Arrow lay on the cold, hard floor of his cell. He reflected on his actions. He attempted to steal one of the Shadow keys from his brother’s castle but failed. He felt no remorse for his actions. His only regret was getting caught. He planned to collect all of the keys and go to the Shadow realm, defeat the Shadow king and take over the entire realm. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a deep, gruff voice.

“Arrow,” it said. “It’s me, your father. Get up.”

Arrow got to his feet and faced his father. “Kakos? Why are you here?”

Kakos groaned. He hated being addressed by his first name, especially by his own son. “I have a proposition. I understand you and I don’t have the best relationship, but I have a way to get you out of here.” he said.

“What is your proposition?” Arrow asked.

“I am forming an organisation. Our goal is to steal the Shadow keys, enter the Shadow realm and take it over by defeating the king. Similar to your own goal, I believe? But there’s more. We will also use the power from the Shadow king to defeat your brother, Denali. I regret choosing him as the heir to my throne. I could have broken tradition and chosen you, the younger one, but I was afraid of the backlash that would come. I trusted in Denali, but he has not delivered on the promises he made to me.” Kakos explained.

“I’ll join your group under the condition that once the Shadow king is defeated, I shall replace him.” Arrow said.

“Yes, you shall. But only if this plan is successful.” Kakos said.

“Then I shall join.”

Kakos opened a portal and walked through it. Arrow followed. They arrived in a dark room filled with people. Two lions were there as well as two draconians. One of the lions was the royal scientist Veritas, who had looked after Arrow on occasion when he was a child. Arrow never liked him. The other lion was the infamous gangster Anui, who Arrow had met as he occasionally visited Veritas when Arrow was being minded by him. Arrow didn’t recognize either of the draconians. One was a tall, old draconian man, the other was a slightly short young draconian girl.

“So, you actually managed to get him? I must say, I’m rather surprised.” Veritas said. He wore a white lab coat as he always did, but since the last time Arrow had since him Veritas had aged twice as much as he should have. He also wore glasses with green swirls in the lenses as well as green sandals, for some reason.

“Yo, sup, ‘Kos? Ya got Mordera on board, then? Radical.” Anui said. Anui wore a leather jacket with no shirt underneath. He had a large, screaming mouth tattooed on his stomach and a broken heart tattoo on his chest.

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“I know you’ve met these two already, so I shan’t introduce you to them. The other two, however, I shall. This is Vipereus. Kakos gestured towards the tall draconian man. He is a businessman who has worked with the royal family very frequently. Anui caused him some trouble, but they’ve since reconciled-”

“No. We’ve not.” Vipereus interrupted. Anui glared at Vipereus.

“…Anyway, as I was saying, he has worked with the royal family before, mostly supplying our military with weapons. This, Kakos gestured towards the girl draconian, is his daughter, Serna. She’s quite young, only a little younger than you, but I’m sure she’s very capable, although she wouldn’t be here if she had someone else Vipereus trusted enough to take care of her.”

“I would say it’s nice to meet all of you, but that would be a lie.” Arrow smiled smugly. “Anyways, when is our first mission?”

“First thing tomorrow morning. There are bedrooms down that corridor there, I’ve marked out one for each of you. I suggest you go to bed soon, although I’ve prepared a small meal for each of you beforehand.”  Kakos left to go get the food prepared. Arrow lay down across a sofa, spreading his body as far as he could to ensure there was no room for anyone to sit next to him. Within moments of being left alone in the room, Veritas, Vipereus and Anui began to argue. Serna sat down in a chair near Arrow’s sofa.

“So, you know those guys?” She said.

“Veritas and Anui? Yes, I do. Veritas would on occasion look after me as a child and Anui would sometimes visit. Veritas would usually just watch these weird cartoons on his own, but sometimes Anui and him would play videogames with me. There was this one game, it was called mega brawling siblings or something, and I’d always beat them in it.” Arrow said.

“My father knows Anui but they don’t really get along.” Serna said.

“Here’s your food, Arrow.” Kakos said. “And sit properly.” Arrow sat up straight and ate his food. It was a small sandwich with a glass of water. Kakos always underfed Arrow as a child, so even as an adult he was extremely thin. Arrow noticed everyone else’s sandwiches were slightly bigger than his and he was unsure whether or not that was coincidental. He ate his food, then went to bed. There were clothes for him hung up in his room, as he was at the time, only wearing a dirty robe. There was a white shirt, black trousers, a purple waistcoat and a purple bowtie. Arrow went to bed. He lay in bed for hours and hours until he eventually fell asleep, only to wake up shortly after. He felt hungry so he got out of bed and looked for a kitchen, being quiet as to not wake up everyone else. As he searched, he heard a voice coming from the main room. He went up to the door and put his ear against it.

“Did you get Arrow Mordera?” said a deep, smooth voice.

“Yes.” Kakos said.

“Good. The… Wait, I think I heard something at the door. We’ll meet again soon, goodbye for now.”

“I’ll check the door; I’ll call you tomorrow.” Kakos said.

Arrow quietly hurried back into the darkness. He hid beneath a table when Kakos looked outside the door, then left to go look for the kitchen when Kakos stopped looking. He found the kitchen, looked around it, and found nothing other than a tin with the word ‘skeleton food’ on it. Inside was uncooked spaghetti. He went back to bed and slept until the next morning.