Gladean Empire, Capital City of Ksatria: 936, August 12th, Sunday, 12:00 PM.
“Maulik, look!” Gal called out to her companion—gawking at the multicolored sweets resting on a shop stand—the mouthwatering smell prompting the girl to lick her lips. “I’ve never had these before…”
“We are not here for the festival, Gal…” Maulik replied with furrowed brows.
In the crowded streets of Ksatria, a large city that served as the capital of the gladean empire, crowds of people stopped to observe the many attractions of the festival, or shop for souvenirs and food in the stands. A massive palace that rose into the sky could be seen by all from a great distance away, with a large open plaza protecting the long bridge that led towards its heavily guarded gates.
The streets of Ksatria were closed for vehicles, and people walked freely from stand to stand to check on the vendors and their products—the emperor’s officers protecting the citizens and maintain the peace. The buildings were meticulously crafted from stone masonry, giving them a sturdy and traditional look. Statues of Gladea could be seen almost everywhere, displayed proudly for the public to admire.
“We must find our way inside the palace…” Maulik said as he contemplated the enormous structure in the distance. “Gal?”
“Mhm…” the redhead girl nodded, chewing on hard candy as she held a fistful of them in her palm.
“You are not supposed to bite t-oh" the hybrid was abruptly interrupted in his sentence as a man accidently bumped into him.
“Oops, excuse me.” the man said with a smile as he tipped his hat—quickly continuing on his merry way as he disappeared withing the crowd.
“Hm?” Gal raised both brows, noticing a square device hitting the stone floor next to Maulik’s feet. “Look, Maulik. I think he dropped something.”
“Uh? Is this…” the hybrid picked up the object, noticing the man had dropped his phone in the accidental clash. “Hey, you drop—” he attempted to call out to the man, but a ringing sound emitted by the device caught his attention.
Gal approached to look at the screen, chewing on more candy. “Answer?”
Although a disrespectful act, the name on screen was enough to get into Maulik’s curious nature. Drops of sweat rolled down his cheek as he clenched his jaw, his desire to answer the call twisting his mind. “I don’t know…”
“Come on, he won’t know, right?”
Maulik glanced at Gal before moving his eyes back towards the screen, reading the name of the contact once again—the phone’s screen displaying the words ‘Respond hybrid,’ giving him the last push to answer. “Fine,” steeling himself, Maulik pressed the green answer button before moving the device near his right ear. “Hello?”
“So, you did answer.” A masculine voice replied from the other side, one that Maulik had never heard before.
“Who are you?”
“You don’t need to know,” the man spoke softly, confidence breaming in his tone. “After all, this is a strangers phone you picked up from the street.”
“I knew this wasn’t a simple coincidence…” scrunching his brows into a skeptical frown, Maulik continued to interact with the stranger on the phone.
“You need access to the palace, correct?”
“What if I do?”
“Then I can help you with that, if you are willing to follow my instructions.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because I can get you inside the palace, Maulik Thakkar. You and your friend Gal.”
“…!” the hybrid’s eyes shot open as he flinched in surprise, clenching his jaw with his brows curved downwards. “Who are you?”
“As I said, you don’t need to know. Your presence in the empire does benefit me however, so I’m willing to help you for now.”
“…”
“Maulik?” Gal said while raising her eyebrows, noticing the uncomfortable expression in the hybrid’s face.
“You don’t know who you are messing with,” Maulik replied. “I know what you sound like, and given time… I will be able to find you.”
“Will you? I only know one man capable of such a feat,” a quick chuckle escaped the man’s lips. “And so do you… you all live in the same little cabin after all.”
“What the—how do you all of this!” Maulik’s patience began to drop, snarling at the man behind the call.
“Relax, like I said, I am here to help you.” The man continued. “Return the phone to its owner, and I will instruct you from there. Don’t try anything or I will know, nothing escapes my eyes and ears in this world.”
The call dropped suddenly, and Maulik was left with somewhat shaken breaths—huffing through his mouth to calm his nerves. “Return it? But the man just—”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Thank you for finding my phone, lad.” A friendly masculine voice spoke from behind Maulik—prompting him to turn and face it. “Name’s Tormod, Tormod Patterson. Private eye from Knightly investigations here in the glorious empire.”
Dressed in a dark brown coat, while blowing bubbles from a toy pipe in between his fingers. The man stood next to Gal as she continued to eat her sweets, almost out of the handful pile she once carried in her hands.
“A private detective?” Maulik said—scrunching his eyebrows with an intimidating frown. “Who was that man in the call?”
“A client of mine,” Tormod replied with a friendly tone—offering a thumbs up and a wink. “I’m being paid to help you, but let’s get along anyway!”
“You want candy?” Gal extended her hand towards Tormod, who took a piece of small caramel delicacy from her palm.
Kingdom of Heildin, Heaven’s Castle: 936, August 12th, Sunday, 12:00 PM.
“Eutychia!” princess Euthemia called out to her sister, her sad furrowed eyebrows matching the downwards arch of her mouth as she knocked on the door. “My hair is messy again!”
The beautifully decorated wooden door, carved with images of armor-clad warriors gently opened—revealing the black knight princess as she stepped into the hallway, dressed in blue jeans and a black T-shirt—her long black hair was kept loose, frizzy and ungroomed. “Again?” Eutychia smiled warmly at her sister. “How do you make such a mess of it when it’s so short?”
