“Come on your highness settle down now, its time to sleep or shall I read you a bedtime story?” The young prince hearing these words nods his head to the dismay of the Head Maid.

“You mean ‘Yes Please.’”

“Yes Please”

While the prince is getting comfortably into bed, the Head Maid is browsing the bookshelf to find an appropriate story to end the day.

“Good, then how about this book ‘HVE’” flipping the backside reveals the summary that the Head Maid quickly skims through.

“It seems to be a story about a hero who came from a despairing village, a Kingdom seemed to be hoarding their wealth and its up to the hero to bring about a more even society.” States the Head Maid.

“a Kingdom? Hoarding their wealth?”

“Yes, it means that those in charge of the land are holding onto too much money, which is a very bad thing to do, as the residents of the land are the ones suffering.”

“That’s no good everyone in a kingdom should be happy like us.”

“That’s right, all of us here in Hypogean are happy because your father is a great king, and you’ll be just like him, won’t you?”

“Yeah, I’ll be even better than my father.”

“Good”

Carrying on the Head Maid continues to read the Children’s book until the young prince eyes felt too weary to continue.

Whispering sweetly the Head Maid leaves with the final words “Good night young prince”.

While the prince is dozing off, he recalls his fathers visit to his room earlier today. The young prince remembers his fathers deep imposing voice from his light grey beard, almost taking away all attention from the buzzing noise around his mother.

With a bold voice the King addresses the prince “My Son, you see this fly in your room?”

“Yes, Father I see it.”

“What will you do about this fly who came into your room? Will you kill it?”

“No”

“Good”

A moment of silence is broken by the increase of buzzing from the fly around his mother, with the breaking point coming from the fly finding rest in her bright purple hair.

“Now what will you do to this fly who came into your room and became an annoyance to your mother? Will you kill it?”

“Yes. It has become a bother to my mother.”

“Good. Always remember that family is most important, do not let anything deter you from this fact. Have no mercy towards those that plan to harm anyone in Hypogean, as they are all our family.”

The kingdom of Hypogean has been a tight knit community of people that have taken to living underground for generations, to the point where their bodies have naturally adapted to their environment. Average residents of Hypogean would rarely see above ground in their lifespan, with hardly any relations to other kingdoms, Hypogean has become a fully self-sufficient society with their own energy supply, farms, cities, and amusement parks.

Over the coming years as the prince was growing up, he would hear rumours of their neighbouring Avian kingdom that is located above ground. At first only positive things were stated about the advancement of technology due to the brilliant minds at Avian, only for it to spiral down into rumours of poverty and famine rates rising.

Waking up today the prince made a clear mental reminder to be one his best behaviour, after taking his time to shower and style his bright purple hair making sure all the beads on his hair are still attached. Even though majority of his hair was quite symmetrical he liked to style one simple 2 strand twist over his right eye with plenty of dark purple beads attached.

“Nice” he mumbles as he looks at himself in his room mirror, his eyes gaze towards his room wall where multiple paintings of his family and close subordinates are shown proudly. He then walks towards his dresser to put on his prized possession, a bright gold chain with a blue pendant attached matching the colour of his eyes.

After being satisfied with his appearance he mumbles to himself “Alright, its time to go meet Sir Ourax wouldn’t want to keep him waiting….”

THUMP

“Woah”

The prince strikes his wooden sword impacting the mentor’s chest creating a sound powerful enough to pierce through the walls.

“To think that you could land a hit on me after all these years, how far you’ve come.”

“It was only thanks to your training, thank you sir.”

“Mm, think nothing of it. How about one more spar?”

“Yes, thank you for the opportunity!”

After a few more matches between the two of them, Ourax claims “Ight that’s enough for today.”

“Thank you for the practice today, I’ll be heading out now.”

“Let’s head back together then.”

Leaving the training room leads into the kingdom hall which seemed more busy than usual today.

Being the first one to notice this Ourax notes “Ah it seems that today the diplomats from the Avian kingdom will be arriving, we should hurry up and freshen up before they arrive.”

“Mmm, that’s true at least I won’t have to worry about my bruises showing up, I don’t know about you though.”

