Chapter 8: Act 3 - Deviluke
Previously:
With Sephie's help, Gid stood up and walked over to the fallen hunter's body, picking up the sword from his hands. He then turned to Zastin.
"Hey you alright?" He asked, handing him the old sword.
"I-I'll be fine..." The swordsman responded, sheathing away both swords by his side, a perplexed look lingering on his face.
"..." Sephie watched from behind the Devilukean brothers, observing the horizon behind parked ship at the edge of the cliff. It was proving to be rather interesting to make them out, one moment they were bickering with each other, but the next they had gone above and beyond for a complete stranger that had just met.
'Maybe I can trust them after all… Zastin… and Gid…~'
Chapter 8: Act 3 - Deviluke
"So… I think it's time I owed you an explanation…" Sephie began.
"You'd think?" Gid replied sarcastically, holding his brunt arm in pain as Zastin poured alcohol on it.
With the help of artificial intelligence, the trio had no trouble escaping the surface of the planet, cruising calmly in space.
"Who are you? And why do you have a bounty on your pretty little head of yours?" Gid demanded.
"Gid..." Zastin scolded.
"Let me warn you, if I tell you who I really am, I'll be placing you- the both of you- in danger." Sephie said gravely.
"Like we weren't?" Gid answered sarcastically. "Spill."
"Very well..." Sephie sighed. 'I suppose I owe them an explanation, especially after all they've done.'
"My full name is Sephie…... of house Mikaela. I am the Princess to the old Charmian empire."
"The Charmian empire?" Gid raised an eyebrow. "I thought the empire collapsed years ago."
"My father, Mikaela, was the king of that same empire. But... Sixteen years ago...a military coup took place… which crumbled the empire from within. Lord Mikaela was betrayed... By Apollyon, his very own sister... And my aunt."
"That name... Apollyon..." Zastin recalled, "Yes, I remember the bounty hunter mentioning her, right before I-…." But he went silent after that.
Sephie saw the boy's distress and picked up where she left off, "She's the one who placed the bounty for me. Those three bandits weren't the first, and certainly won't be the last."
"This Apollyon... Your aunt." Gid started. "Why did she start the coup?" He asked. "Was it because she thought she deserved the throne more since she's the eldest one?"
"No... Apollyon volunteered to be first general to my Father during the entirety of his reign, she refused the throne from my father long ago, twice. The throne wasn't her objective."
"So why? Why all of this?" Gid pushed.
"Apollyon wanted nothing more than to keep the Charmian genes pure and exclusive, untainted. That's why when Charmians began to sire children with people of other races. She was driven mad, ordering every pure-blooded Charmian to be made sterile, forcibly."
'That's horrible…' Gid thought.
"But she didn't stop there. One night, against the express command of my father, she rounded up all the mixed raced children, ordering them all to be slaughter, to 'cleanse the Charmian blood'."
"Her cause inspired many followers, but she was met with resistance from those still loyal to my father. And so civil war broke out, ravaging the entire planet."
"What happened then…?"
"I was only a babe then, but I can still remember the loud explosions and gun fires as my father carried me away from PlanetSide in his arms."
"The rebel Charmians then began travelling as a nomadic tribe, fighting and fleeing from their civil war across the stars. But... What Apollyon did... Even father couldn't have foresaw just how deranged she had become."
"Deranged…?"
"Not a lot of people know, but till this day, Apollyon is still hunting down every rebel Charmian group and bastard children across the galaxy.
"Aside from that, she also seeks vengeance, vengeance against all other races from tainting the blood." Sephie finished grimly.
"So how do you fit in to all this?" Gid raised. "I mean, you're travelling alone even before you met us. What was your plan?"
"My father..." She began as she rummaged through her rucksack, taking out an alien looking disc, "...passed on this message, as proof of Apollyon's treachery."
"As you see, I have to find the other Charmian rebels spread out across this galaxy, if there're any left..." She said, stowing the message disk away.
"And how do you plan to do that?" Gid asked.
"First step is to reach Planet Deviluke, then we can talk about what comes next." Sephie concluded, noticing Zastin gazing into his hands in the background.
"Atlas, give me an ETA to planet Deviluke." Sephie said aloud.
"Eight hours till destination, lady Sephie." The A.I. replied through the ship speakers.
"I need to be alone..." Zastin said abruptly, dropping his swords on the ground as he walked away to another room on the ship. Gid and Sephie exchanged a look of brief concern, noticing Zastin's hand still shaking.
