Chereads / The World of Color Kingdom / Chapter 21 - Mysterious Photo

Chapter 21 - Mysterious Photo

In Majestic, the capital city of the Color Kingdom, a giant floating island, Catstle Island, hovers above the land, where a big castle is located, the home of every generation's monarchs of the Color Kingdom. The current ruler of the country and resident of Castle Island is King Romeo the Second. 

A young blond man sitting on a lush throne, wearing a rainbow crown, has two beautiful women on his lap. These two women are sisters; their white wings protect his body, only showing the king's head. 

Their brother is scanning for dangers on the other side of the throne. His leg is on the wall, and his arms are crossed. His wings touch the wall, and his face has a Rainbow Phoenix tattoo covering half of his face. In front of the king, the N-Ranker, Leo Vortex, bowed down to him. 

"Why did you call me, my Majesty?" 

The king instantly replied, "I heard that the Nightcore Empire wants to start a war against the Color Kingdom, so as the king of this beautiful kingdom, I order you, Leo Vortex, to go undercover and infiltrate their ranks to stop them ever thinking about war."

After hearing those words from the king, "All due respect, my Majesty... how long will it take?" He asked. 

After speaking, the siblings looked at the N-Ranker like he had killed the king before them. They were about to yell.

"You three, stop, he asked a question." They calmed down from those few words. 

"Sorry about my Primary Colors." 

"It will take you a long time. But look at the future. If it is possible to stop this war, I hope you accept it." 

Leo thought and replied, "I accept it. My Majesty!" 

He got up from all four and was about to leave the throne room, but the king stopped him by saying, "Leo, Wait."

"Take this before you leave." 

The man with the rainbow phoenix tattoo on his face was given a ring from the king, and he went toward the N-Ranker and gifted him the ring. After he was given the ring, Leo left. 

***

 

'Why is it dark in here?' James thought. 

The sun was as bright as ever, brightening the streets. However, in James' home, it was so dark that he couldn't bearly see anything. He was blind until he turned the light switch, illuminating his whole house, which revealed a man sitting on his couch. 

"Samuel?!" He yelled in a surprised way, never expecting his friend to be his couch. 

"Where have you been?" He asked. 

Instead of answering Ross' question, Samuel took a photo from the sofa and shoved it toward James' face. 

"James," he pointed to three mysterious figures near his friend inside the picture, two men and a woman, who couldn't tell their faces when darkness covered them. 

The photo was decolored and ripped in many places. It was old, but Ross's arm was robotic, Model XI0. 

Ross didn't notice the picture Samuel was holding because he was happy he saw his friend fine and alive. 

"Thanks to Creation. You are okay, Samuel." He continued, "Shy is worried about you; see her."

 

"I don't care about her! Answer the damn question, James! Who are these people?!" 

After hearing those words, James instantly punched Samuel and yelled, "What did you say to my sister?!"

Cliffhanger was holding his face, turning his finger into a gun, pointing toward James, letting his friend know that if he tried attacking him again, it would not end well. 

"I thought so." Ross stopped his next attack when he saw Samuel's finger gun pointing toward him. 

"Now. Don't play games with me. Answer my question, who are these people?!"

Ross had no idea who the figures were in the photo and why he was with them and yelled, "I have no idea who they are and why I am with them, but I tell you, Samuel, why are hang up with this?"

James was so confused and infuriated by Samuel that he didn't know what to say about the photo he was holding. Cliffhanger approached Ross and said, "Look closer. You may recognize them."

"Why... Fine, give it." 

Samuel gives him the photo, and he looks closer but does not recognize the figures with him. The darkness also makes it impossible to see the faces. 

Ross was only confused about why he was there with strangers he didn't know. That didn't matter to him for now. What mattered to him the most now was why Samuel was so focused on the photo. 

Ross shook his head several times and looked at the picture. "I have no idea. I have nothing to say." He yelled and continued, "Happy now? Samuel?"

"Leave and go back to your wife. She worried about you, and I will not say what you told me to Shy."

Samuel smiles, points his finger gun at James, and says, "No! I am not leaving until I get answers!" 

By losing his patience, James punches Samuel but misses, which causes his friend to fire an explosion from his finger, destroying the TV near them. It was a tiny blast—It didn't cause too much damage to the TV's surroundings. 

"Don't do this again, James. If you don't want your house to be full of trash!" 

"Leave!" He yelled at Samuel. 

At first, Cillfhanger didn't listen to his friend, but the yelling continued, growing and growing louder, which made Samuel leave. His head started hurting, dropping to the ground before he could step outside of his partner's home.

