"Alright. That's all for today. You're improving very well," the teacher said as he picked the scrolls and put it back on his satchel. "Thank you, teacher. I better use this opportunity wisely as it won't come to easily without his majesty's idea. " Kalen bowed at the presence of the teacher. "A wise choice of a wise person, indeed," the teacher praised him upon swinging the satchel's sling on his shoulder. Suddenly, they heard multiple claps. When they turned around to find out who it was, they were surprised to see King Astius. Behind him were four men, fully armed and wearing serious faces. Two of them wore the soldier's uniform while the other two wore that of the bodyguard's. "Your majesty," they greeted him and bowed politely. They were caught in surprise and wonder what the king was doing in the training grounds this time especially that he was such a busy person. He even visited rarely during the mil
"Your highness! Your highness!" The maid suddenly barged through the door of the chamber, catching her breath. Princess Jiyanah bolted on her seat as she closed the book that she's been reading for a while though not a single word sunk in her mind. It almost gave her a heart attack. Her mind had been lingering nowhere, concered and worried about not hearing any news from her parents. The fact that none of the soldiers came back from the battle, it sent her so much fear and cost her sleepless nights for the whole week. "What happened?" she asked her, ignoring the manners of the maid. She understood the maid's panic. "They're... they're taking Méah and Prince Anouk to the trial grounds!" The maid shrieked, sweat went rolling down her moist cheeks. "What?!" Princess Jiyanah's heart skipped a beat. The 'trial grounds' could only mean one thing. However, trials couldn
As the screams of fear and outrage of the crowd bellowed throughout every corners of the trial ground, Prince Anouk thought to himself that he have to find a way to escape death even though it was already impossible. He was willing to do everything. At least to give himself a few minutes to live. "Then what about her?! She had killed more lives than me and yet you're pushing the blame on everything to me! I can't believe this rotten kingdom of the east was too blinded to see the truth and failed to weigh the situation!" Prince Anouk shrieked, full of bitterness while pointing at Méah. Méah breath hastened as she gave Prince Anouk a glare. Princess Jiyanah stepped forward upon hearing his claim and stood beside the king who was now holding himself back. The princess looked like she has something to say but did not have the strength to spill it out. "What did you say?! Do you want that filthy tongue of yours
As the sun arose higher from the mountains in the east and it's breath grew warmer, a carriage stopped in front of the dungeon. The coachman went down and opened the door. The maid went out first and extended her hand to Princess Jiyanah to guide her down the carriage. Princess Jiyanah was holding a blue box with her other hand. It wasn't heavy so she personally carried it since the maid was the one who held the umbrella over them as they walked to the dungeon's entrance. The soldiers guarding there greeted her politely and did not asked anything. They must have known what had happened back at the trial ground yesterday. After the maid folded the umbrella back and left it on one of the guards, they proceeded their way in. Méah sat at one of the dark corners of the dungeon with her back laid on the cold wall of rocks. In front of her was a tray of food and a glass of water. She noticed that since this morning, she did not rece
Méah did not notice that she has gone too far while following the two but she was not able to caught up with them. Exhausted and sweating all over, she could feel the thirst waking up especially in her throat; it was slowly getting dry from there as well as the entirety of her mouth. She feel like drinking a whole tub of water at this moment from the combined heat and thirst. With her eyes watching every slow step that she took, she felt even more drained. She almost crawled on fours. She looked like a turtle on a desert's burning, barren surface. The strength to bring her gaze up was vanished upon the dancing images ahead on the other end as though a scene from where a huge fire was flaming before her eyes. The heat was that cruel at this hour of the day. She carried on her way and she was finally awoken when the creeking of gigantic hinges made a loud noise. It was an effective way of bringing her back to her dozing senses under an unbelie
"Really? How scary that even a little kid would be able to ignore you!" Doctor Bai cracked into a loud laughter. "Come on. I only wanted the princess in exchange for the prince. Do you think it's quite fair?" "You wish, traitor!" King Ambrose quickly defended the princess, extending the sword to the side in front of where she and the queen alongside with the maid stood fearfully. He then gave a warning glance at his wife and said, "Get out of here. Quickly now!" Queen Jainah wasted no time and obeyed his husband's order as both of them only wanted nothing but their daughter's safety. She took the princess's arm and grabbed pulled themselves towards the door on the far right behind them them. But before they could reach it, the door was barricaded with a purple mist in an instant which an electrifying glow sparkled dangerously along with it from time to time. They could only scream in both fear and shock. "Oops! Did I scare you