"Should we-"
"Give him some time. He will get over it." Gid said half-heartedly, picking at the scars on his face, flinching ever so often.
"...Those more you irritate it, the itchier they get. And your bandages need changing" Sephie pointed.
"Yea, I noticed- ow!" The Devilukean winced, holding his left arm in pain.
"Did you wait until Zastin left to do that?" Sephie asked, amused. "Don't wanna let your little brother see you hurt?~"
"Yea right..." Gid scoffed nervously and looked up and to the side, rather unconvincingly at that.
"Here, let me." Sephie offered, taking the roll of bandages from a kit on a bench by a window pane.
"No, you don't have to-I can-" Gid said nervously, fumbling with the old and soaking bandages around his arm.
"Let me." The Charmian insisted, sitting down by Gid's side, placing his injured hand on her lap.
*A while later…*
"You and I... you might not see it, but we're quite alike, I believe." Sephie said, delicately wrapping the new bandages around his arm.
"Yeah right, look at us." Gid scoffed. You're a Charmian Princess, we're just two orphans with nothing going for us." Gid said frustratingly.
'If only you knew...'Sephie gave him a blank look, hiding an inward smile. "...Zastin tells me you have plans to become king of Deviluke one day." Sephie said.
"Heh, Zastin actually sold you on that huh~ Maybe you're not as smart as I thought you were~" Gid teased.
"..." Sephie said nothing as she suddenly grabbed the boys tail, bringing it to her lap.
"Ow ow ow!-" Gid yelped. "Careful with the tail, it's sensitive." He said, much to Sephie's amusement.
"..."
"Well I think it's admirable, striving to become king." Sephie said, gently running her fingers along the three prongs at the end of his tail. "But why?"
"…" Gid gave a blank look straight ahead, as if in deep thought. "To bring an end to the war that's taken the lives of innocent victims, childr-…" But he caught and stopped himself from going any further.
This didn't go unnoticed by the girl. But she had let it pass, for now. "With that attitude, you just might."
"Oh please, what chance do I have?" He asked rhetorically. "Unlike you, Zastin and I were born from nobody special, and came from nowhere special, and won't do anything special… Just two orphans with nothing but dreams, and a very fancy sword, I'll admit." He chuckled casually. "Still don't know where he found it…" He muttered casually.
"...I don't know." The Charmian princess replied, looking down at Gid's Trident tail. "Something about you tells me that it isn't going to stop you from trying."
"..." Gid turned away from the girl. She was absolutely right, no matter how much he wanted to deny it. To say that it's just a dream. Zastin genuinely believes that he's going to be knighted by him. He wasn't going to let him down. Not when there's a galactic war going on.
"It wasn't nothing special ya know…" He heard a whisper escape from Sephie's mouth.
"What's that?" He turned to the girl.
"W-What you did back at the cliff... I didn't think anyone was coming back for me." Sephie admitted, a hint of blush on her cheeks. "That was very brave of you."
"Oh please, anyone would've done the same." Gid waved off, suddenly feeling the need to scratching his nose.
"Don't think anyone could've," Sephie said, putting his now bandaged tail end down. "I've never seen someone pull back a spaceship with their bare hands before." She reasoned, now putting a pinch of cotton to the boy's bleeding face.
"Yea well~-" Gid chuckled in slight embarrassment, eye twitching with slight pain. "We needed the ship, that's all~" he retorted sarcastically.
"Yepp~!" The Charmian laughed, shaking her head.
"Ha~" The Devilukean chuckled.
*4 hours into the journey…*
Shaaaa… blop blop blop…
The sounds of water running filled the tiny metal room. Two clean hands found themselves rubbing against each other tirelessly, desperately as water splashed over the place, over the mirror.
"…!" Zastin's breath quickened and shallowed as he rubbed his clean hands together even faster.
But still the blood remained.
"It won't come off… why won't it come off…!" He choked to himself, looking at himself through his blue and green eyes. And though water dripped on the mirror, all he could see was blood.
*Four hours later…*
(Music for Mood: Prologue – Horizon Zero Dawn OST)
"Wake up…"
"A pair of red eyes fluttered open, meeting a pair of blue and green ones."
"Z-Zastin? What's wrong?" Gid asked, sitting up from the bench.