“I went to the garden to play with the insects,” she claimed with a sad frown. “I just love them so much… they are so small, and cute, and fragile.”
Eutychia chuckled, taking the hand of the blonde princess to lead her inside her room—disorganized and heavily decorated with posters of flaming skulls, guitars, and groups of musicians dressed just like her. “Let’s sit you down first, and let your sister take care of it.”
Bonding over Euthemia’s hobbies in the garden as Eutychia groomed her hair, both princesses sat at the edge of the black knight’s bed and enjoyed their time together. An aggressive and quite powerful noise suddenly interrupted the both girls however, its source coming from Eutychia’s phone—which rang with a song of her favorite genre of music.
“A message?” the black-haired princess wondered.
Euthemia observed as her sister stood up from the bed, strolling her way towards the desk to pick up her phone. She watched with curious eyes as Eutychia read the message on her screen with undivided attention, the black knight’s expression as stoic as a professional poker player.
“What is it, Eutychia?” the blonde princess asked with an innocent smile.
“I… I need to leave. Something just came up.”
“Leave? Where? Can I come with you?”
“No, don’t worry about it.” Eutychia smiled, gently fixing her sister’s hair with her fingers. “I’ll be back soon, if you need anything just tell the guards, ok?”
“Yeah… if you say so…” Euthemia’s face shifted into a sad frown—lifting herself up from the bed.
Preparing herself for travel, Eutychia clad herself in her usual black armor—quickly making her way out of the room where Euthemia waited for her. “I’ll be back soon, alright?” she said, patting her sister in the head. “Call me if you need anything.”
“Yes!” Euthemia clasped her hands together with a bright smile.
Left behind by her sister, the blonde princess observed as Eutychia strode away across the long halls of the castle. Euthemia’s expression shifted abruptly once her sister ran out of sight, her eyes squinting close as her eyebrows scrunched downwards—the innocent smile in her face disappearing into a mad frown.
“So, I can’t trust you either…” the princess muttered. “Just wait until father finds out.”
Cerberus HQ, CEO’s Office: 936, August 12th, Sunday, 12:00 PM.
‘Look, Yeon! Isn’t he the cutest!?’
Sovereign sat behind his desk in the office, his face illuminated by the light of the portable computer in front of him. His one crimson eye was fixed on the video reproducing on screen—his mother, Luna, standing with an excited smile as she clasped both hands together—watching the small silver-haired boy stumbling around the living as he learned how to walk.
‘haha,’ the voice of a younger Yeon could be heard laughing—holding the camera steady on the boy. ‘He is! I just… are you sure it’s okay to not look into his eye?’ she asked about the scar in the boy’s left eye.
‘Don’t worry,’ Luna said as she picked her son from the floor—lifting him into her arms to snuggle him with a warm embrace. ‘I know he is okay, think of it as a motherly instinct.’
‘If you say so…’
Sovereign ended the video suddenly with a fast click on the x icon in the top corner—opening view into a folder named ‘memories.’ A large array of documents, photos and videos could be seen in the folder, with the young CEO scrolling through the endless ocean of files. He eventually stopped at one specific video, the icon showed the image of a younger version of himself—prompting Sovereign to click and reproduce it.
‘I… I don’t want to record this… Loewe.’ Yeon said.
‘I know, but this isn’t something I wish to forget.’ The silver-haired youth replied. ‘Please, Ki-Joon… I need to know what I did if I am to fix all of this.’
Yeon sighed as she held the camera steady on the young man, who was seated in a red couch inside his living room—gray and badly decorated, with empty plant pots and dried dying flowers.
‘Right… you know I’m here for you.’
‘Ask the questions on the paper I wrote for you.’
The camera moved to focus a single page resting on a table in front of Yeon, which she took in her hands before reading its contents. ‘First question… what was your mother’s name? You don’t have to do this.’
‘Luna Harumi. Next.’
‘Second question… How… how did she die? Loewe, I think—’
‘I killed her, next question.’
‘… How…’
Sovereign’s crimson eye remained locked on the screen, unable to avert his gaze from the video. He continued to watch attentively until the end of its run time, remaining still on his sit for the entirety of the video’s ten minutes. The screen would suddenly shut off on him however, drawing a soft gasp from his lips in surprise.
“Dammit…” he leaned his back on the chair and dropped his arms to the side.
A soft sensation on his fingers caught the man’s attention however, turning his head to look down at the small girl smiling at him—who pulled his hand up and down as she bounced enthusiastically. The beaming girl caused the man to chuckle, pulling himself up from the chair to pick up Lucy into his arms.
“You are right, Lucy.” He told the girl. “That should be enough memories for today. How about we interrupt Ki-Joon’s work?”
Lucy nodded with a fast motion of her head, baring her teeth with a wide-open smile.
“It was your idea,” Sovereign chuckled. “Can you allow people to see you at will now?”
Lucy shook her head rapidly, replying to man’s question without uttering a single word.
“It’s taking longer than I thought…” Sovereign furrowed his brows. “Well, let’s go see Ki-Joon. You think she’ll accept going out with me this time?”
Lucy shook her head rapidly a second time, continuing to smile brightly.
“Here I thought you were on my side…”
END OF CHAPTER