Sitting alone on a bench was the person they called the Chosen One. In his hand, he held the pendant hanging around his neck and he scrutinised it meticulously. It was shimmering red and engraved with "M.R." on the frame. He turned it from all sides, but couldn't make out anything else. He had already "inspected" the object a million times anyway. The only thing he had never been able to explain was the strange glow that seemed to come from inside the stone, even though it wasn't glowing. Had it been the stone itself that had told him to destroy it yesterday? Did it perhaps have a mind of its own? Or was it more likely, that Wenzel was just slowly beginning to lose his mind. Hopefully not that! The footsteps of a soldier echoed along the wide halls. He stopped in front of the boy and spoke:

  "My lord, we have found something in the basement of the palace that is quite unusual. We are sure that you’d know what it might be." - "In the basement?" Wenzel said and stood up. "All right, show me what you've found." He went after the man. What could they have found under the palace that worried them so much that they called him in? Something magical? Wenzel wasn't particularly knowledgeable about magic either. Rather, he improvised the whole thing and had learnt everything he knew and mastered about it through simple trial and error. He was now led into the right wing of the building, through a few rooms, round a few corners and finally down a small, very narrow staircase, which was quite dark. At first, he just looked down into the darkness, which almost gave him the impression that he was descending into the jaws of a beast. But then he set off. It was a long descent.

  Once at the bottom, he saw that the men had at least lit a few candles so that he didn't have to wander around completely blind. The floors, walls and ceilings were all made of dark cobblestones, which were damp and slippery. "This way!" the soldier pointed, guiding him through the narrow corridors. They rounded many corners, giving the boy the impression of being in a labyrinth. Eventually, however, they arrived at an ancient wooden door that was already rotting away. The man opened it for him and Wenzel stepped into an unexpectedly large room. At first, he couldn't make any sense of what he saw here. The room had a vaulted cellar. There were a few small tables and shelves to the left and right and a few small, stone-carved pedestals at the back. On the walls themselves were extraordinary, ancient-looking illustrations. In front of him, in the centre of the room, was a huge, transparent crystal, which now drew all of his attention.. It had a turquoise glow and radiated a warm, ominous aura. A lady could be seen inside the stone. She had long, flowing red hair. The sight of it set alarm bells ringing in Wenzel's head!

  To get a clearer picture he went closer. He also looked closely at the woman's face. There was no doubt. This was definitely Elisabeth, the very St Elisabeth, who had supposedly died! The boy recognised her from the icons he had already seen of her. "What is she doing here? Why isn't she buried? What is this crystal?" were the questions now on the wizard’s mind. He walked around the thing and looked at it from the back. The strange warmth it seemed to give off irritated him. He wanted to know what this crystal was all about and touched it. As he did so, he could also feel the gentle warmth on his fingers. But what he felt next was something else. Some kind of power was flowing through the stone. He wanted to find out more about it and placed both of his palms on the surface. But instead of feeling something inside the stone, he felt energy flowing out of himself. "What?" Suddenly, the entire object began to glow brightly. The soldier who had led him here became frightened and took a few steps back towards the door. Wenzel stayed and witnessed up close how the crystal began to melt away until there was nothing left of it.

  The lady's body sank to the floor. The lad immediately rushed over to her and supported her with his hands. When she drew her first breath, he was startled for a moment. She was alive! The woman opened her eyes and the young man looked straight into them. In them the stars of the night sky glittered, captivating his gaze. However, the spell was immediately broken when the lady began to cough and gasp terribly. The lad could only sit with her in concern as he saw her coughing up blood. After she had somehow managed to regain her composure, she addressed Wenzel not with words, but via telepathy: "Who are you?" She held her hand out to him with three fingers outstretched, apparently trying to feel out something. "A newsprout, aren't you?" she then stated dryly. She pushed Wenzel aside and tried to stand up, but groaned in pain and decided against it. She turned back to the boy: "Hasn't he prepared a healing ritual? Why not? Does he want Us to die?" She sounded full of fear and despair. The young man had no idea how to react. "What kind of healing ritual?" He didn't know anything about magic yet, let alone something like this.

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  Then she came to her conclusion: "It's too late now. There's not enough time to set up and perform it. The young man doesn't even know what We're talking about, does he?" Wenzel nodded in confirmation. "Erm, ... perhaps I should call for help, my lord?" the soldier asked. "Yes, get a doctor right away. Quick!" replied the mage, who was far too absent-minded at the moment. He turned his attention back to Elisabeth. She now scrutinised her counterpart from top to bottom. Finally, she said: "Hah..... he should not destroy the legacy of Our great ancestor. Let him be guided by it, just as We have been." - "What? I don't understand." - "Our time is up. We have been poisoned and had encased Ourselves in the crystal to possibly survive. Seemingly wasted effort!" The distressed boy replied: "No, don't give up yet! I've already called for help!" A slight smile crossed her lips and she replied: "No. Only magic could have cured this. We can see he's already walking with Melgar. It's his duty now, even if he's just a newsprout, to keep the heretics away from power in the realm. Do this, for my memory!"

  She wore a pale, worried expression. Wenzel held her hand until help finally arrived and stayed with her. But it was just as she had said. Less than an hour later, the doctor pronounced her dead. He said that it wasn’t a poison he had ever heard of. Soon after, more and more Martyrs began to surge down to see the woman. Most of them recognised her for who she was. The last Melgarion Empress had only passed away today! The one whom the Old Believers recognised as her successor had freed her from her crystal purely by mistake and thus had condemned her to death. This could not have been prevented, but it still sparked a desire inside Wenzel to find out how magic actually worked and what was possible with it. The empress obviously knew a lot more about it than he did. The city library would soon be paid a visit by him.

  When August heard the news, he ordered her Highness to be kept in a secret place for the time being. All the important decision-makers sat down together and unanimously decided that Elisabeth would not be publicly laid to rest until after the victory of the revolution. But even as her mortal remains were being transported through the halls of the imperial palace, countless of their fighters flocked here. Contrary to orders, they came running, shouted and cried. "Praise the martyrs!" it echoed loudly through the palace, over and over again. Yes, she too had died a martyr's death, just like many friends and loved ones that the revolutionaries had already lost in the battles of the last years. It was a surreal picture that presented itself to Wenzel here. The exuberance of emotion did not leave him untouched. A few tears also began to run down his cheeks when he saw all the strong emotions of the hordes of men here. However, she was soon taken away and relative peace and order returned.

  The next day, the young man went back down to the vault in the palace catacombs. He took the time to examine the extremely strange images on the walls. In general, this room looked absolutely ancient. The structure probably dated back to a completely different era or was an ancient temple, but who knew for sure. The image in the centre of the back wall was particularly striking. Its relief depicted a large figure with a crown, presumably the king. He was surrounded by five spheres with stylised images of flowers and underneath was an inscription in an unknown script. It was probably the script that was in use in Ordania before the arrival of Teleiotism, the so-called "Arthark". Was there anyone who could still read it? Maybe.....

  He informed the soldiers that they should lock this room from now on and that absolutely nobody should enter it without his permission. Today had brought quite a few revelations. None of them got the mage any closer to what he wanted. Before he could ask Elisabeth anything that could have helped him with regard to magic, the country or himself, she was already dead again. What did the future hold? He didn’t know. Swept along by the frantic events, even Wenzel was more a passenger along for the ride than the driver of the vehicle.