"We made it!" The thirteen-year-old cheered excitedly, slapping Gid on the chest before hopping to his feet.
"Made it..." Gid trailed off. "To Planet Deviluke...?"
"Yes you dummy." Sephie said, hitting the button to the side of the ship's rear. Three jarring buzzes from the speakers later, the rear panel of the ship began to lower with a hiss.
The three occupants initially turned their heads from the bright light, feeling a large breath of cool air rushing into the spacecraft, filling their noses with the smell of a foreign wild.
It was apparent that they have landed at the foot of a small hill, seeing the gentle wooded slope stretch out before them.
One pair of legs after another, the three hopped down the ship, feeling the soil under them. Sephie and Zastin shared a look of excitement and they raced up the hill, whilst Gid yawned lazily, rubbing his eyes as he walked along after them.
Steadily, Gid trekked after the two, looking around. It was almost surreal, he could hardly believe he had made it. Deviluke? The winds picked up and leaves hushed all around him, the trees covering the sunlight once in a while. Unlike the desert planet they were previously on, this one was teeming with wild life.
"Gid-nii! Get up here!" Zastin beamed, waving from the top of the hill.
"Yea yea, coming!" He called out, picking up his pace up the slope.
Finally, he caught up with the other two at the top of the slope, where the woods ended.
"Check it out!~" Sephie said with a beaming smile, one that Gid took notice to. She leaned against a tree beside her as she looked straight ahead.
Gid stood beside Sephie, and Zastin was to his right.
"We really made it…" Gid breathed, eyes wide.
Deviluke.
A city of wood, stone and metal, sprawled across the horizon. From their vantage point, they could make out the distinct city walls that stretched for kilometres on end, gradually wrapping around to the ends of the horizons. The proud city laid on a small slope, not unlike themselves, and was clearly divided into several districts, each one with seemingly distinct architecture.
The outer district laid a ring around the city, with smoke coming from the roofs. The district eventually blended into a more metallic
"That's the castle over there." Gid pointed. At the top of the slope stood a grand castle, easily towering over any structure of the city. Standing proudly, the castle was a combination of stone and wood, with three towers protruding from different sections of the interconnected sections of the castle. All along the walls sat stone gargoyles, holding pitchforks, spears and swords, facing outwards menacingly.
Sephie looked to the side, and saw a bittersweet smile on Gid's face, she looked at Zastin and understood the situation. "I'm… I'll see to bringing our ship closer to the city." The girl said, leaving the boys alone as she walked downhill.
"…" Zastin said nothing as he too noticed the silence from Gid.
"The children from the orphanage…" Gid said, eyes never once leaving the castle. "…I told them I was going to take them here one day…"
"They would've loved it." Zastin nodded, listening to the wind.
"Are we going or not?!" They heard the distant voice of Sephie calling out.
*Couple hours later…*
Landing their spacecraft outside the city walls, they found themselves just one spaceship amongst an entire encampment of others.
"Well, this is it… the outer walls of Deviluke." Sephie said.
"Up close, it's bigger than I had even expected…" Zastin commented, looking up.
"That's what she said." Gid quipped, patting Zastin on the back and following the loose group of people, approaching the city gates.
Zastin deadpanned and Sephie gave him a dry 'seriously?' look as they followed suit.
"There's so many people here…" The boy wondered, seeing fellow spacecrafts of different sizes parked all over, inhabited by all manners of lifeforms, but none Devilukean.
"Guess we'll have to line up like everyone else…" Zastin sighed, following a trail of people to the back of the queue.
"….." As they walked, they noticed loud voices from near the city walls.
"What's all the commotion about?" Gid raised an eyebrow.
"Please, I'm beggin you! Let me in!" The voice of a woman begged.
"Ma'am, this is your final warning! I'm going to ask you step away from the gate!" The Devilukean guard warned, holding his rifle up, much to the refugees' uproar and fright.
"Take my baby, please! MY baby boy needs medical attention!" The mother sobbed to her knees, holding up a crying babe in her arms.
"Why aren't they helping her…?!" Zastin grumbled, watching on as the mother struggling against the guards, who pushed back.
"There's nothing we can do. We have orders to not let aliens or alien refugees in until further notice." The second guard said, standing before the large metal gate, cocking his rifle threateningly.
"PLEASE! SOMEBODY!"
"…I can't take this." Gid said, marching down the queue of people, bumping against the crowd of people until he eventually made it to the mother and child.
