"Did you find them?" the woman, sitting on the sparkling black throne asked. Her voice was of strong character and authority. "No, master." The servant bowed in front of her presence and pulled up the black mask he's wearing to his forehead. "Useless!" the woman's delicate fingers curled into tight fists above armrests of the seat. She then raised her hand and a lady with a whip who was standing beside her, walked to the servant. "It was my fault, master." The servant bowed on his knees, his forehead touching the black, shiny floor, terrified. "Please allow me to do it once. And if I fail again, my life will be at your hands." "Shut up! Do you know what happened to the person who used to say those words in front me?" She turned to the left side of the hall where those who failed her were jailed. Not only did they wer
It was a typical summer morning. The sun is shining brightly above the foggy, green mountains, as it floated on the cloudless, blue sky. Birds were happily chirping, from branches to branches, singing melodies of freedom. The aroma of the nearby fragrant flowers blended well with the sweet smell of morning dew. Sipping a cup of tea on his mansion's balcony, Prince Zaeius never had the time to appreciate the mansion's exquisitely beautiful scenery. It has been a long time since he got to breathe fresh air. He somehow missed it–the peacefulness and the relieving ambience of this place. He had been thinking a lot of things in his mind lately and he thought he needed time to relax and refresh for a bit. He never knew when he shall be able to do this again so he must savor the moment while he's still here. This afternoon, he will set off according to what they have planned. He had no assurance if he'll comeback
Keir woke up when he heard clattering noises of utensils. But he haven't fully opened his eyes yet when the blinding, golden rays of the sun shone through the heavy lids of his sleepy eyes. He had no choice but shut them back off. 'Maybe it doesn't want me to wake up early so that I could sleep more. Sleep is really essential for my recovery.' However, the noise was still there and its getting through every nerve endings of his eardrums. It wasn't that loud but it irritates him. "What kind of idiot would make such ruckus early in the morning? People are still snoring in their sleep at this point. What a disturbance," he hummed with a husky voice as he pulled up the thick, soft quilt, right at the level of his chest. Suddenly, the noise became louder and louder. And it became clearer for him to hear. It sounds like someone was stirring or mixing something on a ceramic bowl or mug. He tried covering his ears but it was of no effect. At last, he lost the li
"Oh, this doesn't look good!" Keir grabbed the black coat of him which was hanged beside the wooden closet and rushed out of his room, forgetting his stiff neck and the throbbing pain on his leg. A part of him is hoping that maybe Prince Zaeius was already at the palace to report to his majesty and that he was in danger. The moment he got out of the mansion, he walked straight to the stables and climbed up on one of the horses. The horse seemed to understand him. Without warning, it quickly ran through the stone path with its top speed. And if he wasn't quick enough to grab its rope, he would've knocked himself on the way. It took less than half an hour for him to finay arrive at the gate of the palace. Everyone was busily doing their own business. Some were rushing in, with stretchers of wounded soldiers who can't manage to walk anymore while some helped each other on their way in. Some were
"You ruthless murderer! You have to kill me first before I give you the key!" King Astius stormed to attack the woman. The woman just dodged the king's attacks flawlessly as if she can see through the king and knew his every move and didn't attack him. Wearing the same cunning smile, she looked as if she's enjoying herself with what was happening. Instead, her eyes turned teasingly soft, touching the king's face lightly or tracing the king's strong arms when the king would slack off on his moves; she was just grabbing the chance to make fun of him despite his fuming anger and to make him pissed even more. But while in the middle of the furious fight, King Astius suddenly realized something. 'She possessed wicked powers and she wanted to have the key to the royal graveyard, could it be that she's really the heir of destruction and the immortality bracelet was in the royal graveyard?' "Why don'
King Astius was pacing back and forth in front of his throne. He had been doing this the whole night until the darkness of the sky was replaced with a pale light. The incident happened too soon. But who would've thought that it was planned very well? The royal hall was filled with ruckus. Dead soldiers were set aside on the left side of the royal hall with their grieving families and relatives. On the right side were the wounded ones, having treatments and comforted with their loved ones. "Your majesty, they have successfully broken through all of the mechanisms," the soldier which was the one who came with Keir reported to the king. The king sent him to spy on the purple smoke woman. A deep breath escaped the king's mouth. One of the reason why he didn't hesitate to surrender the key was that the key can't be used to stop all of the mechanism. There's still a hidden mechanism that can't be opened with the
"My lady, now that the immortality bracelet is in our hands, I don't think we can awaken the sixteen beads on it as soon as possible. We were both wounded and weakened," the master of the Northern Coast, Ariah, valley laid pitifully on the feet of Purple Smoke, there was a streak of blackish blood on one corner of her pale mouth. Purple Smoke used her to trigger the mechanisms inside the royal graveyard. How unlucky she would be if she didn't give all her best to avoid those poisoned arrows! But she couldn't even consider herself lucky, one light, scratch from those is dreadful enough to claim her life within just three days. Now she felt hopeless. She thought maybe it's her fate to die in useless. Purple Smoke was now sitting on the seat which was supposed to be hers, proudly with her chin held high. Right after they arrived from their quest to find the immortality bracelet, Purple Smoke shamelessly took her seat and she couldn't
The moonless night was silent and serene. The stars were twinkling above the vast darkness of the sky. There were no other visible light in the darkness except for the burning bonfires dancing on the calm blow of the night's breeze. King Astius and his men together with the senior trainee soldiers were resting inside their tents in the middle of the plains on the foot of Green Cone Mountain. Well, except for those who were on the night watch.The journey down the rocky trails of the mountain made them and their horses exhausted so they decided to rest for the night and continue their way back to Noartias which was half a thousand miles away. As the night went late, the night watch soldiers also felt their need to sleep but it was their duty so they have no choice but to stay on their post. They wouldn't want to embarrass themselves especially that the king was with them tonight. "Man, my bladder's about to burst. I really nee
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