COS: Royal Rune

The guards and the guide stayed at the entrance of the hall as he and his mother walked forward. Their steps echoed through the empty hall, the sound adding unnecessarily to the tension he felt. During this time he did his best to keep his heart from beating out of his chest. His plan had went splendidly so far, this was the last point of failure. 

The chances of him succeeding were significant, he had the coin and that was all the Legendary Mage cared about, for the most part. Only she was well known to be moody and unpredictable, even more so than most of the Legends and Epic beings already were. He could be unlucky and have approached her on a bad day or their entrance could be unsatisfactory or even she could hold a grudge against the Emperor that the man had forgotten about in his joy. 

There were a thousand reasons why she could say no; and should she say no, there would be nothing they could do. The hit to his prestige would be severe, he would turn home an embarrassment. He'd banked the whole of his future on this decision and there was little he could do to influence it at this point.

They stopped a good distance from where the throne and his mother nodded her head slightly in acknowledgement. He bowed to her and even bent a little deeper than was necessary of him. His status as prince of the realm helped him but it was best not to push. 

"The Guard dog and the eldest prince, what do I owe the pleasure." Sharon yawned out before her eyes narrowed "That fatty Philip better not be asking me for a loan too! I won't give it too him!" she said

He could see his mother still at the comment towards the Emperor, while he did his best to hide his laugh at the comment. He had an idea who the other loan holder was, he was fairly sure she was speaking of the man who was currently selling off as much of the conquered territory of the Silvermoon Elves as he could. 

" His Excellency, *Emperor* Philip, has not sent us here for a loan. I assure you the *royal* house of Mordain is more than capable of funding their own ventures." his mother said through gritted teeth. He could see the hand she rested on the hilt of her sword. He prayed to every god that lived that his mother would not lose her temper here. 

Sharon's mood eased significantly at his mothers proclamation, she leaned back into her seat and smiled so brilliantly he felt the room glow a little. Much of the tension left the room then. "Well if it isn't for money what do you want?"

His mother did not reply and pulled out a sealed letter - bearing his father seal- from her breastplate. She held it up as she spoke, "The Emperor wishes you to take our son as your apprentice. He has written you a letter to better elucidate the situation. Is it okay to approach?"

Sharon glance at him only for a moment, he could feel her gaze lingering on the rune on the side of his face, before she looked back at the letter intrigued. She did not reply to his mother and only waved her hand and the letter floated into her hands. His mother huffed and mumbled something he could not hear as Sharon unceremoniously opened the letter and read it. 

Soon her eyes widened so far that he felt like they would pop out if she opened them any further. She looked looked between him and the letter more than a dozen times before she started to cackle uncontrollably. It was wicked one filled with malice and greed, unfitting someone of her status.

He could almost see her counting the coin she would make in her head. The laughing lasted for some time before a loud cough from his mother pulled the legend out of her stupor. 

Her face turned rosy as she cleared her throat, the letter disappeared from her hand in a blink and her gaze focused on him. She looked over him for a moment and he felt that wave pass over him. He knew that what he felt was magic, since he had not began his training yet he was unable to pinpoint it like a mage would. Sharon's eyes widened a bit before she bit her lip and narrowed her eyes at him. 

"Well?" his mother asked after there had been no answer for some time and her patience had clearly worn thin. 

Sharon glanced at his mother "I accept, the boy will be my apprentice." she declared.

Nassir felt a wave of relief wash over him, the breath he had been holding was released and the pressure drain from his body. He smiled brightly, he had done it. Now that he was Sharon's apprentice avenues that would have been hard or closed off to him were now wide open. His path would not be even, even harder in some aspects, but it would be better than the alternative. 

"You have our thanks. Nassir come, greet your new master." his mother said as she motioned him forward, she did well to cover it up yet he could still hear the hesitancy in her voice. 

Things moved fast from that point on, he greeted his new master and said a heartfelt goodbye to his mother. It took longer than he expected as he truly did not want to leave the woman who he felt such a deep connection to and he could feel she felt the same. But he forced himself to say goodbye. His master watched impassively as they said their goodbyes. Eventually it was just the two of them in the throne room. 

