As the door was opened, it drawed everyone's attention.
The person who entered was naturally not some stranger, instead, it was a soldier that had a serious expression on.
He scanned the room before he walked up to Rans group where he spoke, "the king requests your presence." He then left just like that.
The five of them looked at each other before Ran shrugged.
"Right; before we separate, here, take this." Pridicus once again reached into his pendant where he retrieved what appeared to be a regular old stone one would find near water.
"This is!?" Ran was astonished by what he saw as realization dawned on him.
Of course, it wasn't a regular stone, but one that had intricate layers of runes that formed a complex spell that Ran had not seen before. The complexity was comparable to his pendant that he found in the cave. The age of the stone was definitely not to be underestimated either as scratches were present all over and some spots were smooth like they had rubbed down after years of use.
"A communication stone?" The runes in his head read the spell on the stone and relayed the information to him. Afterwards, he found out the spell was actually really simple, but that only showed how complex and evolved his special runes.
"Mhm." Brother Pridicus was surprised that Ran knew what these were since there were only two of them in his entire tribe and he had the other one. He just put it up as his family letting him know about it.
"Yes, with this, we can stay in sync with each other and our efficiency is bound to increase!" His face had a serious expression on as he looked toward the future.
As he lectured Ran on the dangers of what's going on around them, Pridicus realized something. He might not come out of this alive. Not just him, but many others as well.
But he was willing to die if it meant righting the wrongs their ancestor had done. On the other hand, good people like Rans father, and even Ran himself, should not die at all costs! If so, then all of their forefather's sacrifices were in vain and the world as we know it could be completely wiped out!
However, this fellow right here could possibly change all of that. He had personally seen Rans potential with his own eyes and frankly, it kind of creeped him out! This was a strange human indeed!
But in this case, it was a good thing! I think….
And better yet, this might just be the final showdown, so to speak. If everything finishes within his lifetime, then this 9000 year old calamity can finally end and his and Rans ancestors can finally rest in peace!
But what he didn't understand was why now? What could possibly trigger the three families to finally take action? They had always held a grudge against Rans family, but a buffer period of nine thousand years was an inconceivable amount of time to plot for revenge.
He continued ruminating on the question of why for several minutes as Ran spoke to him.
"Hey! Brother, we gotta bounce; the king is 'awaiting' our presence."
Seeing that his words weren't reaching Brother Pride, Ran breathed out quietly.
Slap! He ended up using the most direct method to get someone's attention, a slap right to the face!
But everyone was already sweating as the slap seemed to echo throughout the end.
"Huh?" Brother Pride snapped out of it as he looked around. He just felt someone tickle him just now. Or was that a mosquito bite?
Seeing the four of them preparing to leave, he said some last words to them as this would likely be the last time they would see each other within the next couple of months.
…
Once they reached Aaron's palace, they were escorted to the throne room where he was sitting lazily upon his throne.
His bald head was still shining ever-so brightly and his curled mustache was still as curly as ever.
"Ah, you're finally here, care to join me for some tea?"
They moved to a specific room where the king would enjoy his precious tea time. There, Aaron began speaking on his request for their presence.
"Do you remember that favor you owe me?" He spoke clearly and without hesitation.
"Of course," Ran responded. How could he not remember the day he had first met the man; he walked in the sky for crying out loud!
"Good. You see, politics is a troublesome thing indeed. My friend up north had some trouble a while back and he entrusted his most beloved daughter to me. He finally got the situation a bit more under control, but the lower-layer is a bit out of his reach, so he asked me to escort her back. He's afraid some troublemakers will appear."
Aaron sighed as he thought about his friend up there. The situation was probably worse than he mentioned.
"So, I'll be sending four rank-5 soldiers to escort her, but I'd feel more assured if you guys went with her."
He then turned to Ann specifically as he spoke, "you; I've heard many things about you. You've even beaten some rank-5 wolves at the time of the horde, that's something very near impossible for a rank-6."
He was praising her as well as trying to use her. But, "you overestimate me too much."
She was being humble.
He snorted slightly at her response, but his face gradually turned brighter as a smile creeped up on it.
"As such, you guys will get a one way ticket to the mid-layer!" He spoke loudly as he reminisced about the days of old when he had visited the place.
Truly, this place was too deserted and abandoned.
"Mid-layer?" Three threw tried decipher what these two words meant when Ann exclaimed:
"Your majesty, you mean…" she looked at him in extreme surprise as he smiled even more brightly at her response.
"That's right; beyond those yellow mountains awaits a new world!"
Everyone's eyes brightened immediately as they stared out the window next to them.
There, huge, yellow, mountains blocked what would be the rest of the world. It reflected yellow light randomly as it hit their retinas.
However, Aaron stopped their wild imaginations.
"Here take this." He handed them a badge. "Just show this to the soldiers at the northern gate tomorrow and they will take you with them. Make sure to be there by noon."
They continued talking and even shared a delectable dinner together before he kicked them all out of his palace.
By himself, he silently looked out of his tea room's window as he took out a letter from his robe.
The letter had already been opened, but the ripped stamp that had once closed it still had semblance of its previous form; it was what appeared to be a lion's paw.
Aaron's eyes drifted off of the letter after looking at it for a bit before he sighed.
"I've done all I can, old friend. He'll be going to the mid-layer shortly…" he paused as he once again looked at the familiar handwriting.
"By the Will, I sure hope you know what you're doing. The top layer is something even I can't fathom… just, please be careful."
He spoke with deep eyes as a particular memory surfaced. At the time, he was just some random young man with no strength to speak of, but he had shown him a whole new world. He had saved him from the monotonous life of a commoner and now he was the king of his own land.
He looked at the group leave through the gates before he sighed gently and left the room.