***Please read the synopsis of the story for the background before this point. If people like this, I will write a Chapter 0 to replace this note***

CHAPTER 1: THE PRODIGAL PRINCE RETURNS!

Nick shuffled his feet nervously. It was time. His journey was over and there was nothing else for him to do. The story was finished and he had achieved his "Perfect Walkthrough."...at least that is what his 6th sense informed him before disappearing from his mind along with the ever-present checklist. Nick felt horrified and a bit sick when the feeling that had been part of him for the last 12 years was gone. Just....poof. Gone! He had full control of his actions and his body again and he honestly was at a loss at what to do.

There was only one thing to do: return! He promised his family he would when it was over...but somehow, the thought of facing them after 6 years of abandoning everything was more terrifying than facing Lord Gargerond. Who was Lord Gargerond? No one special, just the evil warlord from a much more technologically advanced planet that tried to invade their world with an army of techno-knights. He, along with his erstwhile companions, had put a swift end to that and now he even owned the personal spaceship Lord Gargerond that he could use to fly around the world at his leisure. He owned a lot of shit though, and the ship was actually at the bottom of his list of top 100 coolest and weirdest stuff he now owned. 

'How do I do it?' He pondered to himself. 'I wish Sarah was still here. She was always practical and could show me the easiest path to take in any social encounter...' His thoughts turned to confusion after that. 

Sarah Bianca Pennington, Princess of the Shea Queendom to the south. A blonde bombshell of a woman, she had been a trusting and caring companion throughout his journey and had become the best cleric Nick had ever met. He had saved her early on his journey from a Duke of her country that had kidnapped her in order to force her to marry his son. After destroying the Duke's lineage together, they had escaped and she chose to stay with him and fight alongside Nick...Now that he thinks back on it...Why? Why did she do that? It seems completely dumb for a princess with no combat or magical capabilities to decide to follow him simply because he saved her. If he was naive, he would have said it was because she loved him, but they both knew that was not true. She was engaged and loved her fiancé. So why then? It was almost like she was forced to the same as he was....weird. 

Anyway, they had parted a week ago, and, for some reason, she had proclaimed her undying love for him and begged him to stay with her. He could see the panic in her eyes and confusion. She didn't love him, at least not romantically, so why did she do that? He had stared blankly at her before following the lead of the 6th sense, as he always did, to turn her down and tell her to marry her childhood friend. He could see relief and genuine gratitude in her eyes. Then, the panicked look returned as she offered him her countries national treasure, an aquamarine faceted diamond that was said to hold untold magical power. He was about to decline this too, when the gem merged with his already overpowered sword, Durandal, and formed into the Ultima Weapon of Light. They both just stared exasperatedly at the new over-the-top blue, gold, and platinum sword as they were used to crazy shit like this happening. They turned to the horizon, for some reason, and stared off into the distance for about 30 minutes not talking at all. He couldn't talk, as his 6th sense wouldn't let him, but he didn't know what her deal was. 

Finally, whatever compulsion he had to look over there ended and he looked back to her only for both of them to fall to their knees in shock and nausea. It was gone. The 6th sense...it was gone! While he was stunned on the ground, the princess across from him was screaming in joy.

"YES! YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!!!!!!! Finally! I am free! "  

At this last, she pulled the dazed Nick up and engulfed him in a huge, bone-cracking bear hug. She was always so kind and gentle, so this had confused him to no end.

"Thank you for turning me down. I could tell it would have continued for much longer if you didn't. Maybe a wedding last scene instead of just looking out into the distance...' She trained off after that in her musings. "Anyway, we are done now, so I am returning to set my country right and get married. You should do the same! We have been kidnaped by this god awful system for way too long and we both deserve a break and some happiness. See you at High Academy later?" She looked at him expectantly.

"Uh...Yea. OK. Meet you there...I guess." He said trying to wrap his head around the situation and his missing 6th sense.

"Great! See ya later then Prince Nick ! I can't wait for you to meet Jason, I bet you two will get along great!" She squealed, hopped up and down a couple of times, then disappeared through a portal she created. 

Coming back from his musings, Nick pondered, 'She acted like she was being controlled as well. Did she have the same 6th sense? Was it a different control mechanism?' "God awful system," he recalled her saying...'Whatever. It is not important right now. I need to return home and...try to make right for my actions. I am gonna be in for a shouting match for sure...'

Deciding to just get it over like ripping off a bandage, he used the cloaked ship's transportation system to teleport right in front of the gate to the castle. As one may expect, this caused quite a stir amongst the guards and knights stationed outside.

"Halt! Who dares use teleportation magic before the castle of His Majesty King Remington II!?" Demanded a brown haired brown eyed knight who wore many tassels over his plate armor denoting his position as an officer and distinguishing his service. 

"Hiya!" Nick starts and waves at him only to have 40 swords, spears, and halberds pointed at his face. 'Ok...let's not make sudden hand movements when they think I am a dangerous mage.' In truth, he didn't need verbal or semantic commands or gestures to cast his spells, but they didn't need to know that.

