Pollux slowly blinked open his eyes. He had just been having a dream. It was a strange dream. Full of clashing weapons and bright lights, but he couldn’t remember much of it now. He lifted a light gray, furred hand and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Pollux sat up in his rather large bed. He was actually quite skinny for a leonin, but, being a prince, he got the best of everything. Pollux tried not to wince at the fact that some leonin didn’t have beds at all. As he sat up, and moved over to the dresser in one corner of his room, he pulled off his night robes. He looked over himself, his gray fur, the white fur on his chest and paws, and the white star-shaped pattern around his eye. Pollux pulled on some simple clothes. Nothing extravagant, especially for a prince.

“Hey Pollux!” a voice called through the door. That would be Pollux’s brother, Castor. “It’s breakfast time!”

Pollux sighed, had he really slept in that late? He finished getting dressed, pulling on his slippers and two gold wristbands, the wristbands symbolized he was next in line for the throne. Pollux didn’t particularly like these bands, they felt too heavy and clunky around his wrists.

Pollux stepped outside and caught a quick glimpse of gray fur as Castor disappeared down the staircase. Castor, it seemed, didn’t bother to put on his wristbands. His were made of a very light, thin, and silvery metal, so Castor really couldn’t complain. But it seemed like Pollux would be the only one upholding the family tradition.

Pollux took a bit of time, leaning on the doorframe looking out at the third floor of his home. The home his family shared was definitely large, but not what you would expect a royal family to live in. Pollux and Castor shared the top, and smallest floor of the home. The top floor consisted of way more space than two leonin would need. It had a living space, three bedrooms, two offices, and a few things Pollux just didn’t feel like adding. Large, yes, but not as large as some of the palaces and castles Pollux had seen other kings and queens living in. This was just a home, a very, very large home.

Pollux made his way down the two flights of stairs that lead down to the first floor. He emerged on a small landing that led into the Kitchen. His mom was there, lathering some bread with butter. Pollux’s mom looked nothing like him, the chestnut fur, and the soft, brown eyes. Pollux’s own eyes were blue. Castor looks a little like their mother, but not by much. Both Pollux and Castor got their gray fur from their father, but Castor did have their mother’s eyes.

Castor was also in the kitchen, eating some bread lathered with way too much jam. Pollux accepted the buttered bread his mother gave him and sat down.

“Where's dad?” Castor asked.

“He happens to still be up at the castle.” His mother responded. “He said something about having a meeting today.”

“At the crack of dawn?” Pollux said. His mother just shrugged. Pollux continued to eat his bread in silence as Castor rambled on about this and that. A few minutes later, Pollux’s mom interrupted Castor, who was, at that point, talking about papayas.

“Oh Pollux.” She said, “Your father wants to have a meeting with you later today.”

“Just me?” Pollux asked, a little surprised that his father would call upon him so suddenly like this. Especially since his father was so busy all the time.

“No, not just you.” His mother said, “I think he meant your whole team. You should probably get them together, it seemed urgent.”

“Strange.” Pollux said. “When does he want to see us?”

“He said an hour before sunset.” his mother said.

Pollux shifted in his seat. What could this be about? He thought. Pollux finished up his meal and started out the door, saying bye to his mother and brother. As he emerged onto the main street that his house was located in, he kept wondering, what could this be about?

Pollux started walking up the street. It was a nice day, leonin walking about, getting their business done. The street sloped up the hill that the city, Kradle, was located on. This was the main street of the city. It sloped all the way from the farmlands, through the lower end of the city, through the upper end, all the way to the castle. Pollux supposed he should check Grayson’s house first. Grayson was Pollux’s best friend, and he only lived a few houses down the road. Pollux started walking down the road to Grayson’s.

Pollux knocked on the door. Inside he heard a large amount of clanging. Pollux knew what Grayson was doing immediately. Pollux opened the door, which unsurprisingly to Pollux, was unlocked. Grayson always forgot to lock the door. Pollux walked in, The clanging grew louder the farther into the house he went. Eventually Pollux reached a back room. Inside was a large, ash gray leonin, much darker fur than Pollux’s, who was currently wearing protective gear, and a large metal mask. The clanging was coming from a sheet of metal that Grayson was slamming a hammer onto.

Grayson started as soon as he saw Pollux standing in the doorway.

“Pollux!” he said with a start, “There is such a thing as knocking you know!”

“Would you have heard me?” Pollux asked. Grayson just grunted in response. Grayson sat down at a small chair in the corner of what Grayson called his studio. This was where Grayson worked on his inventions. He mostly just tinkered, but every once in a while he would make something extremely useful.

“Besides.” Pollux continued, “I spared your neighbors from hearing that clanging. How do they not hate you?”

“Oh they hate me.” Grayson said, leaning back in his chair. “They're just too polite to say anything, with me, you know, being the prince’s best friend and all. He’s a great guy, you should meet him.”

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“Yeah maybe I should.” Pollux said, rolling his eyes. “Sounds like an awesome guy.”

“Yeah he’s great.” Grayson continued. “Anyway, Why are you here? I didn’t finish an invention. Wait, did the neighbors complain? Whatever it was, I didn't do it. Or could you be here to hang with the greatest leonin in Kradle?”

Pollux interrupted. “Ok Grayson, no need to shout out possibilities, I'm going to tell you.”

“Oh, ok.”

“It’s kind of strange.” Pollux Started.

“I can deal with strange,” Grayson interrupted.

Pollux sighed. “Can I finish what I was saying?”

“Oh, yeah, Sorry.”

Pollux sighed again “Actually it’s kind of simple, and that’s why it’s so strange. My Father summoned us, all of us, the whole team to meet with him later today.”

