A red beam of light pierced through the afternoon skies, coming from amidst White Forest. It blasted out blinding light energy, brighter than the white clouds that everything else went dark as the beam flashed.
“That’s our signal. Let’s move,” Kael ordered to the group of five Grand Knights behind him. They had been waiting for almost an hour outside the western entrance of the forest. And now, they trotted through the trees, and then galloped.
Kael was dressed on his cerulean cloak, his enchanted sword sheathed on its white scabbard, hanging on his belt. He had planned to bring all members of the Grand Knights’ Order, but unfortunately, some of them had emergency cases to attend to from His Highness. So he could only bring five Grand Knights with him.
The ambiance in White Forest was darker than what Kael had remembered. It was still noon, but the thick branches from the tall trees had completely co
The wrath of the hellish Underworld had come upon them. Swirling red fire blasted towards Arth like a tornado, coming from the dragon’s breath. Everywhere it was burning. Arth raised both hands into the air, casting ice materialization, blue light illuminating above him. A wide shield made of ice instantly appeared as the light faded. Despite its massive weight, he managed to use it to block the raging fire blast from the red dragon. “Gods, help me!” Arth grunted as the shield was melting so quickly from the tornado of fire, wilder than any catastrophe. Clearly, mere ice weapons wouldn’t stand a chance against its weakness element. But he had no other choice, as there were no ways he could dodge the dragon fire in time. Arth stood hard against ground to keep himself from getting blown away, his entire body washed by the water dripping from the melting ice. With all luck, the blazing fire had stopped
Arth furrowed his brows, looking worriedly at Janshai’s bloody wrist. He had already suffered enough, but he knew Janshai had dealt much worse. He couldn’t just let his friend fight this powerful dragon alone. “But your wrist—” “Just get to the portal already, idiot!” said Janshai before he leaped to swiftly evade the dragon’s other claw. Arth wrenched his aching muscles, forcing himself to walk fast towards the red portal. His knees were shaking, but he exerted all of his remaining strength to get out of this wretched place. With every step, he felt more guilt of running away and not helping his friend. Janshai had been a very important person in his life already, and he would even sacrifice himself just to save his comrade. But despite all of that, he knew better. So he could not stop now. All of Janshai’s efforts would go to waste if he would not make haste. As Arth was fina
It had been a long night of traveling nonstop, as the Frostguarde might have tried to chase them. Good thing, Alice managed to hide their tracks with her magic. Heading far north of White Forest, they finally arrived in the village of Winterrun. It was a cold dawn with an early snow fall. The group stopped at the gate entrance of the village where several armed guards stood on the path. The high walls were made of stone, and two archer towers stood on both sides of the gates. Several bowmen could be seen at the top, aiming their bows towards the unidentified group below. “State your name and your business here,” one of the guards called out. Lucas, who had a mask and a hood on to avoid being recognized, reined his horse forward and then handed the guard a scroll. It only took the man a few seconds to read before he turned his back, signaling the men on the other side to open the gates.
Stepping inside, the room was dark and quiet, but bigger than what Arth had expected. He was used to living in small compartments alone, so staying here with the boys would totally be a whole new experience. Arth paused shortly the moment he spotted Janshai, squatting on one of the beds. His head and back was leaning on the wall, with his eyes closed. Arth could not remember when Janshai had his rest, as he had been fully awake for two nights straight. Plus, he just lost a huge amount of blood. Quietly and carefully, Arth entered, gazing around the dark room. It had four single beds and two wooden desks. There was a bottle of milk lying on the floor, so Arth picked it up. It was half-full, causing him to look at Janshai. He shook his head and then placed the bottle on the desk beside the bed of the sleeping guy. Arth went to the other bed beside Janshai’s. It made a squeaking sound as he sat on the side of the soft
Arth awoke by Robert’s loud voice in their room. He grunted in frustration, rubbing his sleepy eyes. “I told you. Arth’s still not awake yet!” Robert said, who appeared to be talking to someone through the door. “Oh, he’s awake now!” “Yeah, I’m awake now because of you, dammit.” Arth eyed him sharply. “My bad,” Robert said, smiling apologetically, scratching his brown hair. “Alice is here looking for you. Should I—” Arth sprang out of his bed right after hearing her name. He almost stumbled as he hurried towards the door, making Robert laugh out loud. “Move,” Arth said, pushing Robert’s face away. “Yes, what is it?” He raised his eyebrows, smiling with his teeth while looking at Alice. She was dressed on her white cloak, standing outside the door. “Uh … Are you going somewhere?” he asked. Alice surveyed him from head to toe before she spoke. Her cheeks blushed, eyes looking away. “Dress up. We’re going on a mission.” Then she walked away all of a sudden. That was when Arth took
