“Asher. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Donvath asked, glancing up from his desk. It turned out, while the High Prince seemed to prefer spending his downtime in one of his beanbag-filled lounge rooms, Donvath did in fact have an official office, complete with desk and what looked like a few dozen filing cabinets lining the walls. Strangely enough, while he did have what appeared to be a liquor cabinet at first glance, a second glance revealed that instead of bottles of fancy alcohol, it was instead filled with a wide assortment of light snacks and candies.

  “Lily told me this was where I could find you,” Asher explained, looking around the sparse room in mild surprise, and not just at the not-liquor cabinet. While he didn’t know Donvath all that well just yet, it was still a bit strange to discover that the High Prince of the entire kingdom didn’t like having all the bells and whistles that most other nobles he’d interacted with did. No gold-plated statues, no gemstone-studded picture frames. Everything was certainly well-made and he could tell it had come from skilled craftsmen, but the materials were simple and didn’t scream ‘wealth’ at him.

  “Glad to see you’ve already begun making friends with my royal guards,” Donvath said, sighing as he leaned back in his chair. “I’ll have to make a note to keep you and Christian separated from one another. Realms only know what might happen if the two of you ever meet.”

  “So you spoke to Brian earlier today,” Asher started, blinking as Donvath waved a hand to cut him off.

  “Yes, yes, how dare I talk to him without you being there, and all that,” Donvath drawled, shaking his head. “I’m a busy man, Asher, and you and your girlfriend were off stabbing demons, or whatever it is that caused you to come back covered in so much blood. I assume Brian told you he’d be starting tomorrow?”

  “He did. Which is why I’m a bit curious why you never came to talk to me or Samantha about it.”

  “Time element, remember? I knew you’d come talk to me even if I didn’t do anything,” Donvath said with a snort. “Even if you make my Timeline fuzzy for whatever reason, I can still see that much.”

  “You mentioned that earlier as well,” Asher said, realizing he was letting himself get distracted from the matter at hand, but unable to stop himself. “Am I really some sort of natural counter to your ability to see into the future?”

  “I told you, the focus of Timeline’s ability to see into the future is surrounding critical points,” Donvath explained yet again, looking tired all of a sudden. “The ability to see my own personal Timeline is something I managed to develop solely through years of hard-fought effort. Skills can be developed just like muscles if you know what you’re doing and are willing to put in the work. But to answer your question, you’re not so much a counter as an annoyance. Critical points naturally fluctuate a bit, as even if they’re almost guaranteed to happen, the events leading up to them and how they play out can go countless different ways. If you’re involved, those thousands of different possibilities simply multiply even further. The same goes for my ability to see my own Timeline if I focus hard enough. While I can often tell the gist of our future conversations, the exact words we exchange are often lost to me. It’s honestly one of the reasons I enjoy our little chats so much. I don’t get to be surprised all that often.”

  “And you think this has something to do with my Spatial element?” Asher added, remembering what they’d talked about the last time they’d spoken.

  “That’s the running theory anyway, seeing as the only other beings that muddle with my Timeline to the same degree are powerful wizards and greater demons. Both of whom are capable of accessing the other realms on a whim,” Donvath said. “I have a feeling if I left the country and visited one of the other Spatial element holders on our continent, I’d experience similar results.”

  “Wait, there are other people with the Spatial element here?” Asher asked, recoiling at the news. “Did they come from my world as well?” He knew he wasn’t the only one with the element, but he had no idea others were on the same continent as him. The books he read made it sound like it was something that rarely happened.

  “No clue, you’d have to ask them,” Donvath shrugged. “There might be others in hiding, but there are at least two on our continent that I know of. One is nearly a hundred and thirty, and quite senile, last I heard, but the other is in her early sixties. She doesn’t see a lot of action these days, however. Not since she tried venturing into the abyss in the hopes of mapping out the realm for her kingdom. I’d heard she took a team of nearly thirty powerful warriors with her, and she was the only one to return.”

  “Mapping out the abyss…” Asher shuddered at the very thought, thinking back to what he’d read about the realm. Of all the major realms, the abyss was easily the scariest one. While it held untold treasures and powerful artifacts, it also held countless horrors and entities that would make greater demons turn tail and run, screaming all the while. Despite everything he’d read about the void being a terrifying place of utter nothingness, he thought the abyss sounded far worse with what it held hidden within its depths.

  “Suffice to say, you’re the only currently active Spatial element holder on our continent that I know of at the moment,” Donvath finished. “Oh, and it’s probably worth mentioning, but the cat’s finally out of the bag surrounding your Spatial element. Talk of The Reaper’s ability to fade in and out of existence on a whim was damning enough, but you showed Distortion off to enough witnesses that people managed to finally put two and two together. You might end up getting some interesting visitors before long.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Visitors? You mean like even more assassins?”

  “What? No, I mean like diplomats, ambassadors, that sort of thing,” Donvath said, looking at him like he was crazy. “What is with you and your obsession with assassins?”

