When the bright light was gone and the air stopped, Trinity was back inside of the royal's bedroom. She saw that when she was gone, Apurva and Arkanos were so exhausted that they had both fallen asleep, even though the clock said it was 5:26. They were on the same bed, Apurva lying on him. They both looked so peaceful, Trinity tried to not wake them up when she sat down on her own bed. She looked at them and saw that there was a slight smile on Apurva’s face, like she knew she was having a good time. She imagined her with Chloe lying like that, like they used to. It made Trinity miss Chloe very much, and she just wanted to know if they were hiding something from her.
Suddenly she heard the harsh air blowing and Luiz, Jokela, and Lluc were standing in the teleportation circle.
“The overlords have ordered us to tell you that you will have your dinner soon, and when we leave, the teleportation circle will change the location it will teleport to.” Lluc said as loudly as he could without waking up the other 2 royals.
“They remind me of us.” Jokela said looking up at Luiz, who was much taller than her.
“Yes, baby, I know they do. Every happy couple reminds you of us” they replied to him.
“Leave. I’ve had a long day, stop being so annoying and corny.” Trinity said to the couple in front of her.
“They sincerely apologize” Lluc said, “Come on, guys, you can't act like that.” he said to Jokela and Luiz, who were tightly holding hands out of embarrassment.
When they left, Trinity waited for Apurva and Arkanos to wake up until the clock said it was 6:20, meaning they had been asleep for almost an hour. She walked over to them, grabbed one of the pillows from above them, and hit both of them as hard as she could with it multiple times.
“WAKE UP, YOU STUPID LOVEBIRDS.” she yelled, making them both wake up out of fear and pain.
“Trinity, calm down.” Apurva said.
“I think you bruised me with that, you should be in one of those sports they played in the old times where they constantly punch each other, what was it called?” Arkanos asked.
“Boxing?” Trinity asked.
“Yeah, boxing. You should go be a boxer, you hit us really hard.”
“That doesn’t matter, we’re going to have our food soon. Also the servants saw you lovebirds sleeping, did you know that?”
“No, we didn’t, we were asleep.” Apurva said. “How were we supposed to know, have some kind of power the overlords have?”
“Shut up. How tired did losing each other after whatever it was called make yall?”
“We had a long day, okay?”
“I got lost in the castle twice, I've had a longer day than you, and I'm not falling asleep for an hour straight!”
“Stop being so rude and playing the victim when you're not. It's getting annoying.” Apurva said in that serious voice that made Trinity stop talking.
Trinity wasn't trying to play the victim. She just didn't understand how you could be asleep for so long in the afternoon without something waking you up. That was just what she was trying to say, and couldn't help what came out of her mouth.
“The white rings said that they changed the location of the teleportation circle, so we need to be there soon.” she said to them after a few awkward moments of silence.
They all got up and stepped on it. Once again, they felt the hot and cold air blowing in different directions on them and also away from them, and a few seconds later they were in the fanciest dining room they had ever seen.
Each chair was made with soft velvet and lined with gold on the edges and gold for the legs. The table was so long, it looked like it could be a mile. The food was set up in spectacular arrangements that looked like a statue. It made all 3 of them not want to take something out of it because they didn't want to ruin it. The overlords were sitting at the 3 chairs in the middle of the table, patiently waiting for them.
“Welcome, once again, new royals! You are allowed to do whatever you want, just don't eat too much, you’ll throw up, and you don't want that to happen on your second day of being a royal, don't you?”
“Of course we wouldn't.” Apurva said.
The overlords walked away as they began to finally eat. Trinity didn't realise how empty her stomach was, but she tried to contain herself and not eat too fast.
After a few minutes, the overlords had come and saved all the leftovers for later, so now the plates were clean.
“You must sit here for a few minutes. We have some… things to do.” one of the overlords said before they all left.
A few seconds later the knights walked in, all in a straight line, the royals not knowing where they were going. They walked with their chins up, backs and necks straight, all looking the same.
What really caught Trinity’s eye was Chloe in the lines. They give her a small smile, Trinity giving back a forced one. She wanted to know why he was avoiding her, as she stared at him. But she wasn't lying when she said Chloe looked beautiful and fierce in their full set of armor, like they were ready for war.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Soon Chloe was gone, and the lines of knights continued. Trinity couldn't help but get up out of her seat.
“Trinity, where are you going?” Arkanos yelled out.
