ABOUT A FEW HOURS HAD PASSED BY, AND THEY HAD JUST FINISHED THEIR LUNCH. NOTHING HAD CHANGED, AND THE 3 ROYALS WERE STILL ACTING THE SAME, WHEN TRINITY HEARD VOICES OUTSIDE THE DOORS ONCE AGAIN.

“And on top of that, the pullianas are acting up again.”

“How so?”

“They’re flying out of the water, and they also wont eat.”

“It means the water is getting too cold for them. Inhaling colder water can make them more energetic and less hungry.”

“How do you know more than I do about animals? I'm literally the farmer of the castle, my powers are meant for this kind of stuff!”

“You just have a bad memory, also i'm not changing the water for you, you at least are better with water then i am.”

“But youre so much faster!”

“Shut up, you fucking-”

“Hello!” In the time those people were talking, Trinity grabbed the first thing at the table and walked over to the doors and opened them. Asteria Flamefist and Luxei Shrochen were standing at the door facing each other.

“I couldn't help but hear you two bickering about animals and water,” she turned her head to look at the overlords and said, “You guys need to make your walls more soundproof,” she turned her head back at them, “Would you like some… wine?” she said, bringing up the glass.

“You're 14, Royal, why are you drinking that?” Asteria asked her.

“It was the first thing I could grab, and it makes me look more mysterious, but why were you drinking wine, Apurva? Did the hormones affect your age?”

“It's not mine.” Apurva groaned.

“Quite grumpy, aren't you?” Luxei said to them.

“Look at yourself!” Asteria said to him, “You're the ruler of being all mysterious and stern, they are nothing compared to you!”

“Must be a nightmare, then, because I can't deal with those two lately.”

“Well, why don't you come with us for something? We really need help.”

“I could hear your conversation through the doors, so I assume you need help changing the water?.”

“Yes, but Sir Hormones here,” Asteria pointed to the man next to her, who looked quite offended at the words they said, “is refusing to help. The least he can do is tell you how to do the spell for it to work. It can be your first ever spell, if you haven't done magic yet.”

“The spell is ‘calidior aqua’, which may sound cool and all, but it's just Latin for ‘hotter water’. Luxei said.

“Thank you, sir. And yes Lady Asteria, I'll help with that.”

“Thank you, Royal Aohina.”

Asteria and Luxei had walked away, Trinity closing the door behind them and walking to her seat.

“Wow, you're so lucky. Literally everything happens to you.” Apurva said.

“If you wanted a role, you should have just spoken up.” Arkanos said to them.

“I'm asking the overlords about this. I cannot deal with this anymore.” Trinity said.

She remembered that the overlords had told her a summoning spell, and she remembered it, but where was she supposed to put it?

Turns out she was supposed to do it on a wall, but not using anything to make markings, because once she did that, the 3 overlords had been summoned.

“Oh, Royal Aohina! What is it you need?” Maryam said.

“I know one of you injected a spell into us. I'm thoroughly enjoying it, but I cannot deal with those two.” Trinity then realized that she was way more calm than usual when talking to the overlords. Usually her heart beat got faster and her breath got slightly unsteady, but none of that happened.

“I told you she was going to find out soon enough!” Yaromir said.

Maryam scoffed and said, “In order for you to undo it, if that's what you're asking, you'll have to do magic. Go ask a sorcerer about it, those people know almost everything about spells.”

“Dont most spells need to be undid by the person who cast them?”

“It depends on the type of spell. This one was injected into them, Royal. Anyone can undo it.” Iroda said, slightly bending down to look at Trinity.

“Alright, now that's done. Also, do you know the portal mark code or whatever it's called to Asteria’s garden?”

“She asked you for help about that?” Yaromir asked.

“Yes, Sir Luxei refused to help her.”

“Royals cannot help mages or knights with anything. They both have different jobs to do, and each must do it.” Maryam said.

“Stop spreading lies just because you don't like her!” Yaromir yelled, “The sentence is, The biggest potatoes grow for the dumbest farmers.”

“Thank you. And where is the nearest teleportation circle?”

“Take a left down that hallway and it's in the second door on the right. There are a few rooms around the castle that have nothing but a teleportation circle, so even if you are lost, you can look for those and get to where you want, if you know the sentence to change the location, of course.” Iroda told her, pointing to a large archway leading to a hallway.

“Thank you once again.” Trinity followed the directions they told her, and it was what Iroda said it was, just an empty room with just a teleportation circle. She remembered the sentence she was told, The biggest potatoes grown for the dumbest farmers, and once more followed the directions Nilius and Hildred told her, and put it down on the order.

Deactivate it, 1, space, 2, space, 3, space, 1, space, 1, space, 1, space, 2, space, 2, space. Now step on, hopefully it works.”

When Trinity opened her eyes and the wind had died down, she was in the garden she remembered from yesterday. Asteria was standing near her, which slightly scared her.

“Hello Royal Aohina! Thanks for helping with this, Luxei still refuses to do it, even though he's here to watch.

