8 Spear of Arauthator
Baldur stood outside of a pair of black, metal doors, hidden in the deepest part of the dungeon within the castle along with Jendi. The woman took off her crown and placed it in front of the key hole where a ray of light emerged and moved up and down, scanning the crown. After a moment, there was a loud beep and the doors opened for the pair.
"Enter. This test would be far too dangerous for most but a fool like you should have no trouble," Jendi looked at her son in indifference. If it was Edward or any other young noble, she might have been worried about them. But Baldur had proven that he could move faster than a normal man could even see.
At only 3 and a half years old, Baldur appeared to have reached his peak height, no longer looking like a teen. Instead, he appeared as a young man in his prime, though he was much taller as he stood slightly over 3.5 meters in height.
"I shall return safely, Mother," Baldur promised her while entering the room
As soon as he entered, the doors closed behind him. The room was pitch black but his unique eyes allowed him to see in the dark as if there was a low light on.
Baldur examined the empty room and stood still, waiting for the trials to begin when beams of light shot out from random locations in the room. Baldur had the reaction speed to dodge them but when he noticed that they were not dangerous, he held still and let them hit him.
The lights were scanners and moved all over his body, gaining a deeper understanding of the man's body. Once the process was done, the beams disappeared before the lights on the room came on, illuminating the room.
"Welcome, champion of Feluc. Scans indicate that you are a Psyker. Adding a 4th test and increasing the level of difficulty to the other tests," an emotionless, robotic voice came from above.
A rumbling sound could be heard before the wall at the end of the room began to fold toward Baldur, revealing that it was actually a hidden set of doors.
Behind the wall was a large obstacle course that had various obstacles that could easily kill a man. The course was easily 500 meters long with danger at every step. He also saw that there were weapons along the walls, ready to fire at him.
"For the first test, please pass through the course. You have 10 minutes," the voice spoke from above
Baldur rushed as soon as the voice finished, jumping over the first spiked hurdle without a single thorn touching him. From his jump, he had managed to avoid one-third of the obstacles before they could even come online. Several blades came swinging at him from all directions but he was able to move through like water without slowing down for a moment.
None of the weapons on the walls were even able to fire a shot by the time that Baldur had reached the end of the course.
"Time: 14 seconds. New record."
The next wall-doors opened up and revealed a small table behind them with a chair in front of it.
Baldur looked around and waited for the voice but when he did not hear anything, he walked over to the table and took a seat. Once he did, the voice came again.
"For the 2nd test, Feluc is under assault from an Ork Invasion. Defeat the Orks. You have 1 minute to learn the controls."
A 3D model of Feluc appeared in front of him. The Orks had spawned near the base of the Telos Mountains which was a location close to a mining town and hidden behind a forest. This made it difficult to assault and easy to defend while also providing the Orks with materials to create weapons with.
Baldur looked over the commands and saw that he could move everyone from the civilians to the royalty.
Baldur immediately went into action. He controlled the knights and guards of the nearby towns and villages to form a perimeter around the forest. He also sent able-bodied men to dig trenches while the rest of his forces that were scattered around Feluc mobilized.
Baldur had abandoned the mining town as he figured it was a lost cause. Even if he arrived, the men and women of the knights and guards would be unable to stop the Orks and would just end up giving them more materials and food.
Most would consider this cruel but Baldur figured it was better. He was taking into account all of Feluc, knowing it was better to conserve strength for a major strike than to engage them where they had the advantage in terms of numbers and skills.
The town was torn apart for 2 days but that bought enough time for the nearest Baron to send their Imperial Knights and military forces to reinforce the guards. With the additional numbers, the defensive force was ready to repel any Ork attack properly without having to fear that they would be overrun.
The first attack came and it was met with heavy resistance, unable to break through Baldur's lines. The Orks continued to attack for several days and even though each attack got closer and closer to the Feluc defensive lines, they were never able to breach it.
On the 15th day, that was when they had finally built up enough Orks to lead a massive raid with a true Warboss to lead them. But by that time, two more Knight Households had arrived to provide support. Under the fire of 10 thousand knights, 200 thousand guards, and 8 Imperial Knights, the forces of Feluc were able to repel the attack.
With the attack thwarted, Baldur commanded the groups to lead a counter-attack before the Orks could regrow their forces.
With flamers in the lead, he had his men burn down every inch of ground before them while having half of the Imperial Knights destroy any tree that stood in their way. The rest were used as artillery stations, constantly raining fire deep into the forest, slowing down any Orks that may have been making their way to the army.
