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Murmurs came from everywhere as Jardin finished talking.

“For those who don’t wish to join, we will help you return to your home,” he said, “I will give you time to think, you may stay in this fort for as long as you wish.”

With that he left through the purple curtains behind him.

The people in front of us started trying to convince others to join with them while the others were reluctant.

Alex and I were standing at the very back near the walls. He grabbed my arm and said, “I’m going to join, what about you Zed?”

“I don’t know,” I answered. Their actions, though right, were wrong as well. They were taking the law into their own hands. My being a prince is something they’ll hate and there was no telling how long I could hide it.

“Zed, your parents were also killed by those bandits right?” he asked.

“The king doesn’t care about us! We were abandoned! Come with me!” he insisted.

I was reluctant in joining when he dragged me with him. There was a door on the left side that was set up to accept members. He led me inside and there were only a couple of people in lines.

The room was dark and grimy. There were five counters with people behind them. Iron grills separated the people working from the people who would register. A door to the right was closed and someone who was done registering would go through it.

He led me to the counter nearest the door while I resisted.

“Come on!” he would say now and then as he dragged me.

We stopped in front of the counter and behind it was the woman that saved me.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said meekly.

“Yes we are thank you,” Alex said confidently, “we want to join!”

She moved her right fingers to touch her chin and she said, “But you’re too young…”

“We can do it!” shouted Alex confidently.

“Why not let them,” said a voice from behind the woman.

It was Jardin. He strode in from the shadows behind her.

“They are young but confident,” he said.

“But sir” she insisted, “our job is dangerous.”

“Then we can just give them easy jobs for now. When they get older, we can give them more appropriate jobs,” allayed Jardin, “Is that alright with you children?”

“Yes!” Alex shouted while pumping his arms.

“Hahaha, alright, give them probationary status Melissa,” said Jardin as he left.

Melissa sighed and handed out an iron necklace with a star shaped pendant.

“Wear this at all times so that everyone knows you’re part of us and on probationary status,” explained Melissa, “then move on to the door over there.”

Alex took the necklaces and gave me one of them. We both put it on and left by the door she pointed to us.

Inside the door was a hall with steps going downward. We followed the hall and when we reached the end, what we saw astounded us.

We saw a giant sprawling underground city. It looked to be roughly the size of the capital. We were at the ceiling of the city as we looked down upon it. There seemed to be at least a hundred meter distance from the ceiling to the top of the tallest building. A strange white light glowed from white crystals that seemed to be everywhere giving us an eerie view of the city.

There were crowds of people going all around the city. There was a market filled with goods as well as a giant fountain. There was a castle at the far end of the market and it would look large from the ground but from where we were it looked to be the same as normal house.

We were not the only ones to be looking down at the city. To the left and right of us were other entrances with people also looking at the sight.

“Awesome!” said Alex.

“This is our new home!” said Alex as he wrapped his right arm around me.

“Let’s go down,” I said pointing to a set of stairs to our left.

We walked down the stairs as more people appeared behind us. The city grew more imposing and wonderful as we took each step down.

At the end of the steps, the city opened up to us. There were two guards in front of us and one of them motioned for us to go near him.

We did and the guard asked, “What is your status?”

We showed him our necklaces and he nodded and said, “Go straight ahead until you reach a building. Go inside of it and you’ll get your jobs as well as where to live.”

We nodded and walked to where the guard told us to go.

Along the way, we were greeted by the residents. Most of them merely greeted us but others clapped us in our backs while others hugged us. Those that hugged us were always women who seemed to be sad for us.

The city was friendly and I was already accepting the idea of this city. I wanted to make the Rigel Kingdom turn into something like this. There was no difference between the races.

It wasn’t easily seen but during my presentation, I noticed that the elves were aloof to the others. The dwarves were also aloof but because of the beer they weren’t as much. I wanted the races to interact more with each other and not just for the sake of diplomacy.

As I was thinking all of these things, we finally reached the building. It was a plain two story building with small slits as windows. The door was a simple wooden door with a sign that said ‘Probation’.

We entered the building and we were greeted by a dim light and a narrow hallway. At the end of the hallway was a door that we opened as soon as we entered the building.

The room was brightly lit compared to the hallway. There was a desk at the end of the room in front of us and a large bookshelf to the right. There were chairs in front of the desk and a man was looking at some paintings on the left wall.

The man had purple hair, red eyes, fair skin and black wings. Obviously he was of the Avan race. The Avans are merely humans with wings that allow them to fly.

“Hello,” said the man, “my name is George, the Probation Captain. Am I correct in assuming you are Probation?”

We nodded.

“Alright,” he said as he clapped his hands.

“Sit down,” he said as he pointed to the chairs.

We sat at the chairs and he continued standing.