  “Diplomats? Why would any diplomats want to talk to me?” Asher asked, his face scrunched up in confusion. All this time, he’d figured once people learned of his element, he’d have a target painted on his back. Nobles wanting to harness his skills for their own nefarious purposes, or sketchy figures wanting to try their hand at taking down one of the few people with an actual Spatial element.

  “Are you serious? Come on, use that brain of yours at least a little bit, it won’t hurt you,” Donvath drawled. “I just told you how one of the few other Spatial element users had attempted to map out the abyss, right? The other realms are treasure troves when it comes to materials and relics to be gathered. Usually, it requires powerful wizards and deadly warriors working in perfect unison to launch an expedition into the other realms to successfully bring anything back. Or, one talented person with a Spatial element can take care of all that, all on their own. Other kingdoms, and even the nobility from our own, are going to try and poach you for their own purposes.”

  “I knew people would want to use me for my abilities, but I guess I always thought they would try and do it by force,” Asher admitted.

  “Are you serious? Spatial element holders are pretty much the hardest people to pin down in the entire world!” Donvath laughed. “Other than those with the Freedom element, but that one’s almost just as rare, and not nearly as useful. No, they won’t try to steal you away with chains and cells, they’ll try and do it with promises of immense wealth and an army of virgins, or some crap like that. Really, you should prepare yourself for some crazy offers.”

  “I have to say, you don’t seem all that concerned that I might take one of those other countries up on their offer,” Asher pointed out, looking at the High Prince curiously. “Not worried I’ll be spirited away right out from under you?”

  “Hello? Time element?” Donvath said, tapping the side of his head. “I couldn’t tell you why, but at the very least, I know you'll most likely shoot all of them down for one reason or another. Honestly, the fact that you turn down that first offer still boggles my mind… Realms knows I couldn’t match something like that. Anyway, I’ll do what I can to reign in your suitors and try and bring some sort of order to the hurricane that is to come, but don’t be too surprised if some of them manage to slip past me and contact you directly.”

  “Thanks for the warning,” Asher said, deciding they’d talked about him long enough. “Now back to Brian…”

  “What, do you want an apology or something? I thought wanting to check with him about this whole thing without the two of you breathing down his neck was something you would approve of.”

  “Actually, I do approve of that,” Asher admitted. “And thank you for doing so. That said, I wish you’d checked in with me or Samantha first. She’s still getting used to the fact that we’re on a first-name basis with the High Prince of the entire kingdom. I think learning her younger brother met with you without her knowing was just a bit jarring.”

  “I sort of thought giving her a sending stone with my line imbued into it would help with that,” Donvath said, letting out a weary sigh. “Should I just start prank calling her? Would that help?”

  “As much as I want to say yes because I think that would be hilarious to watch, no, I doubt it would. You should just try and remember that Samantha’s not just Brian’s sister, but his guardian as well. She raised him since he was four, she’s used to being there for any important decisions surrounding his life.”

  “Fair enough, I suppose,” Donvath conceded. “Like I told you before, Brian’s admittance to the truthseeker program, even the auxiliary one, is a unique case. I’m not used to the youths we take in having people who actually care about them. I’ll try and keep that in mind.”

  “Thank you. Who knows, maybe the reason I never end up going with any of the other kingdoms’ offers is because you’re the only one willing to keep Brian safe for us.”

  “I doubt that. My hunch is that you’ve secretly fallen for me, and are just waiting for the right time to break the news to Samantha to ensure you don’t break her heart,” Donvath said, giving him a crooked smile as he placed his hands behind his head and bounced his eyebrows.

  “Are the people in charge of the other kingdoms as weird as you, or are you a special case?” Asher asked, laughing at the sheer absurdity of what he was seeing. Never in a million years would he have expected the fabled High Prince everyone spoke so fondly of and talked about his genius as being such a weirdo.

  “Maybe one or two of them, but no, most are a bunch of stuffy old bats,” Donvath admitted, his nose wrinkling. “It’s half the reason I refuse to leave the country and meet with any of them. Granted, the other half is because if I ever did, the kingdom would probably fall within a week, but that’s beside the point.”

  “Wait, what?” Asher asked, blinking at the sudden admittance. “Why would the kingdom fall within a week without you being here?”

  “Asher, Asher, Asher…” Donvath said, getting to his feet and walking around his desk before placing a hand on his shoulder. “Never you need worry about the intricate workings of the Noala Kingdom, or how the entire thing is functionally little more than a house of cards I’m desperately sweating over as I struggle to keep it from collapsing. You’ve got far more important things to focus on, don’t you?”

  Donvath led him over to his study door, grinning as he pushed him through it as he tried to say something, cutting him off.

  “Now get back out there and make sure any corpse dumb enough to leave its grave gets tossed right back in the dirt where it belongs. Just leave the survival and future of our fair kingdom to the professionals.”

  https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/147966/planar-lord-destruction

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