"Gid! W-Wait- oh what the hell…" Sephie grumbled, as she followed the brash Devilukean to the gate.
"Can I help you?" The guards asked, turning to the three teens.
"We need entry into the city, and that lady with the baby needs help immediately." Gid demanded.
"We can't help you with the second thing, but you're Devilukean, so step over to the side and the lieutenant will process you." The guard said.
"We're not going anywhere until you get help for the child!" Gid argued.
"Well then I hope you brought a blanket, cause you're going to be here for a while." The guard sassed.
"C'mon Gid…" Zastin ushered his brother quietly, moving towards the side of the gate, where a third guard sat behind an oak desk with an odd-looking computer on it.
"You, red eyes, step on the yellow tape and look directly forward please." The guard instructed routinely as he pulled out a handheld tool with a light at the end.
"...?" Complying wordless, the boy saw the guard holding the light up against his left eye for a few moments, before hearing a sharp beep animating from the computer. The guard returned to his side of the desk and examined the monitor.
"State your full name and age please." The guard instructed.
"Gid of Deviluke, sixteen."
"No last name huh… are you an orphan?" The guard muttered as he inputted the details into the system.
"From Moon Endurance." Gid added.
The guard had a brief look of surprise on his face. "You from the orphanage that was burnt to the ground four years ago?"
"... That's the one." Gid replied.
"My condolences, young one." The guard offered his sympathies, before turning to Zastin next to him. "You, you're with him?"
"Y-Yes sir."
"Same thing, on the line."
"Z-Zastin of Deviluke, thirteen..."
"Christ... It's good to know that at least some made it out alive..." The guard muttered, tapping away into the console. A few moments after, the guard spoke.
"Alright, the Registry of Citizens checks out, welcome to Planet Deviluke. NEXT!" The guard called to the front of the queue.
"A-Ah, she's with us... From the orphanage." Zastin pointed to Sephie, who stood awkwardly between the woman with the child and the desk.
'Their Orphanage...' the girl noted in her head.
"Step forward please." The guard instructed the girl, "and I'm going to have to ask you to remove the hood."
For a brief moment, panicked overcame the three as they glanced at each other, hesitating on a reply.
"She… can't." Gid reasoned.
"Well why not?" The guard asked, eyebrows raised, folding his arms.
"Back four years ago, you remember the orphanage fire… her face… Gid explained grimly, looking down.
"It's been disfigured from the fire." Gid convinced.
"..." The guard tried leaned over to try and peek underneath the hood, but the girl turned away timidly.
"I'm so sorry. But...be that as it may, it's regulation to reject any non-Devilukeans."
"I don't think that's necessary." The girl spoke in a soft tone. And for a while, the guard froze, a subtle shift in his expression confused the two Devilukean orphans.
"I…I suppose we can overlook the process. But I still need your name." The guard replied.
"Sephie."
"Sephie huh… you have quite the beautiful voice." The guard complimented.
"T-Thank you." The girl smiled under the hood.
"You three are free to enter and leave the city as you please."
"Before that," Sephie said, resting a hand on the guard's arm, pointing to the weeping mother and child by the gate. "That child is clearly sickly, please, good sir, you must get medical help right away."
"You...You're right, alien or not, that is a child." The guard stood up, and walked over to the gate. "Privates! What are you standing around here for! Get the mother and child inside to the medical bay for vetting."
"B-But Sargent, they're al-"
"-That's a child! And that's that." The Sargent ordered, before turning to the three teenagers. "You three head on in, we'll take care of this."
"Al…right...?" Gid replied, exchanging a bewildered look with Zastin.
"Oh thank you! Thank you so much! Truly, God bless you!" The mother chanted holding Sephie's hand, profusely crying and thanking her.
"I-Its quite alright...!" Sephie replied, gently letting go as she followed the Devilukeans.
"That... Was amazing...!" Zastin hushed as they passed the gates.
"How did you convince the guard to let you in?" Gid wondered, intrigued as well.
"This is what happenes when you use manners instead of demanding things." Sephie smirked triumphantly.
"We're finally here…" Zastin said, stopping in his tracks, taking it all in. The busy streets, teeming with life and activity
"What should we do now?"
"Let's go see the king!" Gid announced.
"C-Can we?" Zastin asked, looking at the castle to the not so distant horizon, stretching over their heads.