“Obviously you are too young to work with us so I have to ask… why do you want to join us?” he said as he turned around from the paintings.

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“I lost my parents because of the king!” shouted Alex.

“My family was poor but we were happy. One day our town was attacked by bandits but luckily we survived. Knights came and we thought we were going to be saved but they just left us! Left us!” said Alex as he started to cry.

“Because they left us, we were starved most days but we endured. Then suddenly more bandits came and they killed my parents! They took me along with them and threw me in a cage,” he said as he cried.

“If it wasn’t for the king’s knights… my parents wouldn’t have died!” he shouted as his whole body shook and he put his head on his knees.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I couldn’t do anything about what happened to him but I felt responsible as the prince.

George rubbed Alex’s back and he asked, “And you?”

He was referring to me and I came up with the response, “I was sold by my parents.”

He twitched his eyebrows and asked, “Just for that?”

“I can hold a grudge,” I said as I hunched up my shoulders.

“I see,” he said as he nodded slightly.

We were silent for a while until Alex finally calmed down.

“A lot of things has happened to you all, so for now I’ll take you to your quarters,” he said as he led us to the dim hallway again.

Instead of going straight, we went to the right where the hallway extended and I just didn’t notice earlier. At the end of the hallway was another door and it opened up to a set of stairs to the right and a door to the front and left.

“Alex, this is your room,” he said pointing to the front.

“And this is yours Zed,” pointing to the left.

“How do you know our names?” I asked knowing that we hadn’t told him our names yet.

“I’m your captain, of course I know,” he explained as matter-of-factly as he left.

I turned to Alex and asked, “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” he said, “and I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” I asked confused.

“That you were sold, your parents must’ve been cruel to do that,” he said with hatred in his eyes, “don’t worry I won’t let anyone do that to you again.”

I nodded and went inside my room.

It was a quaint and simple room. There was a small dresser and a bed fit for a grown man to sleep on. The bed only had a cover and one pillow. There was a small window in front of me that let light in.

“Master, you need to get out of here,” said Malakir when we were sure that we were alone and that no one will hear anything.

“I know,” I said, “I’m just lucky that no one knows just yet but it’s only a matter of time.”

“How do we even get out of here?” I asked Malakir.

“I could use Takeover again and get you safely back to the capital,” suggested Malakir.

Remembering the feeling of my body being controlled by someone else I said, “No.”

“But master!”

“No means no Malakir.”

Suddenly, a crumbling sound could be heard.

“What was that?” I asked Malakir.

“I do not know master,” answered Malakir.

I went outside my room and saw that Alex was already ahead of me and going outside the building as well.

When we got out we saw that the ceiling was crumbling.

“Quick!” shouted a voice above us.

We looked up and saw George flying and he grabbed us and said, “I’m taking you to safety hold tight!”

Flying in the air was a nice experience, dampened only by the fact that I was actually dangling from at least a hundred meters high up the air with only my arm keeping me from falling.

I tried not to look down as I would panic a little when I did. Fortunately, it was a short flight and we were dropped at the same place where we had entered.

“What’s happening?” I asked as I got on the ground.

“I don’t know,” he said, “I have to go and save as many as I can, stay here and if the ceiling starts to crumble head out!”

We nodded as he flew back to the city.

The ceiling began to tremble more and large rocks were beginning to fall down. Screams could be heard from all around as they tried to dodge the falling rocks.

Running footsteps appeared behind us and we turned to look when a familiar face appeared.

It was Salazar!

“Salazar!” I shouted as I ran up to him.

“Zed!” he shouted as he hugged me tight, “we thought we lost you! I’m so glad you’re safe!”

He released me and Alex tapped me in the back and asked, “Who’s he?”

“He’s my brother Salazar,” I explained relieved that I was saved.

“Brother?” Alex asked.

“Prince!” shouted more voices behind Salazar.

They were my brother’s personal guards.

“Please don’t run so far ahead of us,” complained one of them.

“A prince?” asked Alex.

I looked towards him and his face showed anger and betrayal when he asked, “You were a prince!”

“Alex wait,” I said as I tried to calm him down and reached out my right arm.

He flicked it away with his left and he shouted, “Stay away! You’re his son! You’re the monster’s son!”

“Alex please,” I said as I stepped towards him.

“No stay away!” he shouted as he stepped back.

“I didn’t mean it to be like this,” I said as I moved forward.

“No you planned it all alo–” he said but he didn’t finish as his step made him fall backwards.

“Alex!” I shouted as I tried to save him.

I was too late, I was unable to reach him and he fell staring at me in anger. I also began falling as I stepped forward too much when Salazar saved me.

We fell backwards, Salazar on the ground and me on his chest. I cried there and then for the friend that I made, hurt and couldn’t save.

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