Inhuman Warlock

“You?” the old man weirdly looked at Lucifer. “Fine, show me the card. Let’s see what forging you went through.”

Lucifer pulled out the card and gave the card to the man. “This card was given to me by the Queen herself. If you call it fake, you would effectively be calling her into question.”

“Hah, the Queen? She has never given a card to anyone. The cards are given by the committee. Come up with a better story next time,” the old man retorted before he started observing the card.

“Hmm? How can that be?” As the old man stopped observing the card, even his face was filled with surprise.

“This Card… It is real. That would mean your story about the queen giving it to you…”

“That’s real as well, old man. The Queen gave this card to him in the presence of the High Council,” Joana chimed in to remove some of the shock of the old man.

The old man had been living in the world of Trials. He never left the place and didn’t know much about the outside world. Moreover, even if he knew about the outside world, he wouldn’t have known about Lucifer since his arrest, and the accusations weren’t publicized.

“The card given by the Queen in the presence of the High Council? Just who exactly is this boy? Why is it that I see nothing special in him?” The old man asked.

“You might not see his specialty, but Her Majesty did. Lucifer here might be the most significant recruit for the Star Alliance in centuries. Old man, I’m sure he’ll surprise you soon. I might not know what candidates you have in the world already, but trust me, this guy is going to come out winning,” Joana chuckled. “Take it as the final words of another winner.”

The old man rolled his eyes. “We shall see. He might be special in one way or another, but that doesn’t mean he will achieve something that others can’t. That’s not how the Trials work. They will test everything… One or two departments in which a man excels won’t change the outcome.”

“Anyway, enough talking. I’ll take the kid with me. You all can go back. Come back after a year. The Trial will end by then. You can take the kid back if he survives until then.”

“Oh, I have a feeling he will,” Joana answered before shifting his attention to Lucifer. “Best of luck, Lucifer. Show them all what you’re made of. And don’t worry, I’ll do as you asked. Your message will be delivered to your friends. They can stay in peace knowing you’re perfectly fine and free. So just focus on your tasks.”

“I wi-” Lucifer started responding, but before he could, he and the old man disappeared.

“There he goes,” Joana muttered. “If his luck is good, he will come out as a Captain. From then on, his journey should be even easier. I can prop him up even more, and he will soon become a two-star member after that. I will finally have someone in the Upper Echelon who can stand up for me.”

“Captain, if I may ask, why do you support that kid so much?” Maya stepped closer to Lucifer. “I mean, I know he can be of help once he reaches higher up, but still, the risk didn’t seem worth the outcome. Even as a Captain, you don’t have to worry about many things. The plus doesn’t seem to make up for the hard work you need to put through.”

“It’s not about authority or anything like that, Maya. It’s about self-respect. I don’t have any support. I can be sacked anytime with one mistake. And even if I don’t do anything wrong, I can still be insulted like I was insulted recently when they restricted me from leaving my ship.”

“If I had someone in the High Council at that time, I would’ve been treated with more respect. It’s not the strength and authority that I’m after. It’s the respect that I believe I deserve. Since I can’t get it with my own strength, I’ll use any means I can, and that includes Lucifer.”

He gazed at the distant planet. “I just hope he won’t disappoint me.”

“Turn the ship. We need to get going. Only then will they seal the world and start the trial. We don’t want anything else.”

The Ship turned around in the middle of the space and disappeared into nothingness, leaving.

As soon as the ship left, a beautiful black barrier appeared around the space, which not only sealed the world of Trials but also made it invisible to be seen in the dark space.

The red planet was impossible to be seen as if it was never there.

****

The old man appeared with Lucifer in a dark room which had no window or any door. There was only a single sphere of light which was floating in the middle of the room that had only one bed.

“Take some rest. This is where you’ll be staying for the night as we scan you to know more about you,” the old man explained.

“Scan me? Why?”

“That’s how the Trials are made. We scan all candidates to understand them better so we can make trials that are completely neutral. We don’t want to give a trial of lightning when we have someone from the Lightning Species here. That would be an unfair advantage. The Trials aim to be as fair as possible to everyone, so this is needed. Do you have any problem with it?”

 Lucifer shook his head. “No. You can go ahead, but I think you’ll be slightly surprised by the results of the scan. I went through two such scans already before.”

“Just know, the bloodline matches doesn’t mean I have abilities of those bloodlines. Because if you went with that logic, you’d be having a real hard time setting the trials.”

“What are you even talking about?” The old man gazed weirdly at Lucifer, wondering what this guy was talking about.

Lucifer walked to the bed and took a seat. “You’ll understand the meaning of my words when you have the results of my scan.”

“Whatever.”

The old man just considered Lucifer to be talking nonsense as he disappeared.

He went straight to the command room, starting the scan.

A green light filled the room after an instruction echoed in the small room, commanding Lucifer to close his eyes.

The scan proceeded swiftly, and it was even faster than the scan on the ship. Within seconds, the old man had the results of the scan.

His head tilted in confusion.