"Your father has paid a heavy price for you to become my apprentice. The next few years of your life are mine." she said with a bit to much joy, but her face soon turned stern and distant "From today on, you will be my student. You must execute all my orders accurately without fail, regardless of what they are." 

"I understand" he nodded

"Good" she said and she tapped her finger nails on the throne. Two powerful mages came from the side of the room and escorted him out. 

He followed them through a winding chamber until they arrived at a special hall filled with alchemic tools and equipment. He stared in wonder at the tools but did not get much time to look as he was made to strip and then sit on a metallic chair. Where he was promptly strapped in by ropes and bandages. 

Crystal needles were stuck into his body causing excruciating pain that he endured with as few grunts as possible. The whole time he was wondering was the effort really worth it. He could have told Sharon all about his abilities, but he had a feeling that would not have stopped her from running the test regardless. He was given some reprieve when the needles where all the way in his body. 

A man walked over to him carrying a potion in his hand and before the man could even speak Nassir inhaled deeply from it. He let out a deep sigh of relief as the pain washed away from his body and he slipped into a half unconscious state. He was still present but only barely. 

A wave of odd sensations passed over his body before he could hear a voice listing off his elemental affinities as well as stating he had the innate elements of 'space' and 'time', which was surprising to him. He had known that he had the element, he did not know it was innate; he had not filtered for that when he used his ability. 

He was not allowed to think over that anymore before a needle was stuck where his spine connected to his brain and an overwhelming pain wracked his muted body. Something was jammed into his mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue and all he could do was writhe in pain for what felt like hours. 

The needle was extracted and he was made to smell the potion again and the pain subsided significantly, but the phantom pains still lingered. But it was all worth it when he head the voice say, "U-Unique level spiritual force, bordering on Sharon grade!" the shock in the man voice made it all worth it. 

The test continued for over three hours. Where everything on his body was poked, measure and tested; his genitalia, his eyes, even the size of his feet were all apart of it. Much to his joy though the grades he received were all spectacular, the lowest he received which was for his hearing and that was at a genius level. He didn't know how that rating applied to hearing and he wasn't gonna question it. As long as the results were good he was happy.

When they were done they unstrapped him from the bed and informed him of his results, he was very happy with the results. He was given the rating of 'Unique'. The highest rank that was possible to achieve, for no one could gain a Sharon rank - whether they technically earned it or not. When he asked what the ratings were they told him their were ten: trash, poor, mediocre, normal, excellent, genius, outstanding, legendary, unique and Sharon.

He was informed that he had amazing potential as a warrior with the possibility of making it to Level 20 and a high chance of reaching Legend. The chances were very high and there was little possibility of failure, but things were never a surety when it came to reaching Legend levels. 

Unfortunately, they did not inform him of his talent as a mage, but he already knew that was where he was best at. 

He stood from the chair stretched and yawned. Although he had slept some his body still hurt and his mind was tired. He wanted nothing to but to sleep and with the test being done he could get some good rest. Even a full day of sleep didn't feel like it would be enough to curve the exhaustion he felt. 

"Please follow me Prince Nassir, we will begin your second set of test." the head of the test said to him.

Nassir blanched at that he looked at the test lead "S-second Test? I thought there was only one."

The head smiled at him, "Her Excellency Sharon has seen it fit to have your bloodline tested. So we shall be doing that too. Now please follow me." they said as they walked towards a side door.

Nassir followed the man, but internally he was wondering how much the Emperor had allowed for Sharon to spend. As far as he knew testing bloodlines was very expensive, at least in the upper six figures, and given his master penchant for frugality the Emperor must've offered to pay for the test and then some. Money that was coming almost certainly coming out of his own pockets. 

The room the man led him to was small, only enough room for a large man to lay down. He was told to enter the room and lay on his back, the rest would be handled. He did as he was told and laid down and stared up at the white ceiling. A few moments passed where nothing happened and then the room flashed a red color and he felt his body get freezing cold. It felt as if he had been thrown into the freeing waters of Flow Bay naked.

Soon severe pain assaulted him and his body began to shake violently. He did his best to hold back his screams of pain but they slipped out in loud grunts. The red light flashed again and the pain intensified and his grunts became full on shouts. The red light flashed four more times, each flash increasing the pain he felt in his body, until he passed out from the pain and chill.