“Im just here to make sure she doesn't fuck it up. Last time somebody else did it, they secretly had no experience with magic and all the water somehow disappeared, almost all the pulianas died. We had to repopulate them out of only 49, there was even some incest in it.” Luxei said, who was sitting on a bench looking bored, and sounded disgusted at the last few words they said.

“That's gross. I've had some experience with magic, I think that drama caused everyone to learn a bit of magic.” Trinity repiled.

“The spell is calidior aqua, there is a little cap at the bottom of the cage you unscrew, so when you do the magic, the puilanas don't fall out. You just have to unscrew the cap, and while the water is gushing out, you put your hand in it, say the words, and you might even feel the water getting warmer yourself. You can say it multiple times to make it hotter, and it only works when your hand is in the water, so you can say the words outside of the water and you don't need to worry much about it.”

They walked closer to the cage and Trinity got a better look at the puilanas. They looked like an animal Trinity had seen in a book about the old world before the war, called a swan, but longer body and even longer legs and tail and had something that kind of looked like a pig’s snout instead of a beak. She then saw the cap Luxei had mentioned, which was a white circle with a 6 inch radius that looked like a water bottle cap.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Asteria put her hands on the cap, getting ready to twist it off when xe said, “Are you ready, Royal Aohina? Step to the other side of it, you dont wanna get your whole body wet, only your arm. Remember, put your hand in and and say calidior aqua, say it more ties if you need to.”

“I understand, Lady Asteria.” Trinity then said.

Asteria then pulled off the cap and water gushed out of it. Trinity put her hand in it, and the water was freezing. She got goosebumps all over her body, and her arm felt weird. She tried her best to calm down, and then muttered the loudest she could, “Calidior aqua.” Soon the water started warming up and stopped when it started to feel good against her skin.

Asteria put xir own hand in to feel the water. “One more time, it's still not hot enough.”

Trinity did as she was told “Caildior aqua” she said, the water getting even hotter.

Asteria pulled their hand away. “It's good, take your arm out.” She said, sounding like she was smiling.

Trinity followed orders once more. Asteria gripped the cap and muttered, “Et fortior.” They then put the cap back on.

“Luxei, get a towel for this young royal here.” They turned their head to Trinity and told her, “You did such a great job. I'll put in the code to take you back inside.”

Luxei came back and gave Trinity a small towel. She tried herself off with it when Luxei then said, “There's someone coming here.”

Trinity turned her head to see a knight running towards her, with two kids following them.

“Royal Aohina! I found these kids in the dungeons!” the knight said.

“I already told you, I'm 13! I'm not a kid!” one of the kids said.

“Why does the castle look so different?” said the other shorter kid

Trinity got a better look at the kids. She assumed they were siblings, because they looked a lot like each other. Black hair, black eyes, and confused looks on their faces.

“Who are you?” she asked them.

“Ber Oikorx, and she's my little sister.” So they were siblings.

“I'm Guilstan.” she said

“Let me see your hands.”

They both gave Trinity their hands, which did not have rings.

“That's strange. Take them to the overlords.”

“Wait no! We did have rings, they just- fell off! We can't find them!” Ber yelled suddenly, starting to panic.

“What color were they?” Trinity asked.

“Um- um- they were-”

“Purple! Both of them were purple!” Gulistan said.

“Both of you are knights.” Asteria spoke up. “You should follow them,” pointing to the knight who brought them in. “To the knights' region. Eldritch shall help both of you with training after you've chosen a weapon.”

“Thank you Royal Aohina. I shall take them to the knights' region.” the knight said. It seemed they had already memorized the codes to some locations, because they had put the marks on the borders.

As this was happening, the girl, Guilstan, asked them, “What is this? What does it do? Aren't you taking us to the knights' region?”

“Shut up with your stupid questions!” Ber whisper-yelled at her, but the knight simply answered, “This is a teleportation circle. You put in a code, which is the markings on its border, and it takes you to whatever place you want. This code will take you into the knights region. Different markings mean different places”

Gulistan looked at it in amazement as the knight finished putting the code in and it lit up.

“Woah! That's amazing! I didn't know teleportation existed! We used only transportation, because we thought teleportation didn't exist!”

The girl continued on talking as they stepped on the circle, and soon disappeared in the light.

“They're kind of suspicious. What were kids doing in the dungeons? Why was Ber so scared of the overlords? What was Guilstan talking about?”

Asteria came from behind her. “I agree. Plus, the dungeons aren't a fun place.”

“I think I should follow them.” Trinity said to her.

Luxei came from behind Asteria. “Royal Aohina, respectfully, that is one of the most stupidest things I’ve heard a royal say, and I’ve heard some stupid things.”

Asteria scoffed and told Trinity, “Don't listen to him. He cries at corny romance movies.”

“At least I know what I'm doing more than half the time, and don't I know more about animals in your own garden and how to help them more than you do?”

“Alright, well at least I'm not the emotionless hormonal old man stereotype in old books!”