He raised both hands above his head slowly and said clearly, "I am Prince Nicholas Bennett Caspian Remington III, I have returned from my long journey and would like an audience with my family if at all possible." He tops it all off by giving them his best-winning smile.

"Ha! How many times have I heard that claim this week alone!" The knight commander with the silly tassels said. "If I had a copper for each time some nobody tried that, I would be a king myself! You don't even look...like..." He trails off as he looks at Nick's appearance more carefully.

Red hair, eyebrows, and peach fuzz stubble, golden eyes (a sign of royalty), impossibly high-level equipment and magical items adorning his body, and a jagged scar that ran from the right side of his chin, crossing down his jaw, across the left side of his neck, and disappearing into his fine purple shirt that probably cost more than his entire knight's barracks made in a year.

"Holy shit." The knight said, more to himself than to Nick. Staring over slowly he says, "I can see you bear a resemblance and wear expensive magical equipment, but do you have proof of this claim?"

Brightening his smile, even more, Nick nods and says, "Yes, but I need to reach into my breast pocket for it. I would let you do it, but it is a dimensional storage device that only I can retrieve things from. I will get it slowly to show no hostility to you or your men, sound good?"

The knight commander nodded his head lowering his guard out of curiously, but didn't sheath his blade and neither did the others surrounding Nick. 

Nick nodded himself, then slowly reached into his breast pocket and searched the space for the family ring he had left with when we was a child. 'No...No...that's a ring of feather fall...that's a ring of targeted growth, never understood that one...that is a ring of infinite blueberry pudding....' His smile fell as he realized the issue.

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"Ah..." He started, sweat forming on his brow, "I left it in my other jacket. I will be right back..." 

The knight commander tried to shout something at him, but he had already teleported back to the ship. He went to his storage room, which was a collection of thousands of dimensional storage items from pouches and backpacks, to chests and dressers. He went over to his dimensional storage coat hanger and withdrew the correct jacket and replaced it with his current one. That was stupid. I can't believe after all this time of planning I forgot to wear the right jacket...' This never would have happened if his 6th sense was still with him. He never forgot anything after he got that, but now...he found he was more forgetful than he ever thought he could be!

Teleporting back with his hands raised, he found that he was surrounded by 100 more people this time, including 30 or so mages. All pointing their respective weapons at him. "I found it!" Nick exclaimed before the knight commander, who looked like a tomato with his angry red face, could order them to secure him. He pulled a signet ring from his pocket and pushed a bit of magic into it so that the image of his family crest was superimposed in the air around him. Signet rings for noble houses were specifically designed so that only the family member who owned the ring could do this. They were also marked and registered so that no forgery could be created without it being obviously fake.

Once the Remington family crest was slowly spinning in the air, as if it was preening under the aghast and awestruck looks of the surrounding people, the knight commander's face returned to its healthy color and, after a moment getting over his own shock, he moved forward towards Nick. "My Prince...may I have a court wizard look over the ring to verify it?"

"Sure!" Nick said with his customary smile back in place. He tossed the ring to the commander like it was a toy ball, and there was an audible gasp from the surrounding crowd. "How could he toss such a family treasure like it was nothing!" they all thought, some in wonder and others furious at his lack of decorum. For Nick's part, he had no idea he had just committed a social no-no, He left when he was 12 and had little to no training in court politics. 

Catching the ring and clearing his throat, the knight commander said, "Thank you, Prince Nicholas," before waving over a blue robbed mage to him. The mage looked at the ring and cast several different spells on it to test its validity. Nick was confused and, not thinking of a reason not to, shared his confusion with all present.

"If you wanted to confirm the ring is real, why not just cast Identify on it? Or if you were concerned about me lying, why not cast a zone of truth spell or even try a compulsion spell for me to tell the truth?" A compulsion spell wouldn't work on him, but it was still a good choice normally. The "Court Wizard" scoffed and scowled at Nick, but quickly covered it up at an angry glace from the knight commander. 

"No one here would waste their mana on such a high-level spell as Identify. Not even for the runaway Prince." He said with barely contained malice. "It would take us days to recover from such an expenditure and would slow our research. For the other spells, I don't know them or care to spend the money on a book to learn them. I am a court wizard, not some sideshow magician or paladin of light." He finished with a humph as if that was the end of that.

"...Identify is a high-level spell for you?" Nick said in disbelief.

The court wizard spun around as if he had been struck and snarled, "Oh I suppose a useless Prince could do better, hmm? Can you even do magic?"

"....You're joking, right? You saw me teleport here..." Nick started but was interrupted. 

"That was from a magical item. I can feel the difference! Unlike most here, I am an arch-wizard!" He nearly screamed as if he had won something over on me.

"That...OK, I guess that is fair enough." It was true, he did use the ship this time. 

"Of course. Stop trying to show off in your obviously purchased items and know your place. You are not even part of the royal family anymore! You were stript of your titles and honors! You are nothing more than a peasant pretending to be a king!" Spittle sprayed from his mouth as he screamed this and pointed at Nick.