“Arth! Hey, listen to me!” Alice said, poking him to get his attention. But Arth had been staring at the paper for how long already. He didn’t even notice his tears dropping to the paper he was holding. “The Chief is … taken to the capital …” Arth’s voice broke, his eyes wide open. “Hey …” Alice came in front of him, held his cheeks to make him face her, then wiped the tears on his face. “This is all my fault,” Arth bit his lip to prevent himself from crying, “Gods, this is my entire fault.” His chest tightened, as hard as stone, where inside was a shot of pain throbbing, killing him. He couldn’t believe it. Why would they bring the Chief into this mess? “Hey, this isn’t your fault, okay?” Alice tried to calm him down. “Listen, it’s gonna be alright. We just have to tell the boss first.” Arth crumpled the paper, sobbing. “We’ll resc
“What the hell have you done to him?!” Arth snapped and pulled out his Blackwinter sword. Then he bent his knee, preparing to rush to the enemies.“Arth!” Lucas called. “Stop it now. You still have something to do.”Arth tightened his grip on his sword, trying to control his anger after seeing the Chief’s bloody condition, like they had been torturing him every second. And that just made him want the Divine Knight’s head already.“We’ll handle this. You and Janshai go now,” Lucas told him.Arth looked sharply at Kael who was still smiling in amusement. He wanted to kill him so badly, but he had to stick to their plan. So he let out a huge breath and then turned to Alice.“Be careful,” Alice told him.“No, you should be the one to be careful,” Arth replied.
“How has my brother been doing?”‘Brother,’ Kael thought, then he snorted. “You still have the audacity to call me brother?”“I still do,” Lucas said, giving a smirk. “So how have you been doing in your position? Your responsibilities? How is your king? I assume you’ve already discovered about the true nature of the capital, and yet you still chose to stay and live your stupid dream as a Divine Knight.”“I’m not stupid enough to follow a traitor like you, Lucas. I live and serve for the crown. You swore an oath but you broke it. What would our parents think?” Kael replied as he raised his right brow. “Had they been still alive now, they would’ve been ashamed of you of having you as their son.”Lucas cocked his head. “Your words do not offend me at the very least, Kael.&rd
It was a grand festive night for the entire kingdom capital to celebrate the crowning of the new king. Arth had never been to a big celebration before, seeing lots and lots of people. He was seated at the dais of the Great Hall with tons of food on his own table. It was too much at least for him, so he just sighed and then sipped on his wine, looking around. The other three kings had already returned to their regions right after the ceremony had ended earlier, as they still had other responsibilities to attend to.Now that more people were present, the air had become warmer, filled with loud chats and laughs from the nobles and lords while they drank their liquor. The live music played by the talented musicians had made the Great Hall much noisier.“So this is what a feast is like,” Arth shook his head, watching a drunk noble dance over the table while his fellows laughed and clapped their hands, “It’s &
“How is it, My Prince?” The dressmaker lowered his chin, his eyes looking over his glasses.“It looks wonderful, sir. Thank you,” Arth said as he surveyed himself in front of the mirror. He wore a knee-length blue tunic of golden beadings. Beneath it was his white inner garment with two buttons undone to reveal his chest, tucked in his straight-cut black trousers.“Are you certain you do not want any jewelry, Your Highness? It’ll make you look more glamorous in the ceremony later,” the man said. “We have five boxes for you to choose from … some fine gold necklaces and diamond rings—”“It’s all good.” Arth smiled at the dressmaker and then looked again at the mirror as a servant was oiling his newly-cut black hair.The door of the dressing room suddenly opened.Looking through the mi
Arth cried and screamed from the pain … as the cold, rough earth was crushing his body in between. He exerted his arms, pushing both sides to prevent the ground from squeezing him, but hopeless it was … as it only made him bleed more, caused by the sharp stones against his skin.“Have no worries, for I shall take good care of your lands and—”Dethnar’s voice stopped as well as the ground, then followed by the demon cursing.“What’s … happening … now …?” Arth’s eyes fell heavier, but he still kept his consciousness.“You’re … a … demon …?! What are you?!” Dethnar spoke again from above, his voice shaking and mad. “You traitor! You are one of us … and yet—”“And you are a fool …”Arth
