Chapter 11 - To capital and king

Sylvia and Maria both run out of the bar and scan the area for Elena but don't see her. It was almost as if she had disappeared into thin air. Even though it was almost like a scar being picked at, they had a one-way ticket to the capital. They could finally be safe and get Hikari to the king. As a hero, he would receive proper training and fulfill his destiny. These were the thoughts that flew through Sylvia's head as she went to the living district to find her son. Luckily, both Hikari and Rona would come out of the same Inn. Hikari jogs up to Sylvia and says, "Mom, I found a place that is perfect for what you asked. The rooms are cheap and the stay seems nice." Sylvia thanks Hikari, looks up, and notices it is starting to get a little cloudy. She nods her head and rushes everyone inside before it can start to rain. They pay two hundred copper coins for two different rooms because fitting four people into one room would be ludicrous. All of them grab their things and head up the stairs to their rooms. Hikari says, "So who is sharing a room with who because in any situation this is gonna be awkward for me." Rona and Maria look at each other, and both see each other's plans to sleep in Hikari's room. Before either of them could speak, Sylvia says that she and Hikari would be sharing a room. Playfully, Sylvia says, "The both of you will be sharing a room. I know your intentions and I don't plan on letting my son lay with sharks." Hikari gets slightly flustered and hurries into his room saying. He calls out to his mom, asking her to come inside the room. Before Sylvia enters her room she says to the girls "At least for now." and closes the door. Hikari lays down his things and stretches out on the bed. You can hear the tension inside of his body being released with every pop and crack his body produces. He sighs and looks at Sylvia dead in her eyes. "So mom, what are we gonna do now? I mean once this all over. I know we have to go to the capital to meet the king but what's happening after that?" Sylvia lays down on her bed, looks at the ceiling, and thinks for a little. "Well mom, You got an answer?" Sylvia raises her hand to shush Hikari and then speaks. "Well Hikari, after tonight Elena will be taking us straight to the capital. As a hero, you will undergo rigorous training that will probably push you to your limits and beyond. Then you most likely be used as a pawn under the king to help eradicate the demons." Hikari turns onto his back, stares up at the ceiling, and takes the glove off his right hand so he can look at his hero's mark. As usual, it glows a little but not a lot. The light is faint and warm on his face. "I don't think I would mind being the king's pawn as long as I could get my revenge on the demon queen." Hikari says as his voice turns bitter. "That bitch Akal has to pay for what she did to dad. One day, I'll make her pay for her sins. I'll break her with my power." Sylvia snaps up and shouts, "Language boy, mind your tongue when in my presence!" Hikari reverts to his usual self and apologizes to Sylvia. Sylvia says, "Hikari just because your angry doesn't mean you gotta use such nasty language." softly she adds, "Even if it is true." After the conversation ends, they both lay in awkward silence for about five minutes before Hikari says, "I'm gonna get something to eat downstairs plus it's almost supper time." Hikari gets out of his bed, goes to his desk, grabs seventy-five copper coins, and heads downstairs. He walks downstairs and sits at an empty table. He raises his hand and beckons the waitress over to him. The girl walks over to him and asks what his order will be. He says, "I'd like to keep it simple. Just a burger, fries, and a cup of water." The waitress tells him the total will be twenty-five copper coins. Hikari gives her the coins and a tip of 10 copper and waits for his meal to arrive. Everything goes as planned for the next thirty minutes as he gets his meal and eats it. Hikari gets up to return upstairs when a little girl in rags walks in the door. Hikari recognizes this girl from his home town. Her name was Sarah. Sarah was short and gaunt and her complexion was pale. You could tell that she hadn't eaten in days, the fact she could stand was a miracle. Hikari rushes over to Sarah and catches her before she can fall over. She had a pungent stench that told him she hadn't bathed in a long time. While gagging a little, Hikari places Sarah on his shoulder and carries her upstairs into the girls' room. He rushes into their room and places Sarah on the ground. Rona rushes to the child's side and holds the girl's wrist up to her ear. Sarah's pulse