"Whoa, whoa dude!" He raised his hands and placated, "Are you OK man? Who hurt you?" Then he teleported behind the self-proclaimed arch-wizard and, before anyone could react, gave him a hug. "It's going to be alright now." He said soothingly while patting the short old man's bald head, the smile never leaving his face. 

"You!" Sputtered the wizard. "Unhand me!" Several other wizards and knights around the circle were obviously trying to hold in their laughter. 

One wizard, or witch rather, was not and had a look of surprise on her pretty face. "That...that wasn't an item!" She said and silence soon followed. 

Nick let go of the fuming and practically frothing at the mouth wizard, then waved his hand over the ring in the knight commander's hand. A translucent text box appeared to everyone present. 

Ring Identified: 

Prince Nicholas Bennett Caspian Remington III's Family Signet Ring

Rarity: 

Mythical Enchanted Item

Enchanted Spells:

Hidden

Enchanted Abilities:

Hidden

"Neither was that..." The same witch said, her wide green eyes fixed on Nick as she tucked a lock of her curly red hair behind her hooded ear.

"No, it wasn't," Nick confirmed. "Nor is this," he said with a wink to her. A golden circle appeared beneath him. It was a zone of truth spell. "My Name is Prince Nicholas Bennett Caspian Remington III...Can I see my family now?" The circle stayed golden, meaning he told the truth. 

The surrounding people gaped at him in silence for a long moment. Finally, the knight captain seemed to wake from his stupor and said, "Yes, of course, Prince Nicholas, but before that, can you tell me why the spells and abilities on this ring are hidden?" 

"Because I didn't want everyone to freak out over the crazy stuff I enchanted onto it." Nick said simply. Now...Can I go in?"

"Yes. Please follow me. Wizard...." The knight commander looks over at the bald wizard from before who is shocked and dumbstruck and doesn't appear to be changing from that state for a while still. Sighing to himself, the man scans over the crowd and spots an eager redheaded mage waving to him. "Very well, Witch Zoranza, you will take over for Wizard Dine and escort Prince Nicholas to the throne room with me."

"Yay!" The witch screams as she comes up to Nick. "I am Matilda Zoranza, head witch of the court. Nice to finally meet you, Prince Nicholas!" She bows before him and Nick waves for her to stand up. 

"Just call me Nick...I am not used to being treated like...this. " He waves around at the circle of knights and wizards and witches that have gone from pointing their weapons at him to kneeling before him. 

"Ok, Nick, then you just call me Matilda. I hope we can get to be very close friends." She says, not even trying to be subtle about her interest in him. 

'No, not in me. In my position and magical abilities.' Nick reminds himself. Nick smiles wide at her and nods before turning towards the knight commander.

"Knight Commander George Forand." The commander says with a stiff bow and hurries him through the gate up to the Palace. 

"Nice to meet you, commander!" Nick says. "Sorry for all the trouble, but I wasn't sure on a better way to do this..." He trails off at the end losing a bit of his nerve again. 

"WAIT!!!" An angry voice shouts after them. "You commoner filth dared to touch me? I, Arch-Wizard Mordin Dine challenge you to a formal duel to the death right here and now!"

"Dine." Matilda says, all mirth gone from her face, "Stand down. That is an order. You saw him cast those three spells without using words or gestures and you saw him hide information on his Identify spell. A spell that showed a mythical rarity enchanted item that he claims to have crafted himself. I think it is best for you to know your place."

"I will have my justice!" Dine screamed incoherently and started to gather blue fire in his hands. Matilda cursed and unslung her staff, but before either of them could get off their spells, Nick casually waved his hand and wizard Dine fell to the ground in a heap. 

Silence once again prevailed at the gate to the palace. "You didn't kill him, right?" Commander Forand asked.

"Nah, just put him to sleep. He might have a rather unpleasant nightmare though...." Nick said with an evil smile. 

"Right..." Commander Forand said.

"Can you tell me about your spells and how you do them so fast?" Matilda looks at him with bright eyes. 

Nick chuckles and holds out his arm for her. She takes it gladly and squeezes it tightly between two hidden assets. She looks up to him biting her lip seductively. Seeing this, he rolls his eyes and leans in to whisper in her ear. "I will tell you without all the seduction and charm magic, miss Elf. Please stop that and let's be real, true friends, yea?"

Her eyes open wide but quickly return to a natural look of uninterest. Her arm loosens, but she doesn't let go completely. "How did you know?" She asked with a furrowed brow. 

Chuckling again, he says, "Glamours don't work on me. Magic eyes."

She stares at him for more but sighs and looks forward as he says nothing and they continue on. 

Within a couple of minutes of walking, they arrive at a familiar wooden and golden accented door. Past this door is his family. Past this door, he must face the decision he made 6 years ago. Face it and own up to it. Nick checks his pockets again, looking through the gifts that were there. They were killer, but they need to be for him to win their favor back. He hoped this apology would work...

"You got this." Nick hyped himself up. Matilda looked at him and shook her head with a smirk. 

"Good luck. You are going to need it, Prince Nick."

*Gulp*

"Now presenting Prince Nicholas Bennett Caspian Remington III to your Royal Majesties!"