"Chael? Are you …Ok?" I recollect my thoughts and turn to face Elisa. "Yeah…" I said, trying to look like the confident prince that nothing can ever shake, the prince everyone wants me to be… I assume it worked, as Elisa dropped the subject and started to pester me about being late to a meeting, how unpresentable I look, and other things I would expect my mother would say to me…
The meeting must be important, being set in one of the many rooms of Deva Castle that contains a long table. Seated at the head of the table is King Valens, the host of the meeting and the current ruler of Deva. He is also the father of one of my and Elisa's friends, a friendly prince named Haz, which is why we ended up sitting quite close to the King. At least it's not the Ruler of the Divine kingdom… they don't seem to be present at this meeting, thankful-
"Hello there, my brother, it's been quite a while since we last met. How have you been doing?" I keep my head turned away from him and pray that he will get the message. He does, and starts talking to my father instead. I mean my biological one, the king of the Divine kingdom, Temir. He will never be my true father; he died long ago… he was so nice, so supportive, while Temir and his other son, Luxferre, tried to kill me… I 'm pretty sure the only reason that they are being so nice now is because they want me to go with them to the divine realm… like that's ever going to happen…
"I thanks you all for coming here today" King Valens' voice pierced through my thoughts, drawing my eyes and attention to the head seat of the table, where he stood. "It has come to my attention that all the members of royalty here are at least 16 years of age." The sound of multiple murmurs enveloped the room and my attention was directed away from the king as fast as it was directed to him. My ear catches three distinct words from my friends.
"Parade of masks?" I ask, unfamiliar with that term.
"Yeah, it's one of the ways that royalty uses to get mates for young princes and princesses." Haz responded.
"Mates? As in marriage? They expect us to be married?" I couldn't even imagine being married, especially when Frey is dead…
"Excuse me." Even though the voice was rather soft, it ceased all conversations. My eyes searched for the speaker, and found a familiar face. He surrounded himself with a dark cloak and an aura of mystery, though his clothing choice caused his slightly ridiculous greenish-blonde hair to be rather noticeable. "I believe that we are all here for some other purpose than to chat with our comrades, right?" No response. "Good, I was hoping that we would all agree that we have more important things to talk about. Sir Valens, you may sit down." His majesty seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then slowly lowered himself onto the chair, no questions asked. "So… before I say what I came here to say, I have some rather…." He hesitates as a sliver of the emotion called uncertainty is flashed on his face. He lets out his breath and loses all signs of emotion. "less significant things to say. It is true that the prince of Deva will… be participating in the Parade of Masks. It is said that the princess of Aria will… marry the prince of Iris… Now that that's out of the way… It has been said that the era of darkness will return when the dark prince returns, and that only 6 warriors and their descendants have the power to defeat the darkness. I have come to say that you have put yourselves in a very tight position before the battle has begun, and that you have practically no chance of resisting the dark forces." The silence was deafening, and many looked at the messenger with looks of disbelief and fear as he calmly walked out of the room.