"Well what's stopping us?" Gid threw his hands in question.
"Well …Most likely Tower guards, foot soldiers, gates, the king's security, guns-"
"-Ye ye I get it!" Gid blabbed out, sighing.
"What should we do…?" The thirteen-year-old asked, rooted in his place, intimidated by the forever moving city.
"What we need is to set up base… figure out where we are and where we stand in all this… to plan our next move…" The three teenagers awkwardly turned their heads and looked around, dodging passersbys, ultil Gid's red eyes narrowed at something to his right. "…And I know just where to start…"
Eventually the other two saw what he was pointing at.
"Oh no…" Zastin deadpanned. "I know that look…"
A question mark seemingly raised over Sephie's head as she looked back and forth between the Devilukean brothers. "Hm?"
'It better not be…'
*One hour later…*
(Music for Mood: Date Shiyou ze Bell-kun - DanMachi OST)
"NEXT ROUND'S ON ME BOYS!"
'I should've known…' Zastin facepalmed. "I had hope to spare you of this, Sephie-san…"
"Is he always like this?" Sephie wondered, eyebrows twitching in embarrassment as they witnessed the drunkard of a Devilukean prancing around the bar, a beer mug in one hand and a bottle in another.
"…Pretty much…" Zastin facepalmed internally.
"Zastin! Com'ere so I can introduce you to these fine maidens… who were here just now!" Gid trailed off, sighing as the girls were nowhere to seen.
The swordsman marched up to the bar and held Gid by the arm. "Get a grip Gid-nii, we're here to gather information, not drink!"
"Tsk, c'mon…" The elder of the two retorted, handing the younger one the mug.
"No I don't want a-" Zastin left the mug at the bar and dragged Gid away from it. "let's just buy a map and get outta here."
Whilst the two brothers bickered, Sephie noticed an increasingly loud shoutings at the other end of the tavern. Almost getting pin-balled by passers-by, the hooded girl followed the crowd to the other side, curious to see what all the commotion was about.
"You did this!"
"They died for nothing!"
In the centre of the crowd were three men, two in simple civilian wears and one in a black overall camo gear and simple leather straps around his torso.
"Look… it's unfortunate, but this is war!" The uniformed man retorted.
"So we're supposed to do nothing as you throw our sons and daughters to their death over your mistakes?!" One of the civilians cried out, throwing a punch towards the man, who copped the attack head on. The crowd roared and clapped.
"You think you're the only ones who are suffering?!" The Devilukean in the uniform retorted.
"I lost both my sons in that battle, all because you couldn't make the right call!" The other man yelled, delivering a disoriented kick towards the uniformed man.
"Look pal, there's a lot of moving parts you all don't understand, so why don't we all take a breather and-" The tall Devilukean tried to reason, but to no avail. The two civilians were beyond reasoning. The time for talking is over.
The first civilian flipped over a round table and stepped towards the uniformed man, but immediately flew back towards the crowd from a kick.
The second man came ran in with his arms raised and threw a punch. But the man caught the punch in his hand, and delivered his own punch to the face, sending the civilian back, hitting the bar, knocking over stools.
"Hey Sephie, what's the occasion?" A rather tipsy Gid wondered, emerging from behind the hooded girl, laying an arm over her shoulders.
"Bar fight." Sephie sighed, moving his arm away from her shoulders. "And your breath stinks."
"Bar fight eh?" Gid raised an eyebrow, "And I wasn't invited?" He said, walking towards the uniformed man.
"W-Wait Gid- ugh…." Sephie looked up in exasperation. 'How does Zastin deal with him…'
"Hey, Sephie-san," Zastin called out, having finally navigating through the tough crowd and caught up next to the Charmian. "I lost Gid-nii, where is h- ohh nooo…."
"Hey! How's about you lay off them and face an actual challenge?!" God announced, walking out of the crowd and approaching the tall man.
"And who the hell are you? Aren't you a bit young to be in here?" The man retorted, dusting his shoulders and rubbing his cheek.
"I'm the kid who's going to knock your ass out for that comment~" Gid taunted, stretching his shoulders, his trident tipped tail, wagging almost excitedly.
"Teach him a lesson!" The crowd cheered.
"Here we go..." Zastin facepalmed, "We'd best get out of here Sephie-san."
Without hesitation, Gid raced in with punch to the man's gut, to which the man was surprised with as he took several steps back from the recoil. 'He's stronger than the others.'
