When they came home at the royal guest house, they saw Bo and Prince Zaeius talking in the balcony. They were now completely soaked. However, Bo went back inside as soon as he saw them approaching leaving the prince alone. In front of him was a table fit for six people where two swords laid–the ones that Keir had left. They gave the prince a shivering look once they entered the balcony. "All of you have to comeback here after you get changed." He then gestured them to get inside. The three of them rushed inside without saying a word for the prince. They were too cold to utter a word as though their tongues were frozen. Bo came back with a tray of things for tea and some desserts. While they waited for the others Prince Zaeius felt uneasiness developing within him. In fact, he had been like this ever since he knew that one of the estranged siblings was going to be the guardian. The reason why they are gathered here today i
King Astius was even more confused and at the same time furious at the nonsense words that she was talking about. This caused him to quickly knock her hands off him. He then aimed his sword at her. But when he did this, Purple Smoke disappeared again. They could only hear her laughter reverberating on the walls of the royal hall. And then they began hearing her whispering or laughing in their ears one at time that made them swung their swords in any direction, wishing to hit her. While in the midst of hunting her, they suddenly heard Kalen yowled in pain. When they looked at him, he was already wounded on the lower left side of his stomach. There was blood profusely gushing out of it that he was quickly weakened, leading his knees on the cold, marble floor with one hand holding the area. They only realized that they should have killed Purple Smoke when they had the chance. But they stood weakly against her overwhelming power that her presence alone could ma
Méah and the soldiers had buried Vlad and Diego by burning their bodies with alcohol. Their ashes was then scattered in front of their swords erected as memorials on the sand. After that, they make haste for Noartias. Diego's friend, whose name was Roger, was finally convinced that he was wrong about Méah. He was very apologetic about what happened and swore to work under her. He claimed that he had no choice but to follow Roy's orders, after all he's also second to the general and their friend. The sun grew hotter as it mounted up behind the mighty mountains in the east. After crossing the vastness of the desert, the sand underneath their feet was slowly replaced by a brown soil of which tiny young grasses sprouted happily on its surface. They advanced further for several miles into the greener land before a thick forest lies from afar as though a mysterious, dark green wall sprayed with faint mist. Taking the path that wounded across t
Keir slowly brought himself up. His race twisting from the pain on his back. King Astius came in front of him with two of Méah's men on each side. King Astius had ordered them to prevent Keir from going after Méah. Keir looked at the three of them with confusion all over his face as the two men pulled out their swords and aimed it both under his chin. "Your majesty, what is going on? Why...why is she here? Why did you let her go? I don't understand," Keir asked question after question, breathing heavily with widened eyes. "Just calm down first, Keir. And I will tell you everything." King Astius walked back to the table and sat down. He gestured them to follow him. The two men lowered their swords and put it back on their sheaths. Keir did as the king ordered, giving malicious looks on the two strangers beside him. He first recognized their uniforms and was convinced that they were from Eastias. What he didn't understand was
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
"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
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
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