Though the progress was slow, it was efficient and even allowed for another Knight Household to join them and added 2 more Imperial Knights and many more knights and guards to their army.
They finally reached the original site on the 30th day, where the Orks were attacked with the full force of the united forces.
"The Orks have been defeated in 30 days. Zero casualties. New Record.'
Thanks to Baldur's patience and the trial giving him the location of the Orks when they arrived he was able to defeat the Orks without any casualties. Baldur knew better than to take this game seriously though and felt no pride.
In a real invasion, the forces on his side would not move as efficiently nor would he know when and where the Orks first arrived. He would most likely not find out about them until they attacked a major city.
The walls opened once more and there was a large screen with 10 questions written on it. Below it was a small keyboard on top of a desk.
"For the 3rd test, answer the questions. You have one hour."
Baldur walked over and typed up the answers to the questions without much thought. His memory was near perfect, able to easily recall almost anything that he had read. He had spent more time in the library than training, usually rereading many texts that he had read before. His knowledge of Feluc would make most scholars who dedicated their lives kill themselves when they realized he wasn't even 4 yet.
"All answers correct. Time: 15 seconds. New Record."
A rumbling sound could be heard once more. But instead of the doors opening, the ceiling above Baldur opened while the desk and screen sunk into the floor.
Coming from the room was a small boulder with a flat base, making it difficult for Baldur to see what was atop it. When it finally reached his eye height, Baldur saw a spear stuck into the rock. The spear was black with light blue lines that almost appeared to be cracks along the weapon.
"This was the spear of a powerful demon of the Great Azure One. The powerful being sealed inside that shall kill you if you fail to control its power. Final test: take the spear of survive."
Baldur grabbed the spear without hesitation. Whether he wanted to or not, he had to take the weapon in hand to leave.
As soon as he grabbed it, ice began to cover Baldur's body. But the cold was not the biggest threat to him. It was the creature within his mind.
Baldur was facing the astral projection of a creature he had seen in paintings many times but never thought it to be real. It was a mighty dragon Its scales were pure white with piercing blue eyes. The creature dwarfed Baldur in size, making him feel like a small child.
"Tsk. It has been a long time since one of you Psykers has come to me. How much had Fenris changed since I have been sealed inside this blade?"
Baldur looked at the creature in confusion, not sure what he was talking about. The dragon's pressure felt massive at first but Baldur did not plan to die in the dungeons. He had promised his mother that he would survive.
"This place is not Fenris. We are on Feluc", Baldur explained while trying to subdue the creature using his Psyker might
The dragon winced when he felt Baldur's attack, never expecting such power from a human
"You- are you truly human? What human can surpass deamons and Eldar in psionic might?"
"I am far more than normal humans but I am indeed human," Baldur replied casually while he was slowly suppressing the creature and destroying its soul
The dragon felt its soul being slowly destroyed by the pure force that Baldur was releasing. It was ancient and knew that it was no match for the young man, even with its thousands of years of experience.
"Boy, I shall not be able to defeat you so at least remember my name. I am Arauthator, the greatest of my kind. May I make a request?" Arauthator spoke calmly as if it was not his soul being destroyed
"Speak," Baldur stopped pressuring it so much, but made sure not to let down his guard
"I have a grudge against Tzeentch for it was one of their greater daemon who sealed me in this weapon. If you find any of them, can you kill them for me?" Arauthator asked, his voice weak
"No need to ask. I have a grudge against them myself," Baldur remembered how they had caused him and his brothers to be separated. He had no plans of sparing the ruinous powers or any that worked under them
The dragon nodded, no longer saying anything. His white form slowly began to become translucent before it faded completely, leaving not even a speck behind.
Baldur opened his eyes and appeared back inside the room in the dungeon. He was no longer grabbing the spear in the boulder but he had it firmly in his hand while the boulder had been destroyed by a blast of psychic energy.
"The Spear of Arauthator. Better name than something like Widow Maker."
Another rumbling was heard and Baldur walked through the wall, emerging in a room that had 20 Imperial Knights of various designs waiting for him.
"Congratulations. You have passed all 4 trials," the robotic voice spoke to him. "You are worthy of being the True Highking of Feluc."
The light in the room came on and all of the Imperial Knights bowed before Baldur, each taking a knee in his direction. Even without pilots, the machine spirits themselves have acknowledged their king.
Outside of the room, a beam of light shot up from the room of the castle, sending a message to all of Feluc. A new crown prince had been chosen. And their new king was worthy of the throne.
