"I'm sorry?" Sydra says, watching as King Arthur traces several runes on the ground, "What makes you think I will do that?"
"I believe you will because I have information about the Sky Seal Blade, and where you can find it," King Arthur says as he finishes tracing the runes. The runes then flash, and a pillar emerges from the center of the doom. Inside the pillar is a swirling gateway, and Sydra can feel a faint heat emerging from it.
"Father... I don't understand what is going on," Lucas says, his eyes trained on the gateway in front of him. "Why do you claim our Kingdom will be destroyed, and what of the people within it, why not evacuate them?"
Turning to his son, King Arthur steps forward and places his hand on Lucas's shoulder, "I know what I am doing is selfish, but the only way you survive this is if no one else knows of what is to come,"
Before Lucas can answer, King Arthur turns back to Sydra, "The only way for you to get the information you seek is to go through this portal at midnight, tonight. Also, the portal will only activate if someone of Royal blood is in this room, so that is why you must protect my son,"
Glancing between the portal and King Arthur, Sydra nods his head, "I will do my best, but I must ask, why chose me? I'm sure there must be someone stronger than you could have chosen,"
"When I spoke with the Oracle, she told me of a young man who was destined to be great. She also told me that he was the best chance I would have at protecting my son," King Arthur says as the column with the gateway returns to the ground. "After I heard that, I had Talon search for you, and we eventually came across tales of your feats,"
"Tales? Where did you hear those?" Sydra asks, wondering if these tales we're also the same reason the Sky Viper group was after him.
"I believe Talon said he got the information from two different places, one was an underground town called Tindow, and the other was a place called Emerald Pine Valley," King Arthur says, leading the others out of the room.
Heading back up the stairs, King Arthur brings Sydra and Lucas to a smaller room, filled with tailors and suits, "I'm assuming you don't have a suit for the ball?"
"The ball? If the Kingdom is going to be attacked tonight, then why wouldn't we just stay in the room with the gateway?" Lucas asks, still upset about the fact that he didn't fully understand what was happening.
"We can't allow the enemy to become alerted to our plans less they change theirs, which means everything has to appear normal," King Arthur says, calling one of the tailors over to take Sydra's measurements.
Lifting his arms, Sydra spent the next thirty minutes having an ash-colored suit made for him. The suit is made in a way that allows one to move freely, while still appearing fashionable. Once it is done, Sydra heads into a separate room to get changed.
"This is unbelievable, I'm dressing up for a ball that is going to be attacked tonight, and tasked with the job of protecting the prince's life," Sydra mutters, looking at himself in the mirror as he puts his cloak and leather clothes into the spatial pouch, "Hmm, well at least I look good doing it,"
Leaving the fitting room, Sydra joins back up with Lucas and King Arthur, and they head to the area where the ball will be that night. Within the wide room, many servants are setting up tables, and hanging decorations from the ceiling. Looking around, Sydra notices the man that had given him the invitation to the Ashlock Ball, 'So his name is Talon, and he is the right-hand man of the King,'
Noticing King Arthur enter, all the servants bow down while Talon makes his way over to them, "Master Arthur, what brings you here?" Talon asks, before glancing at Sydra and Lucas.
"I simply wished to see how things were going. I heard that you already received some of the people attending from other kingdoms, and I was curious who had shown up so far,"
Nodding his head, Talon reaches into his pocket and pulls out the red book he had earlier, "So far, three kingdoms have shown up, one of which were people from the Elven Kingdom, Mistydawn,"
"And the other two that showed up?" King Arthur asks as Talon flips through the pages in his book.
"One was the envoy's of The Beast's Valley, and the other was actually the Duke and his daughter of The Solar Palace. I showed both of them to their rooms and gave them each a map of places around the palace they can visit," Talon says.