“The Demon King had ordered me to initiate the war by destroying the Power Crystal in the North,” Dethnar said, dark-blue flames covering his entire demon form. “This undead army of mine is just the beginning. After getting rid of the crystal I can now—”“I never asked for you to babble about your stupid plans, demon,” Arth cut him off. “You won’t be able to execute any of that. Now that you’re separated from Lucas, I can finally eliminate you from our world.”“Eliminate me?” Dethnar smiled wider in amusement. “You think you can beat me in my true form? You can’t even make a scratch.”“We’ll see,” Arth replied, then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.‘This is it, father,’he thought.‘I’ll show them the true power of our
Draphiron’s wings created a powerful gust of wind on the high tower as its claws held on to the pillars, and then lowered its long neck for Arth to climb down. The dragon’s remaining alar, in the form of a blue spirit, had helped him reach Crown Galacer in a short time.“Thanks, Draphiron … thank you, father,” Arth whispered, rubbing the dragon’s neck before he jumped off and landed on the floor. The blue spirit slowly dissolved into strings of alar, flying away from the tower, then they all compressed together and finally exploded in the skies like fireworks.Arth turned around, studying the situation now. The first thing he saw was the cracked Power Crystal … with tiny fragments scattered on the floor. Nearly destroyed it was … that Divine Knight must’ve stopped the demon before it could shatter the crystal. Kael did his job well enough, holding off the demon befo
After rushing out of the dungeon, Kael led the whole group inside the citadel, sneaking, as they did not want to catch the attention of the ghouls scurrying on the palace grounds … and the undead beasts flying above.A symphony of darkness and silence welcomed them … and it was a bit strange as to why Kael found no ghouls inside.The armory was located on the third floor of the citadel, so they had to use the wide staircases. As they made their climb, they tried to keep the silence, but Kael was annoyed by the Chief’s son who kept on whispering to Gregor. Had Gregor not taught his son how to keep his mouth shut?When they reached the armory, Gregor and his son quickly got their swords back. “Where are we going now?” the Chief asked Kael as they stepped out of the armory.“The throne room,” Kael replied. They got back to the staircases and clim
“Are you sure about this? What if they attack Cold Hills?” Tristan asked as they rode their horses, the west gate of the kingdom capital rising from their view ahead. It was a half-day journey from Cold Hills after they spotted the blue beam piercing through the skies, coming from the far north.“Don’t worry,” Kael replied. “Our village will be fine. The winterbird from the citadel said that the enemies were only attacking straight towards the capital.”As they reached the western gatehouse, Kael could still see the destroyed portcullis he had caused by the explosion two days ago. He raised his head to the top of the curtain walls and found no knights on watch anymoreThe fort bell kept on ringing, like repeating thunder amidst the dark clouds; the alarm for evacuation. The skies had already turned dark … wind blowing hard against his face, carrying the scent
“No …” Once again he burst into tears, leaning his forehead on the cold floor.“I failed … all because of me … all because of my stupidity!”Arth could no longer see any hope of saving Glacia. His body was too exhausted, worn out to go after Lucas and stop him. He could not even stand a chance now that Lucas had the sword and the power of its curse. No one could stop him now. And even if there was someone, Arth was already tired of hoping.“So all of our efforts are wasted … our accomplishments with the team … with Alice … all are wasted for his selfish ambitions?!” Arth said to himself as he hit his own forehead against the floor. “Alice died for nothing …
“Watch out, boss!” Arth yelled.But before the claw of the dragon could strike, Lucas made a high jump to dodge. He waved his sword to land a quick slash, aiming at the beast’s head, but then it ducked and spun its enormous body, swinging its huge tail to strike him. Lucas couldn’t move, as he’s still on air, so he had no other choice but to block the tail with his arms crossed.The direct hit blasted Lucas away, slamming him against the stone wall, only to fall on the floor, coughing blood, leaving the wall cracked.Arth held his sword tighter. Despite its enormous size, Draphiron was undeniably fast.Even Arth himself couldn’t possibly react in time had he been in Lucas’ situation earlier.“Why does it keep on attacking us?!” Arth shouted.No … Why would it keep on attacking only Lucas? Not Arth … or J