I sighed. Theron’s wife had a weak heart ever since she was born. Celestine, as a princess, had magic. And it was a strong one. The truth was, Celestine was stronger than Theron who was born as a simple Armethian. But she could not fully use her power out of fear that it might affect her heart and she would become weaker.
Then and now, our magic had limits. We have hospitals. All our doctors there were experts in healing spells. But no spell in Arameth could heal Celestine’s illness. They could only heal her if Celestine’s heart and body would cooperate with them. But her body wasn’t able to do that.
“Here you go again, Theron. You’ve thanked me so many times already. It’s enough,” I told my butler.
“It can never be enough. You keep giving without being asked. Because of you, My King, I have experienced ten blissful years. And I wanted you to experience that kind of joy, too, Alexandros. That’s why when I saw you left the Castle two weeks ago, I stopped the Knights from following you. I also blocked your father’s guards and also the Council’s minions. I wanted you to enjoy a moment of freedom.”
I was speechless. And here I thought that the Council and my parents finally granted me that vacation. It seemed like all Theron did was work harder than usual during the time that I was gone. “You’ve worked hard. Thank you and I’m sorry, Theron. I didn’t know-”
“No, I should be the one to feel sorry because that was the only thing that I could do for you. I owe you Celestine’s life. I owe you the happiness I felt when she was still alive. I would do everything for you, Alexandros.” Theron smiled. “Because I know you would do everything for your people, too. That’s why I promise you that the second we finish everything that needs to be done, I will help you do the things that you want to. I will help you search for that child. I will help you experience happiness again whatever it takes. But now is not the right time to think about other things, my king.”
Theron looked serious all of a sudden. Whenever he talks that way, it meant that whatever he was about to say required my complete attention. And that was alarming.
“Because this is a very crucial time for all of us, my King. That’s why you need to clear your mind first. You need to forget whatever you are thinking right now so you could concentrate on this trial,” Theron said before he handed me a scroll. “This is a letter from your Father.”
“You look and sound like something awful is going to happen. And I hate it,” I replied with knitted brows before looking at the scroll. I feel like it contained an explosive news. The first time I saw the Knights who picked me up, I already panicked deep inside. Because Theron was with the strongest Knights in the entire kingdom. It looked like my Father deployed some of our soldiers without my authorization. All the highest ranking Knights in the royal army were with us. And they were about a hundred which meant that their mission was not to simply come to pick me up. They were wearing the uniform they only wear whenever there was war. They were also heavily equipped with weapons. And they all brought their war horses.
We have been traveling since yesterday. It normally takes two days before we could go back to Eliran. I could teleport but that ability was banned by the Council in our realm. Teleportation was said to be a demonic ability which only me and a few people in my family could execute well. But nobody knew that except for those who were close with our family. The people who did that was imprisoned for seven years.
We believed that teleportation was forbidden because the Council was terrified of the possibility that their enemy could launch an attack against them and use teleportation to pass through their numerous guards. They wanted to capture those people to minimize the threats in their lives.
Theron knew my ability to teleport. But he advised me to save my energy. Besides, they came together to pick me up. It was only fair that we come back together. And as my trusted assistant, I was also waiting for Theron to give me an update or something about the state affairs.
In the past, if we couldn’t see each other even for a few hours, he would already have tons of things to report. But his mind had been wandering somewhere else since yesterday.
I was about to open the scroll when we suddenly heard screams from outside. The horses of the carriage suddenly ran quicker. Now fully alert, I quickly rolled up the curtain. The scroll fell down from my hand when I saw countless of Ibaraseans flying around. They emit amber smokes. This was my first time seeing them ever since I was born. But I knew what those Ibaraseans meant. I read about them from one of the ancient scrolls in the Castle.
Ibaraseans were the legendary birds that show up each time a chaos was about to happen. The sound those huge birds make was not music to anyone’s ears. It was the opposite. It was like the birds were more screaming than chirping which was giving off a terrifying sound to warn everyone. And the Armethians clearly knew what those birds indicate because they were running around with dread in their eyes. The smoke the birds were emitting was like a wild fire that was quickly spreading all over the place.
“Damn it! This only means that the portal has been opened!” Theron said furiously. “That was the only possible cause of this mess.”
I froze. I could only think of one man who would bravely open the portal. But that couldn’t be. I did not even want to entertain that thought. I could never accept that. This should not happen. “Do you know something, Theron?”