Hey guys! Sorry, I've been sidetracked lately and haven't had the time to upload any chapters, so to make up, I'm posting two for the feedback on the chapters so far, remember, reviews are always welcome, even if you think the story isn't that great. PS, the chapter title is 'Crazy Royalty' or 'Insane Royalty' in Latin, in case you aren't up to date on foreign languages.
The next few days passed uneventfully. Zoey made Terra some new clothes to replace the ones that had been destroyed. Terra used her flying ring to get around most places, and Rythian didn't bring up her home again. She was even on better terms with Zoey. After seeing Terra in such a weakened state (and definitely not hearing the story of her home while eavesdropping outside her door), Zoey trusted her more. Zoey was outside helping Terra learn how to use a flame ring.
"You know, everyone's really taken a liking to you," Zoey told her while putting out some fires she had started. "Me, Rythian, Teep, Barry,"
"Barry? Who's Barry?"
"You haven't met Barry?" Zoey sounded excited. "Come on, I have to introduce you right away!" Zoey grabbed Terra by the forearm and began to drag her towards the castle.
"Zoey, where are we going? What about the fire ring training?" Terra couldn't help laugh at Zoey's enthusiasm as she glided along, being pulled by the eager redhead.
"The ring training can wait! Come on, Barry is right down here" she said, guiding Terra into the castle and down some stairs. "This," she said with a flourish, "is Barry,". She grinned. Terra was just confused.
"Is Barry behind the giant mushroom?"
Zoey looked hurt. "Barry is the giant mushroom. He's the king of the mushroom force, see his crown?"
Terra wasn't quite sure how to react. She'd never been faced with full-frontal insanity before. She decided to just play along. "Oh. That's... Interesting,"
Zoey looked back tote mushroom. "What's that, Barry? Oh, this is just Terra. She's Rythian's new apprentice," she paused and 'listened'. "Yeah, I thought I was too, but I guess he thinks I'm too good for that now! Oh well, I have to go now Barry, I should probably finish training Terra. Bye, tell your subjects hi for me!" She turned back to Terra. "Lets's go," she said.
Terra straightened, and picked her jaw up off the floor. "Actually, Zoey, I need to go do something else. I'll see you later though, alright?" She smiled, and Zoey smiled back.
"Alright. See you later, Terra!"
Terra went up to the ground level and straight to the room full of chests, where Rythian was building something. He turned when he heard her come in. "Hey, Terra," he said absentmindedly.
"Hey Rythian, can I talk to you?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"Is Zoey, you know, all there?"
His eyes narrowed, then he realized something and smiled. "Let me guess- you met Barry?"
"Rythian, she was talking to the mushroom! And she thought it was talking back!"
"Yeah, she's a bit crazy, but she's my crazy,"
There was a pause before Terra spoke up. "You really like her, don't you, Rythian?"
He was flustered. "What- I- I don't- how did-" he stammered.
"Rythian, don't even try to deny it, it's completely obvious. The way you look at her, the way you smile whenever she's around, hell, I'm sure even Lalna knows it by now!"
Rythian froze. "Terra," he said slowly. "How do you know who Lalna is?"
Terra had painted herself into a corner. "From the same person that told me about you," she replied casually, hoping Rythian hadn't caught the slight hesitation before she spoke.
"The same person? What was his name?"
"I don't remember, I'm not sure he ever told me. Odd man, glasses, could talk for hours. Said something about building pools..."
"Nilesy told you about us?"
"Nilesy! Right, that was his name. And yeah, he sort of gave me the run-down on most of the people here when he found out I wasn't from around here,"
Rythian looked defeated. "You know, I'm actually not surprised. That guy is too helpful for his own good,"
"Hey, you know, Nilesy told me something interesting about you. He said you aren't exactly on speaking grounds with Lalna, and someone named Sjin. What's that all about?"
Rythian's eyes darkened, and he busied himself with the chest again. "Nothing you should concern yourself with,"
"But Rythian, if I'm to be here as your apprentice, don't you think I should know why you do what you do, and not just how you do it?"
The girl made a compelling point. Rythian sighed in defeat. "You aren't going to leave me alone until I tell you, will you?"
"Nope!" Said Terra, overly-cheerfully. She sat down on a chest, trying to get comfortable for the story she knew would inevitably come.
Rythian sighed and sat on the floor, back to the chest he was working in. "This whole thing happened quite a bit ago, in a land nowhere near here," he started.
"There weren't many people with us back then. There was Zoey and I, although we weren't working together like we are now. Teep was there too, but he was different. I think the stress of the Old World happenings messed with his head.
And then, of course, there were Lalna and Sjin, whom I hope for your sake you'll never have the misfortune of meeting. They had been engaged in a battle for some time, but it was nothing major. Petty battles, stealing, nothing serious. Of course, as their need for revenge grew, so did the size of their retaliation," Rythian took a deep breath to calm himself. He sounded lost in the story, like he'd forgotten he was telling it to someone. He also looked incredibly mad, and he was shaking, his fists clenched at his sides.
"It finally reached it breaking point. I don't know who shot first, I just know that one second everything was calm, and the next, those two were using jet packs and mining lasers to try to destroy each other," he barked out a laugh, but there was no humor in it.
"I say 'try', they weren't having much luck. I don't think either of them hit the other directly very many times, if at all. Everything burned, there was lava and fire everywhere. They blew up each other's houses and labs, but they didn't stop there.
"They both called it 'misfiring', but I know the truth. You don't misfire six times at the same spot. Everything was destroyed, Zoey's mushrooms, the forests, there were even a few blasts directly to my house. Sjin gave up with his laser or something, I don't know, maybe he just snapped. All I know is that he went into Lalna's lab, and went down below to the nuclear reactor. He took out the coolant cells, which blew up the reactor.
"Zoey, Teep and I were far from the village when the blast went off, but we were still lucky to've escaped with our lives. As for Sjin and Lalna, I have no idea how they survived. There was no salvaging the remains of our homes, as there were no remains to salvage. Our houses were there, albeit burning, one second, and in the blink of an eye there was just a crater. A huge, meteor-impact-sized crater full of the shredded burnt remains of what we used to know," he finished bitterly. "So there. Its all their faults. Happy?"
"But why not just let it go? You're somewhere else now, with a different home and set up. Why not just forget it all?"
"I can't! Those two can't be trusted. Sjin I haven't heard from in a while, so I don't think I have too much to worry from him for now. But Lalna I believe may be planning to start the next war. Besides, I can't just let them get away with something like that! They both think it's no big deal, that I'm over reacting, but I think Lalna's just trying to distract me, or turn the others against me," he sighed, and seemed to realize I was still listening. "It's getting late, can you go outside and check on the animals?"
"Actually, I need to leave again, but I'll kill any mobs I see on the way out," Terra said, moving towards the door.
"Leaving? But your leg-"
"Will be perfectly fine as long as I use my flying ring. You worry too much, Rythian,"
"I wouldn't have to worry if you wouldn't go do things that could get you killed," he muttered, but a smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Just, do me a favor, alright? Stay out of Martyn's woods, please. I don't need to drag you back here with your arm lopped off or something,"
"Sure, Rythian. I'll see you in a few days, tell Zoey I said bye and everything,"
"Of course. See you later, Terra," he called, but she was already out the door and in her room. She was in a hurry, she'd been away from Lalna's castle longer than intended, nearly a week. She shoved all her armor and weapons into the chest by her bed- except for her flying ring, of course; she had no interest in limping back across those hills.
