The three crossed the green fields and made it to the castle town. They approached the gate and were stopped by a guard. “Let's see... a scholar of the royal family, a... friend of the scholar (or at least I hope) and an outsider. You two can enter but the outsider may NOT enter.” “Um... I’m going to be honest with you, he's not from this world, but he’s here to help us, and everyone else really! You see what's really hap-” “Silence! An interloper!? We already have our defenses up for a supposed one, could this be them!?” The guard drew his weapon. “So, he DOES know...” muttered Keo, stepping back. He continued with “He is here to help STOP the one you are watching out for!”

“Deception! You said it yourself, this outsider is an evil interloper, and only means harm! Don't think we don't know about what he's done to the people in the Central Citadel! There were barely any survivors, and now this weird purple cloud thingy appeared over it!” I’m just gonna say it once STOP killing innocent people, and STOP playing with the sky, ok?” The guard gripped his weapon tightly, preparing for his supposed conflict. “N-No, Look at m-me! Were here to help, we promise!” Avi said with a raised voice. “Leave now, or the 3 of you will be arrested!” The guard looked behind him, checking for other guards in case he needed backup. Avi swiftly turned around and tried to walk away. “Avi, watch out!” Keo yelled. “Watch out for what?” Avi questioned. Her sword wasn't fully secured on her back, and she accidentally cut the guard.

The Guard tried to attack Avi, making sure to not use too much force. “Stand down! You are under arrest! You two as well! I will let you enter this town, but only to be locked up! Rei tried to run away, while Keo drew his bow, and Avi put her hands up. A Guard cornered Rei, while two others disarmed Keo and tied Avi. “Bring these three to the dungeon! Don't worry, we’ll release you in about a year, just make sure to DONT COME BACK!” “A YEAR!?” yelled Rei. “It seems were in a bit of a predicament, aren't we? You don't have to tie me, I will follow you to the dungeon, and prove to you that we are innocent...” The three were escorted to a dungeon, with Avi and Keo put in one cell, and Rei taken to a higher security cell. “Well, this is just GREAT.” Whined Avi, pulling on the shackles she was attached to.

Rei awoke on the opposite side of the dungeon. He groaned and looked around. “Keo… Avi? Where are you two, you’ve GOT to get us out of here!”. “Once again… we definitely ARE in a predicament.” Keo yelled back to Rei. Avi pulled on her chains again and whined nonsense while Keo looked at her. “Don’t worry, as a master scholar of the royal family, ill surely persuade them to release us early.” Keo Responded. “But can you persuade a little faster, and like, get us out of here in the next 5 minutes… I’m hungry, and this place smells bad!!” Avi whined, with real words this time.

Keo started to come up with a plan and Avi dozed off to sleep out of boredom. Rei, on the other hand, noticed a flaw in his “maximum security cell”. A large crack in the wall, covered by stone bricks, did not conceal it. Rei moved them out of the way, punched open the crack, and found a tunnel. “I guess this is my way out” Rei whispered to himself. He began to crawl through the tunnel.

The tunnel had many different paths, and Rei chose to stick to the right, as he did in most mazes when he was younger. The tunnel was damp, moist, and smelled of dead rodents. Rei covered his nose until he heard something… “The blonde one is requesting to be released, and pleading innocence, along with the girl.” A guard said. “Blonde? You mean my SON!? You locked away my son?” could be heard from a deep voiced, but smart sounding man. Rei found a crack in the wall to peak through.

Gold trimmed carpets, crystal windows, and dark bricks could be seen across the large room. (“This must be the king’s room”) Rei thought to himself, as he spotted the emerald plated throne. “Release them THIS INSTANT, as well as the girl!” Thie king yelled. “But what about the interloper?” the guard questioned. “Release him too! You can’t arrest people just because they wear different attire. They were with Keo, they can only mean well!” The king stomped on the ground, which broke the crack in the wall. “Uh oh” said Rei, quietly. He tried to crawl away, but he caved in. His only choice was to crawl out the opening.

