all about, I'm not going anywhere."
"Evidence? We have plenty of that. Look at the clothes he's wearing. They're black. He's obviously a member of the Black Cat Tribe. If we ask him where he came from, he might be willing to lead us to the tribe's leader. There's no way we can keep him here without proof that he's guilty."
"If you know that much, then why don't you arrest him already?!" I demanded.
The guard's face stiffened. "Listen, kid. Your attitude is getting on my nerves. If you don't shut your mouth, I'm going to put you in a cell right alongside him."
"I won't let you do that!"
"Oh, really? Be careful how loud you get. You don't wanna wake up the rest of the city."
"Well, I'm not scared of you!"
A few seconds later, the guards hauled me to my feet and led me into the palace.
"What's going on?" I asked once we were inside.
"Wherever you're from, it doesn't seem to be very civilized," said the giant man with a chuckle. "You should learn a little more about how things work in this country before you start talking back to the king's men."
"I'll take your advice under advisement," I replied. "Hey, you wanna explain to me what this is all about? Who are you?"
"I'm King Alexander, ruler of this kingdom," he answered. "My older brother, the current king, died during the invasion of the monster army. His son is currently ruling, but he's just a child. So we have to find a new king soon, and I hope you'll help me choose the best person for the job."
"Okay. What do you need me to do?"
"Very well." He nodded. "First, I'd like you to meet my father."
King Alexander led me to another room. As we walked, I could hear the sounds of metal clanging against a stone. That was coming from the other side of a door.
"This is where I grew up," he explained. "It's a secret prison for traitors."
"Secret prison?" I repeated. "What's in there?"
"You'll see," he said with a smirk.
He opened the door, and I saw a whole bunch of chains.
"Come on," King Alexander urged.
"Hey!" I protested. "You're not going to chain me up, are you? If you do, I won't be able to get away from you forever!"
"I told you, this isn't a punishment. I'm just showing you what happens to traitors."
"Why would you show me that?"
"Because, if you don't trust me, then you won't be able to help me."
"All right. You win."
I followed King Alexander into the room. The first thing that struck me was the stench. It was like a cross between raw sewage and rotting flesh.
"Sorry about the smell," the man said. "That's the smell of magic."
"Magic...?"
"Yeah. That's a spell I cast when I woke up this morning. Since my brother fell ill, I've been doing all kinds of experiments with magic. But I still haven't figured out a way to get rid of that smell."
Just then, I noticed something sticking out from underneath the prisoner's bed. It was a thick, brown rope.
"Is that...?"
"Yep. It's an enchanted rope that lets me control him directly."
"Wait. Can you really do that? Can you use magic on people?"
"Sure. I can bind anyone I want. I can even send them somewhere else. This is an old trick from the war. With it, I can put you in a cage and make you watch as I torture my enemies."
"I see..." I said quietly.
"I'm not using that kind of magic on you," King Alexander assured me. "I'm not the cruel sort."
"Oh, good."
"So, have you ever used magic before?"
"Nope."
"Huh. That's pretty surprising. Most kids in my country learn it from the time they're little."
"Really?"
"It's almost become a national sport. Everyone does it. But there's only one rule: Only use it against people who deserve it. Once you start using magic on innocent people, the whole world will hate you."
"But how do you know if someone deserves it?" I asked. "How do you decide which people you can use it on and which ones you shouldn't?"
"That's easy," the king replied with a shrug. "You just have to think about what they're doing. Are they being good citizens? Or are they betraying their country and their people? If they're a traitor, then they deserve to die."
"I see."
I thought about all the nasty things I'd seen in this country. I wondered whether I'd be judged as a traitor if I ever got back home.
"Let's go," King Alexander said, grabbing my hand.
"Wait! Wait for a second!" I cried out. "Didn't you say you wanted to know what I thought of as a 'traitor'? Well, what about me? Am I a traitor?"
"Of course not!"
"Then why am I here? Why did you bring me all the way out here?"
"I brought you here because you're the only one who has a chance to save my brother."
"You're joking, right? There's no way I could do that."
"Well, maybe you don't know the full story. My brother is dying. And you're the only person who can cure him."
"I'm not a doctor."
"Not a doctor, no. But you're the only person who knows how to stop an incurable disease."
I didn't believe him. The king was lying. There must have been a better way to cure his brother. I tried to tell him that, but King Alexander wouldn't listen.
"You don't understand," he said. "This disease is spreading quickly through the kingdom right now. Unless we find a cure soon, everyone in the country will fall sick."