was weak and her breathing was faint. Maria picks up Sarah and lays her down by the fireplace, and starts a fire with her magic. Sarah turns her head to Rona and asks for some water. Rona closes her eyes and concentrated her mind to focus all the water nearby to make a ball of water. It had started to rain outside and so at least Rona had a water source to pull from, making things much easier. The water droplets of rain floated through the open window and formed a ball of water. The girl opened her mouth and slowly drunk the water, taking breaks to either breathe or cough. After about five minutes she had drunk her fill and had to use the bathroom. Maria speaks up here and tells Hikari, "We got it from here. We'll get her cleaned up and give her a proper meal." Hikari nods his head and leaves the room. He checks the hall and heads downstairs again. As he to the public bathing area the waitress calls out to him. She jogged over to him and Hikari could see the worried look in her eyes. "That girl you brought upstairs, is she going to be okay? She looked sick and hungry." Hikari smirks a little and says, "The little girl will be alright, she's getting cleaned up by two trustworthy people know upstairs. Plus one of them knows healing magic." The waitress sighs, relieved to hear that the girl will be okay. The waitress goes back to doing her job and Hikari takes a hot refreshing bath. As he walks back up the stairs, he peaks into the room and sees Sarah sleeping next to Rona. The room no longer has a foul smell and the girl has some warmth return to her cheeks. Hikari smiles as he closes the door and finally goes to his room to lay down. Sylvia is already asleep when Hikari crawls into his bed. Hikari takes off his gloves and puts them on the windowsill and looks out the window. It had finally stopped raining and the sky was clear of any clouds. Hikari lays his head on his pillow and before Hikari shuts his eyes he looked at his father's greatsword on the blue sword that, surprisingly, no one had tried to steal off of his person. The blue sword almost seemed to glow in the dark but Hikari decided that he needed to be well-rested for tomorrow. That night his dreams were dark, as in he was stuck in a void of darkness. The only thing he could make out was the blue sword. It glowed in the dark, seeming to beckon and call out to him. Hikari walked to the sword, his footsteps echoing through the abyss around him. The sound was mesmerizing, maybe even hypnotic. The closer Hikari got, the brighter the sword became. Hikari was now standing right in front of the sword. Hikari grabs the sword and pulls off its scabbard. The moment the sword is free from its prison, the void seems to come to life. Millions of stars appear in the sky and Hikari is standing on an endless sea. The sword disappears from his hands and a young woman appears behind him. She looked young, having the appearance of someone who had just turned 23. Her hair was blonde and up in a ponytail that came down to the base of her neck. Her eyes were a light blue that seemed to have the whole universe inside of them. Her clothes were fancy and intricate, the lace giving him the impression that she was from a royal family, but instead of becoming a dress, the outfit was a short skirt at the girl's hips and the top was sleeveless. She was slim in the waist but had D-cup sized breasts and plump "A" shaped buttocks that gave her a curvy body. The girl spoke in a soft but excited tone, introducing herself to the confused boy in front of her. "Hello, It's nice to meet you." she said, "A lot of people call me the 'Infinite Azure' but you can call me Arcadia." Hikari, still stunned by her beauty, stutters before taking in a deep breath, saying, "It's nice to meet you too, my name is Hikari" and shaking her hand. She looks Hikari up and down, judging him. After a few seconds of inspection, she claps her hands together and smiles. "You'll do perfectly. Finely toned muscle, tons of untapped magical potential, and quite attractive I might add. I got lucky that you're my new master." Hikari looks at her confused and she up at the sky. She closes her eyes and sighs. "Looks like our time is up, time to wake up." Arcadia put her hand on Hikari's chest and pushes him under the water as he says, "What?". As Hikari sinks beneath the water Arcadia waves goodbye with a huge smile on her face. Hikari jumps up from his pillow and looks out the window. The sun was just rising over the horizon, the birds were singing, and his mother was already dressed. Sylvia says to Hikari, "Good morning sleepyhead, Elena is downstairs waiting for us so you should probably get dressed." Hikari