“I’ve heard rumors that there was a way to destroy the ring. Are you saying that they were true? How would you know something like that?” Violet asked.
“I swear to you on the honor of my bloodline that what I say is true. It’s information my parents shared with me shortly before I took the throne. The steps on destroying the ring were obtained by them back when the world met every year for the Nebulan Conference. It was a guarded secret between nations that had foreseen Admia’s future conquests reaching catastrophic levels.”
“The Nebulan Conference has not met for almost ten years…How old were you when you were made queen?!”
“I was 14 when my parents were killed during their attempts to remedy the war in Esten. They had no other heirs.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Kenrich said. “Losing your parents and then having to become the ruler of a powerful nation must’ve been a lot for you to handle at such a young age.”
“It was, but it was my job as the princess to very noble rulers during these violent times. Now, regarding the way to destroy the ring, I can’t say that it will be easy.”
“With something this important, there was little chance of that,” Violet said. “So, what do we need to do?”
“There are three different magic gemstones that when exposed to one another, can create a compound with a temperature high enough to destroy even the most potent magic. There was a pact between Darkvent, Shangloo, and Aquarium to house each of these stones separately in order to keep them available, but not in any one place where they could be abused. You need to gather these stones and by doing so, you would be able to destroy the ring permanently.”
“You’re saying that we need to travel to both Shangloo and Darkvent and convince them to give us the stones? Why can’t they bring the stones to us? Was that not the whole point of the pact?” Violet asked.
“Sadly, things have changed. Admia has their grip on each of our nations and is constantly monitoring the export and import of gems giving meaningless reasons for doing so. Also…Aquarium no longer has one of the stones.”
“You lost it?!” Violet yelled.
“No! Nothing like that! At least not through forgetfulness…”
“Do I even wanna ask where it is?”
Queen Puri once again looked embarrassed as she lightly shook her head.
“Admia has it. They caught wind of the plan shortly after it was conceived and took the stone from Aquarium during the early part of my reign…It was my fault…”
Queen Puri looked down at her feet with a large sense of shame showing on her face and in her voice.
“You can’t blame yourself, your majesty,” Kenrich said.
Queen Puri looked up at him.
“It’s not your fault in the slightest. You were so young and got put in such a difficult situation… I’m sure you did what you needed to in order to protect your people, and that’s commendable. You needn’t worry, we’ll reclaim the stone along with the others.”
Kenrich gave her a handsome smile. Queen Puri’s heart skipped a beat.
“Th-thank you, Kenrich.”
“Please – call me Ken.”
“O-okay…Ken.”
“Alright can we get back on topic here?” Violet said, tapping her finger loudly on the table. “Where in Admia is it being kept?”
“They gloated about how safe it would be in their capital when they took it from me, so I would imagine it’s still being kept there.”
“The Capital, huh? God, I hate that place,” Violet said.
“Have you been there before?” Kenrich asked.
“Unfortunately, yes. There’s not a place on the planet filled with more idiots than The Capital. That’s where the majority of those ignorant pigs who profit off of all this conquest live. It’s also heavily guarded, so infiltrating the place is not gonna be easy.”
“I hate to task you two with such a dangerous mission, but I can’t think of people more suited. Being able to survive the journey here while being hunted by Admia all the while, it shows you both are extremely resilient.”
“You’re just buttering us up because you want us to do your job for you…”
“Don’t listen to her. We will gladly accept this mission.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“I promise to help you both in any way I am able to. Funds, training, supplies, just name it, and it’s yours.”
“Training?” Kenrich asked.
“Of course! While we are a very peaceful nation, we still have quite the number of capable warriors to learn from.”
“We do need to become stronger…” Violet said, quietly. “Okay! We’ll take you up on all of your offers. If we’re going to be staying a while, we’ll also need a place to sleep, and it better be a nice one!”
“You will want for nothing while you reside here. You have my word. I worry about Admian officials looking for you two here though, so I must insist that you two stay at my palace. We have a wonderful gym where you can start your training, and very comfortable bedrooms that you may use to the fullest. I will be able to protect you both much more easily here.”
“We thank you for your generosity. Is it possible that we may have a third bedroom prepared? We might have a third member coming soon to help us,” Kenrich said.
Violet smiled at Kenrich.
“Might? Seems a bit ominous…but of course! I will have my staff see to it. I’m sure you are both very tired from your journey here, so shall I have my maid take you to your new living spaces? I can also get her to draw you up some baths – you’re both quite dirty…”
Kenrich looked down at his feet and noticed that he and Violet had both tracked a good amount of mud into the room without realizing.