“Shut the fuck up!” Trinity said to them. “I need one last thing. How do you undo a spell injected into someone?”

“Why do you want to know this? Is this about Royal Christensin and Royal Lordano?” Luxei asked her.

“Yes it is.”

“First of all, they can be either asleep or awake for it to work. I'll do a demonstration on Asteria.”

He walked over to her and put one finger on her wrist, and the same finger on her other wrist. He slowly moved them up her arms, to her shoulders, and moved them to her collarbone. He left them there for a few seconds, then moved up her neck and up her jawline onto the corners of her mouth. He slowly pulled his hands away.

“There would be some particles coming out of their mouth, if she was injected with a spell.”

“Thank you, I'll try to find Apurva and Arkanos.” She stepped onto the teleportation circle, knowing damn well it hadn't been changed since the knight put in the code.

~

The knight came through with Ber and Gulistan. The teleportation circle was in a stone hallway, so no one noticed it. It was only when they came in through the doors that they stopped what they were doing.

The Knights region was a grassy area, with structures built around them for training. There was a rock wall to climb up, a moving river with stones so they could jump on them, tons of mannequins to slice through, and targets for archery.

“Everyone, this is Ber and Guilstan Oikorx. They are new here, so go a little easy on them. Lady Asteria Flamefist has ordered Knight Eldritch Charneldevil to train them. Where is he?”

Eldritch came closer from the mannequin area. He took off his helmet to get a better look at the two kids.

Ber looked slightly up at him, his dark eyes wide and face red, looking at his light brown eyes, slightly covered by matching hair, something that Trinity didn't see when she met him.

“Don't worry, I won't bite.” Eldritch said to him, slightly smirking at him.

“Hi.” Ber said, slightly stuttering.

“Where's all that cocky energy you had before?” Guilstan said to him, also smirking.

“Be quiet. What do I have to do now that I'm here? With… you?” He said.

“Well, of course, you have to choose a weapon, since that's what knights do.” Eldritch said to him.

“Oh, um, okay.” He replied.

The three of them went to another room, where there were an assortment of weapons.

“I wanna do the bow and arrow! I've loved it all my life!” Gulistan said to him.

“Alright, if that's what you wanna do, pick it, then. Go and choose a target to shoot at. What about you…”

“Ber.”

“Nice name! What about you, Ber?”

“I-I don't know.” He was starting to sweat. He tried to touch one of the weapons, but it made it worse. He was starting to hyperventilate, his whole body started trembling, and his eyes were wet and shiny.

“What's wrong?” Eldritch said to him. He put his hands on Ber's shoulders and tried to stop it. He was telling him things like, “You're safe, there's nothing happening, follow my breathing. Count with me, remember the 333 rule.”

Soon Ber had calmed down, and after that Eldritch told him, “Let me know when you're ready to try again. You don't have to force yourself to do it if it gives you panic attacks.

“I-Its fine, i just wanna see how Gulistans are doing.”

“Alright, let's see how she’s doing, then.” He grabbed Ber’s hand and took him outside, looking for his sister.

When they found her, they were quite surprised. Almost all the arrows were on or near the center.

“Watch this!” She said. She pulled back the string on the bow and soon let go. The two boys watched as it soared through the air and hit the target.

“Wow! That's amazing, especially for a beginner!” Eldritch told her.

“I've been doing this for 3 years!” She said to him, “Did you know that the arrow will almost always go into…” she continued on rambling about how to get a better shot, Eldritch tried to listen, but after 5 minutes was starting to get bored.

“Gulistan, respectfully, I don't think anyone cares.” Ber said to her. She stopped talking and looked slightly sad.

Eldritch tried to brighten up the mood by saying, “There's other things around here in case yall are interested, like the lake or rockwall.”

“Let's go to the rockwall!” Gulistan said. Her brother then followed her to the rock wall, Eldritch staying where he was.

“Weird kids, huh?” a voice said behind Eldritch.

It was Chloe. They had on their full set of armor besides the helmet, so she looked slightly strange.

“Yeah, weird kids, but not as weird as the fact you literally got mad at someone for telling you your habits aren't healthy.” He said to them,

“Will you let that go, holy Hefin!”

“No, I won't let it go until you mature, and also tell her what you told us.”

“Wow you're so funny, you got everyone here laughing.”

“I wasn't trying to be funny.” He then walked away, not wanting to deal with them.

Little did they know, someone had been watching them.

~

Trinity was soon back in the royal's bedroom. She remembered a few years ago when someone told her to write down what was on your mind. It helped her a lot back then, so she thought it would help now.

My best friend is being stupid and avoiding me even though ive done nothing wrong. Ok, i may have slammed them into a door, but before that all i did was just tell them not to overwork themselves. I also just did magic for the first time in a while, so that's exciting. I've gotten along quite well with one of the overlords, I got the injected spell successfully out of Apurva and Arkanos, and there are these strange kids, one of them just had a panic attack over touching a knife. What type of shit has he gone through?