The stranger retaliated by rushing in, shoving the boy with a force he was unfamiliar with, sending him back flying to a table, smashing it to pieces.
"What is going on here?!" The innkeeper shrieked, running into sight, her hands above head in disbelief.
"I got three hundred units on the midget!" The crowd wagered as Gid got up from the pile of wood and retaliated, coming in with a jab with his hand, to which the stranger parried easily. But his eyes widened when the boy ducked and turned, letting his tail do the work underneath him.
"Wha-" Using their tail in combat was not something one expected from a boy. Off-guard, the stranger tripped and fell flat on his back.
"OOOOHHH…!" The crowd winced as he took the fall. But Gid relentlessly attacked, coming down with stomps with his foot.
"Why you-" The stranger growled, yanking Gid's tail down. It was now Gid's turn to take the fall.
BAM!
"Ow…" Gid groaned as he fell to the wooden floor next to the stranger. The two at this point were tipsy, but chuckling to themselves.
"You got gut's kid, I'll give you that." The strange man huffed.
"My are fine, but how about YOURS!-" Gid replied, as he delivered a push kick straight into the man's stomach. The man coughed as he rolled away from the boy, standing with help of a few eager crowd members.
Gid followed suit and stood up as well, snatching a bottle from a person in the crowd, downing it and throwing it away.
The two ran toward, pushing each other around, sneaking punches and elbows whenever they could.
Finally, the two deadlocked brawlers swerved into a wooden support beam by the shop window and lost their balance.
"W-Where are we going?" Sephie asked Zastin, wondering why they're exiting the inn.
"As far away as possible from the crime scene. This isn't moon Endurance, he's not friends with any of the guards. And I'm sure the authorities won't be as lenient as they are when-"
SMASH!
"…!" The two turned around abruptly, and lo and behold, the two fighters smashed straight through the window pane and fell out to the street.
"G-GID?!" The two teens shrieked in shock, seeing the two men now wrestling around on the ground.
"What is going on here?!" The innkeeper shrieked, running into sight through the door, her hands above her head in disbelief. The two Devilukeans immediately halted their fighting, holding each other by the collar as they turned their heads, seeing a rather angry and distressed innkeeper.
"Huh bad kid." The uniformed stranger scoffed under his breath, shoving Gid off of him as he stood up straight, brushing himself off.
"Miss Innkeeper, apologies for the trouble and damages caused this afternoon. The palace will reimburse you for all damages. These children have nothing to do this this, the fault is mine and mine alone. I bid you farewell." The man said, walking away, but not before giving the boy one last look.
"Better not cause any more trouble brat." The innkeeper warned, storming back into her establishment.
"Well, another inn that we're not welcomed in, you happy now?" Zastin muttered, pulling his brother up.
"This is the first thing you do at Deviluke?" Sephie asked incredulously. 'What a buffoon…' She was unimpressed at the Devilukean, second guessing her choice of company.
"Did you at least get anything useful?" Zastin asked, clearly annoyed.
"Of course." Gid replied while retrieving a folded sheet of paper and other assorted items, peaking Sephie's interest. "This here is a map of the entire capital, plus 2 wallets and around 5000 units of hard cash."
"Now now..." Zastin warned whilst Sephie looked on in disbelief.
"I can't believe this?" The girl asked.
"What? We need the units if we're going to stay here, those poor folks would've drank it away anyways." The trident tailed boy dismissed.
"We're not thieves!" Sephie argued.
"Fine fine..." Gid said, nonchalantly dropping the wallets on the ground and began walking off. "Who was that guy anyway?" He wondered aloud, intrigued by the stranger. It's not every day that Gid meets someone who can match him in a bar fight.
"More importantly," Zastin interrupted, "What should we do now?"
"..."
"...Let's go see the king."
"What?!" Zastin and Sephie responded in unison. "Right now...?"
"There's no time like the present!~" The Raven haired boy said, already walking away further into the city.
"W-Wait up!" The two chased after the boy.
Weaving through the busy streets of the capital, the three teenagers slowly made their way through the currents of people, with the distant stone castle ever nearing. The first steps, turning into a jog, then to a sprint as hopeful crimson eyes gazed gazed, affixed to the future he will create.
Author's Notes: Been a while, but hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!
As always, more chapters still to come!
Reviews are highly appreciated and loved! :)
Criticisms are also accepted.