Doctor Bai was sent rolling on the floor several feet away, face pale and twisted excruciatingly. He was holding his elbow that Méah landed a kick on. Méah had no idea how strong that kick was since her goal was to get rid of the sword off his hand. But on the contrary, she felt no regret about what she had done and was instead satisfied. The cunning person deserves it after all, her mind said. It was the very first time that she ever felt satisfaction after hurting someone. "Father!" Princess Jiyanah called worriedly. Tears were brimming on her eyes as they fell down her smooth cheeks. "Stay here! You can't go near him!" Queen Jainah immediately stopped the princess from intervening the scene by holding one of her arm tightly. "Not until that evil person is not here anymore. I cannot afford to see you hurt. Seeing your father in this situation is already killing me. I cannot bear to see both of you suffering." Princess Jiyanah did not argue
King Ambrose was dumbfounded. He did not know how much he risked the safety of her daughter just for that deal but a part of him was disappointed because it did not work on Doctor Bai. Surely, the cunning person really wanted to make them a bunch of fools while hiding behind his powers. "Come on! What a cowardly reason was that? Why don't you tell me you're just scared of me?" King Ambrose pushed the provocation. "Listen, old man. If I fight with you, I cannot have fun. I wouldn't waste my time on you. However, you still have the chance to claim your daughter back," Doctor Bai answered who was now speaking on the ceiling above him. For King Ambrose, it was a slap on his face that someone had the guts to look down on him. He indeed up getting worked up after getting slandered and belittled on his face. However, he must keep his cool otherwise it would cause harm to the princess. "Do you think I would trust the most untrustworthy and cunning person like you? Shut up with your dea
The golden rays of the sun broke out through the thick, dark clouds that were slowly dissipating away. The sun sat above the golden capped mountains in the west, about a few minutes before it would rest from a long day of work. The bright light vanished and the small crystal ball fell on Keir's chest. Then it slowly disappeared as soon as it touched his skin. Kalen was greeted by the silence of the world. The thick fog was cleared and the sky was full of hope. But for him, it wasn't the same sky anymore. It was the sky of new life and new beginnings. He looked around and everyone was lying on the ground. There was no trace of Purple Smoke. But he recognised Méah's figure lying ahead of him for half a mile away by her clothes and armour. However, as much as he wanted to check on them, he would have to chose his brother first who was lying right next to him. But judging on Keir's injuries, Kalen decided not to touch him. The arro
"Useless!" Purple Smoke screamed in both fury and disappointment. She hated it when someone fails her and had a long history on it. To her anger, struck Méah with her palm on the chest. Méah flew a few yards away from where she stood. But she didn't complain. For Purple Smoke was her master and the only one who has the authority to do anything to her. She rolled on the ground for a couple times and spat out black blood. She was on knees but her face was still blank and didn't show any hint of pain. Purple Smoke faced Keir and the princess's body. Her vision quickly darkened. "Love. This is what love bring to people. What a pity. They're even willing to die because of it." She grinned. While she was feeling the moment of victory, she heard a swooshing blade coming from behind her. She quickly avoided it and saw Kalen. "Oh, another silly boy. But I like you already. You're braver than your brother." "I w
After they ran away and the battlefield was almost emptied, Purple Smoke was furious when she saw Méah kneeling on the ground, frozen like a statue. She couldn't believe a simple trick could affect Méah. "Come, my dear." Purple Smoke walked in front of Méah. She bent down and held Méah's chin up. Black and purple veins appeared on her neck down to her arms. Then all of it crawled into Méah's chin down to her neck, spreading towards her back. Her injuries were healed and the arrows were burnt into ashes. Méah stood up straight. "Avenge yourself. Kill them all. Kill." Purple Smoke whispered to her ears. "But first, I want you to do something." Then, Méah suddenly disappeared in Purple Smoke's eyes. She was now off to do what she's told to do. Purple Smoke burst into a boisterous laughter. But she eventually stopped when a loud blow of horn was caught in her ears. Among all the four kingdoms, only one would use horn