Ross saw this and rushed toward him, trying to help him, but he couldn't hear anything James was saying, hearing mumbled words. His surroundings became too quiet, as someone who lowered their TV volume to nothing. 

After a few seconds of quietness, a demoniac voice spilled into Samuel's thoughts, making him a little scared. 

"Who are you," He yelled at the voice. 

A minute passed, and Samuel grabbed Ross's shakey hands. 

"James, don't worry. I am fine." Ross calmed down, and Samuel stood up, taking the photo from his friend's hand. 

"I am sorry for today." After saying those words, he left Ross's house.

 

***

Samuel returned home, went to bed, and saw his wife resting on the bed, not to wake her up. He quietly tried to go to bed. However, Shy was awake and instantly hugged her husband. She kissed him and returned to sleep like a baby without worrying too much. Her shoulder stiffness vanished after seeing Samuel. 

Cliffhanger slipped to the next day morning. He was so tired the day before that he slept the whole day. 

His wife was sleeping toward him. He went to the kitchen, making breakfast and fresh orange juice for Shy. He wrote, "I LOVE YOU"! in big red letters. In the end, he drew a heart. He left the note beside her breakfast, brought it to the bedroom, and went to work. 

Samuel went to work to meet his boss, Tim Skyfather, the former boss of James Ross. Tim asked about Ross, but Samuel ignored Skyfather and walked past him. 

'Is he in a bad mood today?' Tim was thinking, twirling his brown hair, which was dyed. 

"What is for me today?" 

"It's an easy day. We... I mean, you. Teach these noobies what they should and shouldn't do in crime scenes while trying to find evidence." 

He snapped his fingers, opening a fake tile and raising a dummy covered with fake blood, which was tomato sauce, and near it was a bloody knife. In the background's sense, there was broken glass on the floor from a window. 

"Is this school or something? Why am I teaching these people what they already learned?" 

Tim dodged the question and excused himself by leaving the office. 

Samuel sighed after seeing Tim leaving, 'Noting new, he's been like this,' he thought. 

A few minutes later, Tim returned, "Samuel, have a minute?" 

"What's up?"

Looking up at Tim, a beautiful 27-year-old woman with pink hair tied into a ponytail was near him. A green lollipop, the same color as her eyes, was in her mouth. Her white skin shined bright from the building's lights. 

"I'm going to introduce you to this lovely lady." Tim moved his head slightly toward the woman by, saying that. 

Samuel recognized her immediately. "Aren't you the famous S-rank actor who played with James Ross in the popular show Mystery of Murder?" 

She nodded and said, "What's your name, sir?" 

"Samuel Cliffhanger," He stopped and continued, "What yours?"

The noobies saw her and instantly ran toward her, surrounding her and kicking Samuel out of the crowd. 

"Oh my god, Junon Acadia, I am your biggest fan! Can I get your autograph?" 

"My daughters will be happy to see their mom take a picture of Lollipop Girl." 

The woman took her phone, trying to take a selfie with Junon, but when Tim saw Acadia was uncomfortable being surrounded, he yelled, "Stop fooling around! Go back to work if you don't want to be fired!" He made them leave her alone. 

"You can still say your name," Samuel said.

She chuckled and said, "As they said, my name is Junon. Nice to meet you, Samuel." She held her hand and waited for Cliffhanger to shake it, and he did. 

"How did you and Tim meet?" 

"Well..." Tim struggled to say, but Acadia said, "Before my acting career, I volunteered at a park where he used to work."

"You two get along." Tim started moving to the exit, "I am going to smoke." He left the office. 

Instantly, before anybody knew it, the floor started shaking badly for a short minute, and everyone felt it. Before anyone could process what happened, a giant worm rose from the crater blow and crashed into the window, killing a single person inside the office. 

The worm's head was covered with a futuristic helmet, and "Death IS Here" was written on the helmet visor. 

When they saw the monster, people started running, and some froze from fear, not moving. Those who were frozen got crushed. 

Samuel wanted to use a big explosion to kill the worm on the first try, but he remembered that firing it inside the office would endanger people. Without any option, he threw himself from the window at a considerable anomaly, holding on to its skin. 

The worm shakes its whole body to drop Samuel off from its body; he is still holding on to it and starts claiming it up toward its head with his bare hands. Harsh winds made claiming difficult, and the slippery body added to the problem. 

It took serval trials and errors, and almost falling to reach the top of the worm's head, he was exhausted. 

"The head is always the weak spot," he said, making his fingers gun shape. He pointed toward the worm's head, and he fell from the monster's movement. 

However, he held on to the worm's body and tried to return to the top, but he spilled and fell toward death!

To be continued