But, on Earth, in England, Prince Sean, Mieu, Wren, Laya and Emperor Lune had just arrived. They looked around, drinking in the atmosphere and sniffing the air contentedly (despite the fact that it was polluted with car fumes).
"This place is livelier than Samesina, at least." Sean said.
"Yep, and even livelier than Dahlia!" Lune added. His bitterness had begun to mellow, and now he was turning into a more sociable person. Mieu and Wren weren't that interested. They had been here before, but it was to help Lyle rescue his kidnapped daughter when Sean's father was just a prince.
"Right, enough gawping! Let's find that Layan Eye!" Sean ordered, leading the party down a wide street. There were several takeaway shops and a few retail outlets there. As the party walked along, they were hit with a huge waft of Chinese takeaway coming from a building with 'Yang Chung' written in very large letters over the top.
"Wait here, everybody. I'll ask the people in here about it." Lune said. Sean allowed him to do this, and so Lune walked into Yang Chung. A man was stood idly behind the counter, waiting to take someone's order.
"Hey, you! Do you know anything about a Layan Eye?" Lune asked the man behind the counter.
"Look, sir, don't ask me anything that's got nothing to do with your order. Now what can I get you?" the man said. Lune was exceptionally hungry. He looked at the menu.
"Alright, get me 3 lots of sesame prawn toast, 4 chicken chow meins and some crispy won tons." Lune said. The man went into the kitchen and made up Lune's order. When he came back, he told Lune that the cost was £21.40.
"Tell me that in meseta." Lune said politely. The man recalculated the bill, and it was now 10700 meseta. Lune handed the money over and collected the food. Just as Lune was about to leave, the man stopped him.
"Hang on, did you mention some kind of Layan Eye?" he asked.
"Yep, I did." Lune replied.
"They're selling it at the Millionquid Auction. They were up to lot 20 when I last checked, but the Layan Eye is in lot 41. You'd better hurry and bid for it if you want it."
"The Millionquid Auction? Where's that?"
"At the end of this street, go left. It's taking place in the plaza over there." Thanking the man, Lune went back to the party with the food. Sean looked in the bag greedily.
"Mmm, that looks delicious, Lune. Come on, I'm starving! Dish it out!" the prince snapped. Lune handed him a chicken chow mein and some sesame prawn toast. He handed some to Laya, and got some for himself. Whilst they ate, Lune told them about the Millionquid Auction.
"So they're auctioning off the Layan Eye. We just have to win the bid." Sean said through a mouthful of chow mein. When everyone had finished eating, Lune said that there was more chow mein and some won tons to share. They ate those, and then Lune discarded the rubbish. Sean then lead the party to the plaza, where the Millionquid Auction was taking place. Lot 36, a gold tea set, was being auctioned off at a starting price of £25000.
"OK, I'll keep an ear out for our lot. You get some English money." Lune said to Sean, and so the prince went to the nearby post office and changed almost all of his money from meseta to UK pound sterling. When he got back, the auctioneers were about to auction off lot 37, a haircare set.
"This is taking forever! Hurry up and begin the auction for lot 41!" Sean shouted. Just as the auctioneer was about to begin auctioning off lot 37, he stopped.
"Young man at the back wants to bid for lot 41, the Layan Eye. Should we auction that off now?" the auctioneer asked another man.
"In that case, let us begin. Yeah, let him bid for it. Start at £2000." the man replied. The auctioneer returned to the podium where he was doing his auctioning.
"By special request of the young man at the back over there, I give you lot 41, a Layan Eye. Starting at £2000. Any takers?" the auctioneer said. Several other people were taking an interest, which meant that Sean would have to outbid them. Two men put their hands up.
"£3000, any rise on £3000? Selling for £3000." Sean quickly raised his hand. One of the men raised his hand straight after.
"£4000 to the man on the left. Does the young man at the back wish to bid?" Sean raised his hand and stood up. He was going to make a bid much higher than the rate the auctioneer was going at.
"I bid £6500!" the prince yelled. The other man raised it to £10000. The auctioneer was beginning to get confused. He carried on the usual bidding procedure, but Sean and the other man were doing that for him. The asking price was now at £35500.
"Let him have it, then we take it off him." Lune hissed to Sean. The prince liked where he was coming from, but he had to raise the bid even higher, just to humiliate his competitor. The price had gone up to £57500. The man raised the bid to £60000, and Sean raised to £85000. Eventually the price was at £100500. Sean stopped bidding.
"At £100500, it goes to the man on the left! Sold!" the auctioneer shouted, tapping his hammer on the podium. Sean didn't look defeated, because Lune had come up with a plan should this happen. The man handed over the money and got the Layan Eye. As he was about to leave the auctioning area, Lune ambushed him.
"Your Layan Eye or your life!" he snarled, drawing his sword and holding it against the man's throat. The man swallowed, but he tightened his grip on the Layan Eye.
"Hey, the other guy chickened out! I earned this, so you're not having it!" the man said fearfully, with a defensive edge to his tone. Sean walked over and stood next to Lune.
"Actually that was the idea! Hand it over and you'll live. If you don't, you die. So what's it gonna be?" Sean snapped, staring at the man icily.