The three of them were in utter astonishment when they saw the enemies were swarming again. They had no idea where they came from but now they seemed stronger than those that they fought with earlier. King Astius shoulders dropped. At the other end, he saw the Deep Caves and everyone struggling to defend it. The enemies were about to break in. "What the hell! They're like locusts!" Keir cursed under his breath. Suddenly, they heard screams coming from behind them, the main gate from the city of Noartias. As they turned around, they saw the remaining of their soldiers, the war veterans and majority of Eastian soldiers who were assigned to defend the city. They were rushing to the battlefield, ready to give their life for the sake of the world. And then, they joined them to launch an attack on the battleground. Weapons clashed hard against each other. Some tasted flesh, blood and bones. Blood were splattered everywhere, leaving a crimsom
"Oh no! They're here! They're breaking in!" Queen Jainah cowered into the corner of the room in the royal underground where they were hiding. Princess Jiyanah sat down with her, arms snaked on one arm of her mother. King Ambrose wasn't there with them because he was out in the battlefield. Unlike Noartias, Eastias don't have any shelter like the Deep Caves but they have a vast underground shelter that they called as the Underground Shelter, enough to cater the whole kingdom's population. It has one entrance which can only be found in the secret chamber of the royal hall. The five exits extend in five directions away from the kingdom's borders. Four of it share the same distance while the other one was the longest which almost reaches the border's pf Noartias. King Zarduz was the first kingdom to surrender to Purple Smoke. Being named as the weakest, poor kingdom, King Zarduz chased the opportunity to get power, enough to purge a strong kingdom l
Ferlah brought King Astius to the Deep Caves. After that, she left back to the battlefield outside. More enemies were coming. They don't seem to decrease at all. The more of them die, the more of them come. Prince Zaeius and the mysterious woman in red were trying hard to defend the door of the shelter. General Kapono was defending the walls together with the rest of the soldiers since the enemies were trying to climb up through tall ladders. Seeing all of these, King Astius didn't think twice to carry out his responsibility. He climbed to where the archers were stationed on the walls. "Aim for the enemies! Kill them! Leave none of them alive!" He shouted. Upon seeing his presence, the soldiers' morale was boosted. Their spirits soared high and their hearts filled with hope. From afar, Ferlah could be seen battling alone. She couldn't risk to transform herself so that she won't get exhausted when it was time to go
When King Astius and the rest of the troops arrived at Noartias, they were flabbergasted by the army of the enemies flocking inside. Only a few of the war veterans were left standing, fighting bravely despite being outnumbered. King Astius was suddenly eaten by guilt. He blamed himself for not seeing the trap ahead of them which made him led the whole Noartian army into deception. The moment they stepped a foot inside the kingdom, the bloody clash began. The enemies looked like a swarm of locusts, attacking them in every possible way. There were clamours of death and courage as well as the shatters and clatters of weapons. Blood were spilled everywhere and the parched ground quenched its thirst through it. While King Astius was slaughtering the enemies, he suddenly remembered the prince. Fear struck him hard. He wished his son was safe in the royal underground as it was difficult to find. But judging from the prince's behaviour, he probably
"Méah!" With eyes closed, Prince Zaeius screamed in terror and sat up from his sleep without even knowing. He just had a horrible nightmare about Méah dying, covered in blood and vanishing into thin air. However, even though it was just a nightmare, he began to pray to himself that it would only remain as a nightmare. As his breathing slowly calmed down, the throbbing pain came raging from all over his body, starting to penetrate deeper into his senses. He let out a painful hiss with a twisted expression as he went weak and limp, slumping himself back into the soft mattress of his bed. An agonizing groan followed that made him shut his eyes in a tight manner. With this, it all came back to him. But despite after being rescued and seeing the woman he loved in that situation, the flashes of tortures that he had gone through in the hands of Purple smoke held a consistent spot in his memory. That no matter how hard he tried to set
The awaited dawn finally came. It was summer but the breeze, though it blew calm and gentle, felt like a touch of a blizzard's chill. Passing through the steep trails of well-tilled earth, forests, rivers and marshes, a couple of hundred thousand men set off from Noartias to the battlefield under the command of King Astius. This was the last number that he could bring with him. And not all of them were soldiers. Some were mere folks, men and women but brave and courageous, who voluntarily swore to protect their kingdom, their homes and their families. Every abled person in no particular age requirement were allowed to go to battle with them as long as they can walk at such distance and can ride on horses and fight with willingness. However, as he couldn't leave the kingdom and the people alone unguarded, he left this task to the war veterans of less than thirty thousand. Half of them guarded the kingdom with Kalen among them and Bek was told to stay with o