Chapter 1

Elysion was abuzz, with people's expressions ranging from anxious to angry to excited. The tension was understandable, considering that the other planets have managed to contact the High King, the first time that it has happened in over a thousand years.

While the castle itself was quieter compared to the city itself, the tension here was more palpable, since the delegates from the Lunarian Kingdom were supposed to arrive in the palace grounds. Kaelan felt a pang in his heart as he realized that his brothers, Jonathan and Nathaniel, would not be able to participate in the preparations for the event. Jonathan would have been excited at the prospect of handling the security of the palace, while Nathaniel would have been curious at the thought of meeting magical individuals. The two have been missing for over a fortnight. The blond king had disappeared after he had made his way to Elysion in that secret meeting with Endymion. When Kaelan had gone to check his kingdom, he saw the capital of the East razed to the ground. The castle, while not burned, showed signs of man-made destruction.

Kaelan couldn't keep his hands from clenching whenever he thought of the person who he believed was responsible for his brother's disappearance. Rei, that dark-haired witch. He had warned his brother about her, but Jonathan, always stubborn, refused to listen, and now he was gone. Nathaniel too seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Zachary was the one who looked for him, and the strawberry-blond man reported that there were some signs of a struggle in the forest, although there seemed to be no blood.

Kaelan fervently hoped that his brothers were alive and safe. He looked at Zachary then, who took over Jonathan's usual role of ensuring that the security of the palace was maintained. It was obvious that the younger man was feeling the loss of their brothers as keenly as he did. His skin was pale, his expression wan. Zachary had doubled his time in his research, developing new gadgets and gizmos that he would use in order to trace where the threat came from. He still somehow believed that the threat was magical in nature. When Kaelan had pointed out that the threat was none other than Rei, however, Zachary shook his head and pointed out that while he was mistaken about her abilities, that did not mean that she was the threat, since his equipment did not respond to her presence. Zachary seemed to feel personally responsible for the disappearance of their brothers, which was why he devoted more time in his laboratory these days, only stepping out of there for training. Even Kaelan was worried about how much time the strawberry blond spent time in the yard practicing his swordsmanship. Zachary trained like a man possessed. In the past, he avoided training like the very devil, preferring to work in his laboratory, read in the library, or spend time in court. Now he challenged just about anything and anyone that got in the way, becoming reckless enough that he didn't care about drawing blood against the soldiers he was training with.

While Zachary and Kaelan struggled with the disappearance of Jonathan and Nathaniel, it was Endymion who felt the most pain. The five men had a strong bond, with the king at the center of it. Kaelan's eyes flitted to Endymion, who was talking with one of his advisers. It was then that he realized just how much the events have affected his monarch. The king looked as though he had aged several years after their brothers' disappearance. His skin had a gray pallor, his cheeks sunken. Kaelan berated himself. It was his job to take care of the king, and this meant making sure that Endymion did not wallow in his grief, if only to ensure that his health was not affected.

The flash of blue made him alert to what the rest of the job entailed. He strode over to Zachary. "How are things going?"

"Good," replied Zachary as he tapped on a few keys on the machine he was working on. "The ambassador will be arriving within five minutes. So far everything's working as they should."

Kaelan grunted. He still could not fathom the idea of meeting with someone claiming to be an ambassador of the Moon, especially after what happened with Jonathan. Even so, the king had insisted. Endymion must have picked up something when Jonathan went on his mad rush to have that private conversation with him, because it was only then that he had broached the idea of opening communication lines with the Moon.

Even so, their efforts would have been in vain had not someone from the Moon contacted them. Try as he might, Zachary was not able to come up with a device to try to communicate with the Lunarian kingdom. A messenger from the Moon instead came to Elysion to give them information.

Kaelan shook his head at the memory of the messenger. A talking cat materialized out of thin air to tell, nay, command them to expect the arrival of the ambassador, supposedly a high-ranking member of the court.

With his luck, the ambassador would be a talking frog, Kaelan thought moodily.

Zachary's voice roused him from his thoughts. "Arrival of the ambassador in three… Two… One."

A bright blue flash came.