“This is about your friend, isn't it?” Apurva yelled out, continuing to yell but Trinity didn't listen. She was speeding walking, looking for Chloe. She was tired of this. She ignored the knights staring at her, and didn't even stop when she thought she saw what looked like one of the overlords.
She finally saw Chloe in one of the lines, and walked even faster. She grabbed a sword from one of the knights next to Chloe, grabbed one of their shoulder blades, which were slightly sticking out so she could grab them, and slammed them against the floor, sword to throat. Trinity didn't have too much strength, but it was enough to do it.
“WHY ARE YOU AVOIDING ME?” Trinity yelled, “ALL I ASKED WAS FOR YOU TO NOT OVERWORK YOURSELF, YOU BITCH!”
“Young lady! Absolutely unacceptable! You could have just asked us if you wanted to have a talk with one of the knights!”
One of the overlords had come over to the madness, trying to pull Trinity off Chloe.
“Why are you avoiding me? What did you tell the other knights that you don't want to tell me? What has gotten into you?” Trinity yelled.
“We’ll take you to a private room so you can talk, I assume you shouldn't be talking about this type of stuff in front of all the knights in the castle.” one of the overlords told her.
“That will be okay, thank you, maam.” Chloe said politely, making Trinity even more angry.
They took the two into a small room, which was quite boring compared to the rest of the castle. There were pads all around the walls and even on the floor and ceiling, making them both assume they blocked out sound.
“Come out whenever you're done, alright?” the overlord said to them before closing the door behind them.
As soon as the door was closed, they both started yelling like crazy:
“What the fuck was that?”
“Why are you avoiding me? All I told you was to not overwork yourself!”
“I am not! For your information, I am perfectly fine, nothing is wrong!”
“Then why are you avoiding me?”
“It's something between the knights and knights only! Just because you're my friend doesn't mean that you have to know everything about me and all my secrets!”
“Well you don't have to avoid me and have all the other knights avoid me too!”
“Again, it's a secret between the knights and knights only, just because you're my friend doesn't mean you have to be in every single aspect of my life! Just stop!”
Trinity didn't know how to respond, so she had to leave the room. She didn't know where she was gonna go, until she saw a teleportation circle.
Something she hadn't realized before was that the borders of them had markings on them, different for each location. The one that Trinity saw didn't have any, and only had a small light in the middle. She tried to use the spell Luxei had used for the royals bedroom, and put markings she tried to remember them doing around the border, and once she had done the last marking, the small light in the middle had expanded and it looked like the teleportation circle Trinity was used to. She convened a small hope inside her, which hoped that she would still be in the castle, and it was in a place that she knew, and tried to keep it while she stepped on, and while she felt the air around her and saw the bright light.
As those things disappeared and Trinity could open her eyes without blinding herself, she knew one of the things she had hoped for had come true.
She knew she was still in the castle, but she didn't know where she was.
“Who are you? How did you get here?” A voice said behind her.
Trinity turned and saw two guys standing in front of an uncompleted armor stand and a long chunk of metal.
“Are you Royal Aohina?” the other man said, staring in awe.
“If you are, I sincerely apologize, I didn't know!” the first man said.
“Sir, don't worry. I just need to get back to the royal’s bedroom, i had a bit of an-”
“Outburst?” One of the guys said, “Oh honey, your attack on that knight is all over the news! Tons of Pantaleonians have seen it!”
“Nilius, babe, stop it!” the other man said, “Have you forgotten? This is the real Royal Aohina, not a fake!”
“Hildred, its fine-”
“I'm not worried about that, do you know how to get to the royals bedroom? LIke is there a spell?” Trinity interrupted.
“Yes, there is, it's a pattern on the border of the teleportation circle, do you want us to show you?” Hildred said, brushing his dark orange hair out of their face.
“Yes please, I've gotten lost like 3 times today.”
“So basically, you put the dashes in groups for each word in the sentence, ‘The windows are decorated with lanterns’ Since ‘the’ has one syllable, you put one dash, and then an inch space between the next dash. Since ‘windows’ has two syllables, you put two syllables together, and then an inch space, and repeat that with the rest of the sentence, understand?”
“Yes, I do, thank you so much.”
1, space, 2, space, 1, space, 4, space, 1, space, 2, space. She thought to herself while putting the dashes on the circle, which glowed up again.
“Thank you so much, what was your name again?”
“Hildred Estrada, master of armor making, and that's my boyfriend, Nilius Arias, who is the master of weapon making.”
“Thank you so much, goodbye!”
“Goodbye, Royal Aohina!” Both of them said, while Trinity stepped onto the circle and felt the usual air around her.