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Rei squeezed through the opening and walked towards the king. He was quickly confronted and blocked by two guards holding spears. “He escaped; I knew he had plans!” The guard ordered his cohorts to attack Rei without a second thought. “Stop!” The king ordered. The guard didn’t listen. With 4 guards charging at Rei, he checked his surroundings, and noticed a broadsword hooked to the wall. He ran over to it and grabbed it. “I finally get to hold one of these. Cool! Come at me!”. Rei egged on the guards, overly confident in his abilities. Rei ran forward and slashed his sword to the nearest guard, disarming them, and held the sword close to them, blissfully unaware of the three other guards standing behind him. “Damnit.” The disarmed guard, stunned got back up slowly, while the other guards took the sword Rei used. “I said, STOP!” Said the king. “I order you to release him!” “But he tried to break out, and attack us!” said one of the guards. “You ALSO didn’t pay attention to his story! Arresting one for nothing! You practically framed him! You two can use yourself by releasing Keo and the girl!” The king demanded. The four guards left in a hurry, grabbing the dungeon key, and went towards the dungeon.

“Greetings, young one, I am king Sholventus the fourteenth, what brings you here?”. The king introduced himself as Sholventus. “Well, first I have to say, your guards are really dumb, but that’s besides the point. I was uhh… “visiting” this town with a couple acquaintances, trying to settle down to make a plan to defeat some evil guy, and uh, make my way home. Any way you can help …my king?” Questioned Rei. Sholventus seemed intrigued, and laughed. “Ho ho! “A young, stubborn-witted boy from a faraway land” Just as it says in the prophecy! (or, at least I think). So… my son Keo, a scholar, has a lot of knowledge in this area, and has been looking for you for quite a while.” Said Sholventus.

Rei looked behind him and saw Keo and Avi led into the king’s room. “Hiya!” Avi said, with a gleeful smile. “We freed these two, as you requested, but PLEASE, make sure the girl doesn’t keep whining, its driving us CRAZY!!” The Guards said, while walking away. “Hey! Not nice!” exclaimed Avi. “Just ignore them… sigh, anyways, lets see what’s happening over here. “So please, help stop Ardonous and save this world!” said Sholventus. “Nah” Rei responded. “No!? that’s not the answer I was expecting, allow me to ask you ag- ““No.” Rei responded again. “WHY!” You do understand that the world will be destroyed if you don’t help!” The king pleaded.

“Can’t Avi just fend him off, she seems pretty strong (and hot).” Rei said, looking over at Avi. Keo stepped forward and tried to convince Rei by showing him a scroll. “Ah my son, please convince this young man!” exclaimed Sholventus. “Ok, so, as you can see here, you are perfectly described right here” Keo said pointing at an ancient picture of figure that looked like Rei. “They could have drawn the hair a little better, and maybe made my clothes more accurate, like seriously, do they expect me to be wearing rags? Oh, and… no, I don’t want to help.” Rei said, eyeing the door. “W-Wait! You are our last hope! Please!” pleaded Sholventus. “No, and that’s final.” Rei said, walking towards the door.

As he tried to exit, Avi stopped him. “Where do you think you’re going, mister!?” said Avi, confronting Rei. “Uhh…. Home?” Rei responded with a puzzled face. “You don’t know where you’re going to go, do you” “No, I have no idea, I was just hoping it would rain or something and I could just open a portal back home. If I am the “hero of prophecy”, then I must have some cool powers.” Said Rei, trying to get past Avi. “Uhh, no, you don’t, nobody in Avindor can control any magic… not even some light elemental magic, everything is barebones around here, swords, bows, the cool stuff!” Avi said with a smile. “No elemental powers!? Ugh, I would consider staying If I could pretend, I’m inside a video game!” Rei looked down in slight disbelief, still trying to get passed Avi. “What’s a video game?” Avi said. Rei nearly passed Avi, but she stopped him and stepped on his foot.

“Ow!” He lightly tripped and fell. “Please don’t leave…” Avi said. Rei could see Avi standing right above him. “(How didn’t I catch this awesome view before!?)” Rei thought to himself. “If you want, I’ll let you sleep next to me on my comfy bed, you won’t have to sleep on a rock in a low-class hotel room.” Avi said, trying to help Rei up. “Sleep… next to you…? Well, maybe I’ll give this a try, but you’ve gotta stick around. The second you leave, I’m gone.”