Chapter:26 The Truth

Eris soared through the darkness of the cosmos and approached a foreign realm with a gorgeous landscape. She glided through the shadows and crossed a rainbow-colored crystal bridge, which lead to a golden castle.

A young man sat on his balcony, his blue eyes engaged in an interesting scripture. He heard something creep up behind him, but kept writing with his quill. The goddess of discord formed behind him and whispered. "Boo..."

"Hey.", he muttered, continuing to write.

Eris scoffed. "Loki...we knew the earth legends were true."

"Uh-huh."

"I am Eris. Goddess of discord and chaos."

"That's nice."

She frowned. "I represent a man named Hans. We plan to-"

"Not interested.", said Loki.

"What?"

"Not interested.", he flipped the page in his book and kept writing.

"But you didn't hear my proposal-"

"I'm quite alright sitting here."

Eris grew frustrated. "Don't you want to wreak havoc on the mortals?!"

"Meh.", he inked his quill. "Maybe later."

Eris rubbed his shoulders. "You'll get a share of the spoils."

The god of mischief stopped writing, turned and said, "Go...away."

The goddess of discord was bewildered. "But-"

"No."

"I-"

"No."

"What about if Hans-"

"No."

Eris shrugged. "Okay then.", she departed into the shadows.

Loki shook his head and kept writing. "Pathetic tourists.", he muttered to himself.

He was enjoying his work when a heroic voice bellowed. "BROTHER!"

"What is it now, you blithering bafoon?!"

"Quit writing those boating stories and spot me! I'm upping the weight today."

Loki groaned, "It's called SHIPPING! And NO, I will not spot you!"

He rolled his eyes and kept writing his book titled, "Loki x Sif."

"Nooooo!", screamed King Raul. He grabbed a royal guard and shook him like a rag doll. "Kill me! Just kill me now!"

"Calm yourself, dear!", said Queen Luisa. She turned to the old man in their chamber, "Señor Rafael, is this true?"

"Si!", said the elder. "My son has built quite the reputation because of his fraudulent behavior."

"Not only is he a fake...but a coward too?", asked the king.

Rafael nodded, "The biggest. He's afraid of everything. I got him a horse for his twenty-first birthday, and he cried when it whinnied."

King Raul buried his face in his cloak. "It's over."

"Raul!", snapped his wife.

"It's over! Over! Over! The kingdom is loooooost!"

Luisa slapped him across the face thrice. "Oye! Snap out of it! You're the king!"

Rafael took a seat. "When I heard of a 'dashing hero' named Marco questing for his country, I knew it was my son. His yearning for women would get him into such trouble."

The Queen asked,"Has he ever been to Arendelle?"

"No."

"Does he even know Queen Elsa?"

"From stories."

Queen Luisa shook her head. "I cannot believe we trusted him! He appeared so...authentic."

"That's probably because he was in costume.", mumbled Rafael.

"Costume?", asked King Raul.

"Big hat? Yellow feather in it?"

"Si."

"Dashing cape? Prop sword?"

"Si.", said Luisa.

"PROP sword?", cringed Raul before hiding his face in despair again.

"Indeed.", nodded Rafael. "It's his costume for my theater."

"Theater?!", shivered the king. "Can this get any worse?"

Rafael pulled out a poster from his satchel and unravelled it. "Here, take a look."

The king and queen gasped at the sight of the poster. It was a drawing of Marco in all his glory, eagerly fighting off thugs and ghouls with his sword while holding onto an actress. Its title read: The Mighty Marco in... Quest for the Goblin's Gold.

"I don't believe this...He's an actor.", facepalmed Luisa.

"An actor!", sobbed King Raul as he blew his nose on Luisa's cloak.

Luisa got chills, "Ewww." She pointed to the old man. "Does, anyone else know about this?"

"No, your majesty. Only you and your husband."

"Good. See to it that this information is kept secret. We don't want to cause a panic and-" A powerful breeze blew the poster out of the queen's hand, sending it gliding outside into the courtyard.

There was an awkward silence as one bystander said, "Hey, what's this?"
In an instant, he let out a blood-curdling scream and sent the entire population spiraling into madness.

Queen Luisa clenched her fist and growled, "Just...perfect."

"That's what I'm saying!", panicked King Raul. "Rafael, no offense, but your scaredy boy has undoubtedly gotten himself killed. That's if he even embarked on the quest."

Rafael's brows furrowed as he stood tall. "With all due respect, your majesty, I take full offense from your comment. My son may be easily scared, he may be a phony, and have zero luck with the ladies...but he would never...EVER give up. That boy has stuck with me since the very beginning. Even when his mother left and offered him a better life, he chose me." Luisa listened closely as the elder continued. "It was Marco's perserverant spirit that gave me courage. It was his attitude that pulled my theater out of a seemingly impossible debt. I am telling you now, that wherever my son is...he is ALIVE...and doing everything possible to save his kingdom. He may look like a sheep, but he has the heart of a LION. I'm asking you to believe...not in his past actions...but in his heart."

Queen Luisa clenched her husbands hand and walked up to the thespian. She gave a light bow and touched his shoulder. "As queen, I give you my word when I say, I believe in your son's heart."

"You can't be serious...", muttered the king.

"RAUL!", she scolded and swatted him upside the head.

"Ohhhh alright. I believe in his heart too."

Rafael smiled sentimentally to recieve such words from royalty. "Gracias. I'm just asking for us to hold onto hope. I know my Marco will pull through."