"Good, I'll go and visit the people of The Beast's Valley," King Arthur says as he turns to look at Lucas, "While I'm doing that, why don't you go and introduce Sydra to Lady Kayla,"
Glancing around, Lucas leans closer to his father, "Are you sure that is safe? What if we get attacked?"
Smiling, King Arthur pats Lucas on the shoulder, before walking away without saying anything. Watching his father leave, Lucas's mouth drops open in disbelief, "Does he even care that we could be attacked?"
"Of course he does. But he also believes that you need to grow up at some point," Talon says as he turns around to continue instructing the servants, "As a royal, you have to be prepared to have people attempt to assassinate you,"
Watching Talon leave, Lucas glances over at Sydra, who simply shrugs his shoulders, "Hey, you seem like a strong person, I'm sure not many people would attack you," Sydra says.
"That's not very reassuring..." Lucas says as he turns around, motioning for Sydra to follow him, "Come on, I'll introduce you to the Duke and his daughter, Lady Kayla,"
"You don't seem overly worried about the attack happening tonight," Sydra says, walking beside Lucas.
As Lucas glances at Sydra he sighs deeply, "Honestly, this isn't the first time our kingdom was attacked, but with three people at S-rank, none of the attackers do very much damage,"
Walking through the palace, Lucas leads Sydra up several flights of stairs before they come to a stop in front of a door on the fifth story. Before Lucas can knock on the door, it flies open and a blur of light shoots past Sydra, knocking Lucas to the floor.
"Lukey!" A girl shrieks, her long golden hair fully covering both Lucas and her, "Haha, I could smell you coming up the stairs!"
As the girl continues to snuggle against Lucas, a young man walks out of the room and pulls her off him with one hand. The man is wearing golden threads and has two curved golden horns emerging from his head. Watching him move, Sydra feels like the man is simply flowing through the air, and when he turns to look at Sydra, his eyes flash with light.
"Lady Kayla, you should know better than to tackle Prince Lucas," the man says, scolding the girl dangling from his hand. As she calms down, the man looks down at Lucas, who is still laying on the floor, his face bright red, "Are you alright?"
Noticing everyone's attention directed at him, Lucas jumps up from the floor and dusts himself off, "Yes, but thanks for pulling her off of me, Sir Suil,"
"Hey! Don't thank him," Kayla yells, swinging her fist back at Suil, "Put me down, Suil! I need to snuggle my Lukey!"
"Lukey?" Sydra asks, trying not to laugh as he looks at Lucas, "It seems the two of you are quite close,"
Hearing Sydra speak, Kayla uncovers her face and looks in his direction, showing off her two golden horns, and bright eyes, "We are! Lukey and I have been friends since we were little,"
Moving to the side, Suil motions for Lucas and Sydra to come inside, "Would you care for something to eat?"
"No thanks, we just came by so I could introduce Sydra to Lady Kayla and Duke Castro," Lucas says, following Suil into the room. Once he and Sydra have made their way in, Suil shuts the door behind them and drops Kayla onto the floor.
Being released, Kayla immediately flashes towards Lucas, her arms stretched as far as she can make them. Seeing this, Lucas dodges beneath her arms, and stands behind Sydra, "Lady Kayla, please calm down, I want you to meet someone,"
Without Lucas there to catch her, Kayla tumbles to the floor, but when she gets back up, her demeaner has completely changed. Sighing, she stands up in a ladylike manner and makes her way over to Sydra, her hand raised for him to shake it.
"Hello, my name is Lady Kayle, but as you are a friend of Lucas, you may call me Kayla. I am the daughter of Duke Castro, and I am a member of the Solar Numi race," Kayla says as Sydra shakes her hand.
"It's nice to meet you, Kayla. My name is Sydra Glass, and I am simply here to attend the Ashlock Ball," Sydra says, taking a step back and sitting on one of the couches in the room.
Suddenly, the floor shakes as the door to the room flies open, and a man with an overwhelming aura strolls in, "Where is Prince Lucas?!"