When the scene finally came into view, my eyes immediately scanned the surroundings. The creatures wrapped in shadows were gone. But as I stared at the scattered bodies on the floor, my heart sank deeper.
"You can't just hope for all of these people to come back to life after that, Calla." Lavi said as he placed a hand on my shoulder.
Shire purred, wrapping his tails on my neck.
I sighed. "I know that."
Prince Alistair walked to my side. "We shall eventually mourn the lives of the dead. For now we go to the Duke and the others."
"W-what happened here?"
We turned to the person who spoke from a distance.
A blue-haired man in a ponytail stood at the place where the doors were supposed to be. He held the sleeve of his wizard's robe to his nose.
"Father…" Lavi ran to him.
We followed and went to the Northwestern Duke who greeted us with panicked eyes.
All of us immediately spoke in chorus. It was like we had finally realized the extremity of what we had just witnessed.
"There were shadow-like creatures…"
"Blood everywhere…"
"Killed the people…"
"But first there was an explosion…"
"They moved so fast…"
"Stop!" Lavi's father threw a hand. "I have an idea of what's going on here."
Silence reigned for a couple of seconds.
"You… do?"
Lavi's father dug his hands into his inner pocket. "All of you, come with me to the palace."
"Why?" I asked.
It wasn't hard to notice his shaking hands when he placed the yellow Teleportation Shards on our hands.
"My Duke, what's happening?" asked the Crown Prince.
The tension printed on his face grew clearer. "You'll know once we arrive at the palace. The shards go directly to the throne room." He turned to both princes. "We'll find your father and mother there… along with someone else."
"Who is it?" Erion's voice cracked.
The aura emanated by Lavi's father was contagious.
"I have no time to explain, my prince. We must hurry."
The Duke disappeared from our sights. The four of us looked at one another.
Erion exhaled in frustration. "Why do I have the feeling that this is going to be a horribly long night?"
I knew that all of us felt that there was another bad thing happening, but we chose to say silent. We nodded in unison before finally breaking the shards into two.
As what Lavi's father had said, we arrived at a spacious room with beige-colored walls. Sunflowers were hung everywhere.
"Well, well. Would you look who it is that finally joined the party. Just the person I wanted to see!"
A deep voice of a man's came from the dais where we found the Emperor and the Empress sitting. I recognized them as Prince Alistair's features was the exact same as his father, while Erion resembled the Empress greatly.
Lavi's father stood beside the Emperor. In line with him stood the members of the council and by the Empress' side were the High Priests of the temple. All of them had uniform expressions of fear and restlessness.
What the hell is happening here?
My eyes went to the man who was in front of them. Long slick black hair and golden eyes, he wore a black coat with large crow feathers on the back neckline. He stood at the steps of the dais along with seven others.
Seven people who were gravely familiar to me. On them were the same long ebony colored cloaks. But the strange thing was the three curved lines drawn in bright violet ink were not in their sleeves anymore but on the forehead of the white mask that they wore. Only their eyes were visible through two horizontal crescent holes. They held the exact same weapons that I recalled.
Didn't some of them die? No, there were probably more of them.
Shire let out a frightened whimper before hiding at the back of my neck.
I heard the sounds of swords unsheathed.
"Who are you people?" roared Erion.
The man merely cackled, along with the people behind him.
"Better put those little toys down, princelings." The one with the twin axes threw one of her weapons backwards without looking.
It landed just inches above the Emperor's golden-haloed head. The Empress yelped, biting in a cry.
I held in a gasp. My hands tugged on Lavi's messed up robes. "Where are the guards?"
"Take a guess, little Sol." The man's golden eyes gleamed playfully.
My brows furrowed. "How do you know me?"
Instead of answering my question he said, "Did you like the present my cute shadow soldiers delivered?"
Hearing that, my fists clenched. The rage inside me blew into undeniable frenzy.
"Y-you! You're the one who sent those creatures?" My lips trembled as I spoke.
"Mmm, quite handfuls aren't they? Oh and they have a name: Ri Shālli — creatures of darkness."
"Why did you slaughter all those people?" asked the Crown Prince.
"Ah. Good question." His fingers went to his chin. "You can say that I did it for Sol. I told you it's a birthday present, didn't I?"
"You need to speak clearly for us to understand your purpose King Idris of Kairos." said the Emperor in a calm manner.
"Way to take away the fun, old man." The man whined mockingly.
The seven black-clad people laughed eerily behind their masks.
What is this? That man is the king of a Ventus kingdom?
"State your intentions. We have been going on with this since earlier." Someone from the council said. It was Lord Astlei, the one who had slapped the Crown Prince by the halls.
In an instant, an arrow landed on his left chest. Blood drooled from his mouth before he landed on the floor with a loud thud. The women of the council screamed in horror.
The cloaked figure beside the Ventus King was drawing a bow.
The man shook his head was he swept back his hair. "Fine. You want to know what I came here for?"
He turned his back on us and faced the throne. "In a year's time there will be war between the Flos and the Ventus."
"What are you talking about?" asked the Emperor.
"Oh no, do not underestimate me just because we consist of only two nations, your highness. Ask Sol and her friends and you will know that I am being generous enough."
After saying that, the King of Kairos disappeared, leaving behind black smoke. Laughter echoed from the black-clad figures before they followed him to oblivion.