flings the blanket off of him and gently pushes his mother out of the room. Hikari changes into his day clothes, goes to grab his weapons but pauses when he's about to grab 'Infinite Azure'. He shakes his head and mutters, "It was all just a dream" before grabbing the weapon and heading out the door. He looks downstairs and sees everyone waiting for him even the little girl Sarah. Hikari rushes down the steps and greets Elena. Elena shakes his right hand and goes stiff. She smiles and yanks off his glove revealing his hero status to her. "Well look at what we got here, a hero! We knew we were missing one, but to think it was Alduin's kid. I swear this day just keeps getting better and better." Elena motions for everyone to come in closer and begins to mutter under her breath. Her eyes begin to send off small sparks and before Hikari can utter a single sound everything disappears and he's standing on solid ground inside the capital. A wave of nausea rushes Hikari and he almost doubles over. Sylvia seems to have done this before and isn't effected and neither is Rona. Maria has the same reaction as Hikari but Sarah throws up as soon as her feet touch the ground. Hikari finally looks around and notices they're in an alleyway. Hikari bends down and pats Sarah on her back while waiting for her to recover. After a minute, Sarah goes back to normal and they walk out of the alleyway and into the streets of the capital. The capital streets are busy, Hikari looks around in amazement at all the people surrounding him. Hikari had always imagined what the capital would look like, but this was beyond his wildest dreams. Everyone in the group except Elena and Sylvia gasped in awe at all of the architecture and magic swirling around them. Hikari took a step before getting yanked by his collar back by Elena. "Hikari, I know you're excited to see the capital, but first we gotta get you to the king. We also need to get you re-evaluated to measure how much you've grown in power." Elena says to Hikari and escorts him in the direction of the Castle. Before Elena gets too far, she turns around and hands Sylvia a card. Calmly, Elena says, "This is my address. Head to my house and my husband should be waiting there for you. It's inside of the south suburbs, and when you get to the gates, show the guards the card and they'll let you in." Sylvia takes the card and starts walking in the direction of the south suburbs, as she had a rough idea of where they were from the last time she was in the capital. Hikari and Elena are now alone as they start walking towards the Castle. Lots of small topics come up and pass until Hikari asks what is his brother up to. Elena confidently answers by saying, "Well, your brother got a big upgrade in his job since he became a hunter. If we're lucky, we will see him on our to the king." Hikari's face lit up like a light at the thought of seeing his brother. His brother should be twenty-one by now and it had been quite a bit of time since Hikari had last seen him. They kept talking about the things that Hikari had experienced after the brutal attack done by the dark elf queen. From meeting Magus, who happened to be a retired arch wizard, all the way to finally arriving in the town and meeting Elena. After a few more minutes of walking, they finally make it to the Castle gates. Elena uses the royal insignia on her outfit to walk through an invisible barrier and by holding Hikari's hand she pulls him across it too. As they walk through the stunning halls of the castle, their footsteps echo. It was an echo similar to that of his dream but, somehow it was different, it felt different, after a few turns, Elena and Hikari arrive at the heart of the castle, the king's throne room. Elena looks at Hikari and asks, "Are you ready?" Hikari takes a deep breath and shakes his head no. Elena smiles and says, "Perfect, any man who is ready to meet their king without experiencing something similar is stupid or a fool." She turns Hikari around and pushes him through the door. The king is sitting on his throne and looks directly at Hikari as he enters. Hikari walks up to the throne stops, ten feet away from his majesty, bows on one knee, and introduces himself to the king. The king listens to Hikari's introduction, laughs at the boy and Elena walks through the doors laughing as well. Hikari looks around confused at what is happening and wonders if he said something wrong. The king grabs Hikari by his shoulders, hugs him closely suddenly, and startles Hikari. The king slowly stops laughing and sits back on his throne. The king, with a large smile on his face, states loudly and clearly, "Welcome to the capital, Calydrona!".