"I'll give it to you, but I want the money for it. I paid £100500, so that's what you pay. Easy, huh?" the man said, his tone becoming more confident. In his mind he was thinking that Sean had stopped bidding because he didn't have the money. Sean took out a massive bundle of £20 notes out of his pocket and counted out £150000.
"You know, I'm feeling really generous. Say you sold it for a profit." Sean said, handing the £150000 to the man. He took it with a smile on his face.
"Good choice, mate. Here you go." The man held out the Layan Eye, but just as Sean was about to take it, he handed it to Lune.
"I'll give it to your friend for safe keeping." he explained. Lune took the Layan Eye and placed his sword back in his belt. Just as the party were about to head back to the spaceship, the man stopped them.
"You've just done me a favour. I was hoping to sell the Layan Eye for a profit. I should do you a favour. My name's Stuart. I'll come with you and help with whatever you need." Stuart said. Sean introduced the party and explained the situation. Stuart listened, and when the prince had finished, he had a huge smile on his face.
"You're rescuing your grandfather from some demons, and his name is Lyle? I kinda know him. My friend Darren was telling me about him. He'd lost one of his eyes in a battle, hadn't he?" Stuart asked.
"Actually, Prince Sean's father restored his eye after a bit of technique-casting." Wren said. Stuart nodded his head and turned to Sean. The prince looked downtrodden.
"Wren, don't mention my dad. I've not completely got over the loss yet." he said. Wren nodded. Stuart asked how Sean had lost his father, but only Mieu could tell him. When she had finished, Stuart was on the verge of tears.
"Anyway that's enough about my life. Come on, we should get back to Samesina. We've got all the Layan Eyes, so now we can claim Laya's Treasure." Sean said quickly, leading the party back to the spaceship. When they got there, there were five teenagers with hooded sweatshirts hanging around nearby.
"Damn. Hoodies. They like smashing bottles and fighting. We'd better try and shoo them." Stuart whispered to Sean. The prince silenced him.
"I have a better idea. Laya, try shooting them." Sean said to Laya. She took out her bow and one arrow from her quiver. She set everything up, and then she fired the arrow at the nearest hoodie. It struck him in the chest and he dropped to the floor, dead. The other hoodies looked around. Laya readied another arrow.
"Hey, someone's doing archery practice over there!" one of the hoodies shouted. Laya jumped and released the arrow. Even though she had been startled, her aim stayed true and the arrow hit the largest hoodie in the chest, cutting his life to an end instantly. The other three hoodies ran over to the party and tried to throw broken glass at Laya. Just as they were about to round the corner, Sean and Lune were ready and waiting with their swords. Mieu had her claws at the ready, and Wren had take out a huge cannon. Laya readied another arrow and drew back her bow.
"Enough play, guys! We've got weapons and we're not afraid to use them!" Sean yelled. The leading hoodie laughed.
"Yeah, but we've got coolness as well as weapons. And we don't fear giant cannons either!" the leading hoodie snarled, his half-broken beer bottle in his left hand. He then went on to explain that they were about to steal the spaceship, but they couldn't get in.
"Your loss. Well, on Samesina, attempted thievery of spaceships is punishable by death." Sean sneered.
"We're not ON Samesina, though!" one of the other hoodies shouted. Sean had had enough. He ordered everyone to attack, and the leading hoodie did the same. One hoodie threw a large shard of broken glass at Sean. It impaled the prince's right leg quite deeply.
"That all you've got?" Sean snarled, limping forward and swishing his sword at the hoodie that had thrown the glass. It left a savage gash in his left side, and he crumpled to the floor in a bloodied heap, just in time for Sean to impale him through the heart and finish him off. The prince withdrew his sword. The point glistened with blood.
"Oh, no you don't! No-one gets away with killing my best guy!" the leading hoodie yelled, charging at Sean with the half-broken beer bottle. Just as he approached, the prince swung round with his sword... and impaled him through the heart. As Sean withdrew his sword from the leader's dead body, the remaining hoodie unzipped his hooded sweatshirt and threw it to the ground. He ran over to Sean and knelt in front of the prince.
"Please, have mercy on me! That guy forced me to join his gang!" the teenager pleaded. Sean had had his sword ready to impale him, but he lowered it.
"Fine, kid. But you've got to leave, now. If you're not out of my sight, you'll get stabbed. Now go!" the prince said intimidatingly. The teenager nodded and ran away as fast as his legs would carry him.
"Well, that's another way to deal with hoodies..." Stuart muttered to himself.
"Now that they're gone, we can now go back to Samesina. Come on!" Sean ordered, ushering the party onto the spaceship. When everyone was inside, Wren piloted the spaceship back to Samesina, where it landed in the Bernink Province. The party had gathered all four Layan Eyes, and now it was time to claim Laya's Treasure! But before they began to make their way to the world beneath the Bernink Province, Mieu stopped them.
"I've just remembered something! Someone wants to see you, Prince Sean! I'll go tell them you're coming." she said, and then she ran ahead of them.
"I wonder who wants to see you..." Stuart said to Sean, and then the party headed for the river south of Hazatak, which was where the passage to the world beneath the Bernink Province was located.