“I-I’m sorry, your majesty! Please, allow us to clean this up!” Kenrich said, before trying to scrape up mud with his dirty fingers.
“There’s no need for that, Ken.”
Queen Puri got up, took out a stone from a nightstand next to her bed, and clapped next to it. Suddenly, from the wall of the room, a person-sized, gelatinous portal appeared which surprised Kenrich enough to knock him off his feet… putting even more mud on the floor. Out of the portal, stepped out a pale woman with black glasses wearing a very traditional looking maid’s outfit.
“You called, my queen?” she said.
“Please escort my new friends to the finest bedrooms available and get a third one ready as they might be having a friend come by.”
“At once, my queen.”
The maid then opened three more portals next to one another on the same wall she appeared from. Kenrich and Violet were still stunned from this magic they had never seen before.
“Wh-what kind of magic is that?!” Violet yelled.
“Oh! It’s transportation magic,” Queen Puri said, enthusiastically. “It’s one of the perks of being royalty! Two of these stones were passed down to me from my parents. I hold one, and my head maid here, Yui, holds the other.”
“Why did clapping at that other stone summon her?!” Kenrich asked.
“It’s just a communication stone, Ken,” Violet said, rolling her eyes. “There’s no need to be so loud.”
“You’re the biggest hypocrite I know…”
Violet then smiled and stuck her tongue out at Kenrich, who just shook his head.
“Please draw them up baths as well, Yui. They both really need one.”
“Right away, my queen.”
“We can speak more about the journey ahead tomorrow. Please enjoy the palace’s facilities however you wish in the meantime,” Queen Puri smiled.
Violet and Kenrich walked up to the portals and stared at them warily. Violet poked her finger in the middle of it causing a ripple effect that traveled to the edge of it. Kenrich then put a hand in, and when he felt no pain, he decided to put his head in to see what was on the other side. He felt his brain short circuit once he saw that on the other side was a hallway which was that familiar shade of blue. It was an utterly confusing phenomenon. He then put the rest of his body through the portal and appeared into the hallway that he had seen. Yui was waiting right next to him. A few seconds later, Violet stumbled through her own portal, almost falling. Kenrich tried to stymie a laugh, but Violet saw and threw her fist into his shoulder.
“These three rooms are yours to do what you wish,” Yui said. “I am going to start making your baths. I will grab you each individually for your baths starting with Violet. Please make yourselves at home.”
Kenrich and Violet thanked her, and with that, they were alone in the hallway.
“We’ll go after we get cleaned up,” Violet said. “I don’t want to be dirty when I see her again.”
“Got it. I’m glad we’ll have a nice bed waiting for her. Do you think she’ll want to come with us?”
“I worry that she will.”
“You don’t want her to?”
“I just…don’t want to lose her again.”
“I get it. Whatever you decide. I’m for it.”
Violet gave him a smile and nodded.
“I’m gonna go lie down for a bit before my bath,” Violet said.
“Sounds good. I’ll knock on your door after my bath, and we can go from there.”
They then split up and went into their separate rooms. Once Kenrich entered his room, he was happy to see that the light blue hue was nowhere to be seen. It had the same light gray color scheme as Queen Puri’s own bedroom. He took off his muddy boots at the door, put down his sword and bag on the dresser in the corner of the room, and laid down on a comfortable surface for what felt like the first time in his entire life. He easily drifted off to sleep.
Violet was even happier to see that there was no blue to be seen in her room but could only celebrate for a moment before she returned to her thoughts of Fae. If she wanted to come with them, should she let her? It would be hard to convince her to stay behind if she really wanted to go, and Violet was positive that she would. Based on what Violet knew from getting brought back with the stone, how she died would be the last memory that she had. She would need a lot of things explained to her once she revived. Violet decided to deal with these problems as they arose though, as she was apt to do. After a few minutes of waiting, Violet heard a knock on her door and followed Yui to the bath.
Violet was very excited to finally be able to get a bath. There was still mud and dried blood all over her body, and there had been for a while, so being able to finally wash away this grime would also hopefully wash away the bad memories associated with it. All this filth represented their entire perilous journey to this point, and Violet was more than happy to be able to turn the page on it. It was clear that there would be more struggle in their future during this mission they had undertaken, but that could all wait until after this bath, and after getting Fae back. Violet got to the large bath, was directed by Yui of where the towels and changing room were, got undressed, and was ready to start a new chapter.