“haha real funny, the day you can bruise me in a spar is the day your King.”

As they’re walking through the hall some idle chatters from nobles to the side comes into hearing.

“How pathetic is this Avian kingdom, how do you waste all your resources till the point of destruction.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I wonder how they let it get this bad.”

“Living a life of only leisure does that to you.”

“Seems everyone’s thinking about the same thing.” States the prince.

“Yeah, the Avian kingdom has to be pretty convincing and desperate come here asking for resources.” Replies his Mentor Ourax.

“Highly doubt this will lead to fruition, but for now I’ll be heading to my room to freshen up before waiting in the throne room.”

“Sure, I’ll meet you there.”

After taking a quick shower and checking his appearance in the mirror again, the prince takes a moment to calm himself. Thoughts start racing his mind ‘What could Avians want with us?’ ‘Will everything go smoothly?’ ‘Should I prepare for battle?’ ‘I’ve never been to war though, haven’t I been training all this time for this moment.’.

All these thoughts are pointless, at the end of the day time waits for no one. The prince finishes his preparations and heads over to the throne room.

Walking into the throne room is always a spectacle to behold, after the guards open the doors in a grandiose fashion, a blue carpet catches all attention standing in contrast to the dark grey tiling on the floor. With a grandiose vivid red throne that is reserved for one man alone in this whole kingdom. The guards on both sides of the room clear the view and path between the prince and the King.

“Ah My Son, come over here, stand by my side while we await the Avian diplomats.” boasts the King.

“Did you freshen up after your spar with Ourax” asks the Queen.

“Yes, I have mother.”

“Good, how did the session go? You’re not too bruised now, are you?” questioned the Queen.

“haha not this time, I learned some new things from Sir Ourax, but I would be more worried about him.”

A heartly laugh is heard from the King “HAHAHA my son saying that he has beaten Ourax in a spar huh, those old bones must be betraying him.”

“If I may interrupt, I feel this story has been bloated, but moving on from that. What’s the plan your highness?” states Ourax.

“Yes, back to the topic at hand, while I would like to remain open minded, I highly doubt they could offer anything worth diminishing our current lifestyle for.” the King responds.

Ourax remarks “Makes sense cause at the end of the day there has never been prior communication from those above, only when they tarnish their land, they resort to us.”

“Your highness, the Avian diplomats are here, shall I let them in?” exclaims a guard.

“Open!”

Three intimidating figures walk into the throne room, with no words exchanged between us it was clear these three were not from Hypogean. They immediately took a knee to demonstrate respect to the king. With the dark tan skin tones that contrast their white attire with red accents. I assume its due to them being above ground in the sun all the time, I’ve only ever seen farmers that dark.

Starting from the left, this man was a very big individual with a bald head and broad shoulders, looking into his eyes portrayed a very serious demeanor with a noticeable scar on his right eyes.

On the far-right side was a thin female who somehow was floating in the air with very little effort displayed, I assume this is due to the advanced technology from the Avian kingdom. In both of her hands appeared to be fire or some heat that is similar to it, with her long purple hair you’d have to wonder how she doesn’t accidently burn her ends.

In the middle of them both there was one figure who clearly had a different presence from the rest of them. Even with him taking a knee his eyes felt as if they were looking down on us, not out of pity for our archaic ways like he’s a savior. No, a Hero who is looking at us with understanding and respect like when you pretend to understand a toddler trying to converse.

The most disturbing thing to me was his eye colour. It’s red? That isn’t a common sight especially here in Hypogean where majority of our pupils are blue. Now that I think about it his hair is also white, I guess there’s a lot of differences between our races. 

The king sets the tone with a bellowing “Welcome Avian diplomats, I hope your journey here wasn’t a treacherous one.”

With a swift response the Hero replies with “Nothing of the sort, the citizens of Hypogean have been very welcoming, thank you for taking your time to hear our pleas.”

“Think nothing of the sort, now I assume these pleas relate to the deteriorating landscape above ground.”

“Yes, forgive me for going straight to the matter but as I’m sure your aware. Above ground we have been suffering from a lack of resources to the point where some are starving. We would like to open trades between our kingdoms for your excessive Xavulus supply.