“The whole team?”

“Yeah, the whole team. I was just as confused as you are.”

Grayson put a hand to his chin. “But, full team meetings are usually only reserved for special occasions… or dangerous ones.”

Pollux murmured his agreement. “One hour before sunset, that's when he said we need to meet up.”

“Great.” Grayson said, “Now leave me to my work please.”

Pollux chuckled as he walked out of Grayson’s house, the clanging starting up again. As he slowly started up the road again he wondered where the rest of his friends were. Snowfall was probably in the training center. Come to think of it, Hex and Doofy might be there as well. So, Pollux started up the road heading for the training center

***

Pollux walked up to the entrance of the training center. It was a large open space past the town and near the castle. As Pollux walked in, two guards nodded their respects to him. Pollux emerged onto a large sandy plain, leonin were sparring, some doing exercises, and some winding down with a cool drink. Pollux knew where Snowfall was bound to be, so he headed there first.

Near the back of the area sat rows and rows of targets, used for archery or throwing knives. Snowfall was there, and so was Doofy to Pollux’s surprise. Snowfall was a very pretty white, lithe leonin. But, she had a glint in her eye that just screamed try me. She was wearing silver chainmail armor that moved with her body perfectly. Doofy on the other hand was the opposite of Snowfall. He had bright orangish red fur, and was currently laughing. He was wearing everyday clothes like Pollux was.

Pollux started walking up to them, just then Snowfall threw one of her prized daggers at a target seventy feet away. It struck dead center. Pollux got a shiver up his spine.

“Hey guys.” Pollux said.

“Hi Pollux.” Snowfall said as she walked down the lane to get her dagger back. Doofy continued laughing, before calming down.

Snowfall walked back after grabbing the dagger buried in the target, the daggers were long and wickedly sharp, with a snowflake, Snowfall's family crest, embedded in its hilt. “I still don’t see how that’s funny.” Snowfall said as she turned to Doofy. Snowfall turned back to Pollux. “He was training with his sanjiegun and then accidentally threw it. It hit a leonin on the head, and now Doofy won’t stop laughing.”

Pollux looked down at the sanjiegun, the weapon consisted of three wooden poles broken up with chain sections. Doofy bent down and picked up the sanjiegun, and twisted the wooden poles, moving them up, removing the chain links from sight until the sanjiegun resembled nothing more than a simple wooden staff.

Pollux turned to Doofy, “did you apologize?”

“Yeah.” Doofy said, tears still in his eyes. “Anyway, are you here to train?”

“No actually.” Pollux said, “do you guys know where Hex is? I have to talk to all of you.”

Snowfall squinted at him, then pointed over at one of the sparring rings,this one was dug into the ground, with wooden posts around the outside. It was the biggest sparring ring in the facility. “He’s over there, training with Sparda.”

“Oh,” Pollux sighed. He’s doing that training again. “Well,” He said, turning to Snowfall and Doofy. “I will be back.”

Pollux started off in the direction of the training arena. He walked up to the large hole in the ground and saw Hex, a huge, light brown leonin, wearing plate armor and wielding a huge, stone warhammer. Fighting Hex was Sparda. She claimed to be the greatest leonin warrior, though she was getting older. So she had retired from the army to become a trainer.

As Pollux was watching, Sparda yelled something at Hex. Hex hesitated, then slammed his warhammer into the ground, and out from where the weapon made contact spiraled an invisible force that shook the earth around Hex, making Sparda fall to the ground. Hex then made a sweeping motion with his hand and a chunk of earth burst up from beneath Sparda, throwing her out of the ring.

Hex is an earth elemental. In fact, Hex is the first leonin elemental recorded in centuries. It is unknown how he became an elemental as elemental prowess is usually passed through family lines, however, Hex’s family has never been elementals. So now Hex is being trained to be able to fully use his powers.

Sparda stood up and walked over to Hex. She clapped him on the back.

“You're getting better every day!” She said in a rather loud voice. “But I think someone wants to talk to you.” She winked up at Pollux.

Hex looked up behind him and grinned. “Hi Pollux!” He said. “I'm coming right up.” He turned and bowed to Sparda, then walked up the stairs, out of the arena, slinging his warhammer into the strap over his shoulder.

“What’s up?” Hex grinned down at Pollux, Pollux wasn’t a short leonin by any means, but being next to Hex, who dwarfed most leonin, he seemed like nothing more than a Kit.

“I have something I need to tell you guys.” Pollux started “But, if Sparda is waiting for you.” Pollux looked down into the training ring. Sparda was hanging her sword on a rack of weapons.

“No.” Hex said, “We were just finishing up anyway.”

“Okay, well Snowfall and Doofy are waiting over there.” Pollux pointed over to the target practice area.

“Great.” Hex said. They started walking back towards where Snowfall and Doofy were. It only took them a minute to weave in and out of sparing leonin to get back, and then they were next to targets once again.

“Okay, so everyone’s here.” Snowfall said. “What did you want to tell us?”

“Well, it’s my father. He wants a full team meeting up at the castle. I don’t know why he summoned us, but all I know is that we need to be up at the castle one hour before sundown.”

“That’s interesting.” Doofy said, “I wonder why he’s calling a full team meeting.”

“I don’t know Doofy.” Pollux said. “I really don’t know. But, now we all know, so I guess we will meet up here.”

“Yeah great.” Snowfall said. “I am going to get back to my training.” Snowfall turned and lobbed a dagger at the farthest target. It missed the bullseye by inches. Snowfall cursed.

Pollux said his goodbyes to his friends, then started out of the training center. As Pollux walked out of the center, the guards nodding to him, Pollux thought, What am I going to do for the rest of the day?