“And what would you be offering for limited access to our Xavulus supply? It would take a large amount of Xavulus and proper use of its energy to restore your kingdom to its Former glory.”

“We would like to offer to Hypogean and its citizens our kingdoms finest scientists, gold, and workers. I believe this trade would benefit both of our kingdoms as our technology has brought upon monumental change to this world.”

The room takes a brief silence to let the weight of these words digest, understanding that currently I am witnessing my father determine the future trajectory of Hypogean.

Will we lead a life of convenience or of stagnation?

“HAHAHA Correct there is none better at this science you speak of. While we could introduce this poison into our society, I will have to firmly decline this offer. The last thing my family here needs is this deadly poison that destroyed your kingdom and has blinded you so. Sadly, there is not enough Xavulus for us to spare, we could spare an amount but not nearly enough for you to reproduce your kingdom.”

“Thank you for considering our proposal. We will definitely take all the help we could get. Surely, we will repay you one day.”

“Think nothing of it, please feel free to stay the night here I imagine your journey here was not an easy one. Although I must apologize for rooms we have prepared, we still have quite a lot to learn in hospitality, a hotel might be a fine addition for the future.”

“Thank you for your kind offer but we must decline as we have other plans for the night.”

“That’s alright, feel free to explore the city in the meantime then. Guards make sure to escort them properly!”

“YES YOUR HIGHNESS!!” exclaim the guards.

With guidance from the guards the Avian diplomats take their leave with a polite bow before walking into the kingdom hall.

Once the doors shut the first to break silence was the Queen with her kind hearted comfort “Take a deep breath Honey, you did well.”

“Thank you, it was a shame that everything was decided so quickly, but this was our first time having any relations with the Avian Kingdom. I hope we seemed hospitable but not fragile. Most importantly Ourax, I need you to investigate into how Avian has heard about Xavulus supply.”

“I see you noticed it too Sir. It’s strange how those above ground would know about our Xavulus supply, assuming they don’t know our mining methods we should still have the upper hand.”

 “Yes, but it’s a matter of trust. To think one of our family members would allow info to spread saddens me.”

That’s Impossible.

“I doubt any info leak was purposeful, when I walk the streets of Hypogean, I see smiles, I hear music, I hear laughter. There is no possibility of a traitor. Absolutely None.” I exclaimed.

Suddenly, I couldn’t hear my own voice anymore, it was overpowered by a sharp noise that sliced through the air. It sounded like a large explosion has gone off in the distance I could feel the tremors from here.

“Huh, what was that?” I ask with thoughts racing through my mind.

My father demonstrates his authority giving out orders “Guards check on the source of that noise IMMEDIATELY.”

“YESSIR!”

A calming voice in the mixture emerges from my mother “I have a bad feeling about this, especially after our earlier meeting.”

“Let’s hope for the best.” Replies my father with a soft tempo.

“It sounded like something went off in the City Centre.” conveys Ourax.

City Centre? That’s the densest population in Hypogean, I need to go check on my family.

“I’ll go check!”

“Wait!” Screams My Mother.

Before I get to the door, I hear the giant screech of the heavy door being pushed open, the guards walking in have now become in this moment the most important people in this room.

“Sir, there was an attack from the Avian kingdom. It seems they planted poison bombs in the City Centre. Although there wasn’t much damage to the buildings, there have been quite a few injured civilians. Mostly those that were close to the impact of explosion and young ones who still have a weak poison resistance”

“Thank goodness it was only a poison, has everyone affected been situated into the clinic? Where are the diplomats currently?” replies the King.

“As soon as they left the gates, the bombs were set off. It must be the work of this science they speak of.”

“Then we can understand this as a declaration of War. They must have planned to poison us due to the lack of fresh air underground. Robbing us of our Xavulus and lives without risking damage to our environment. Ourax we can discuss this in detail later, for now let us go check on our family.”

“Yes, your highness”

I need to go provide support in any way I can. “As will I, I still haven’t seen my subordinates yet, hopefully they are assisting at the city centre.”

This is the time to protect my family, I have been given the finest education, training, and upbringing all for this moment and if I must go to war with the Avian kingdom I will not shy away from my duty as Prince.