"Sydra?" Rachel asks again, making her way over to Sydra, "What are you doing among the guards? Actually, how did you get here, after the fight at the Ivory Kingdom?"
"Maybe we should talk somewhere else?" Sydra inquires, motioning towards all the people starting at Rachel talking to him, "I'll explain more there,"
"That makes sense," Rachel says, pondering for a few seconds, "I know of a place where we won't be bothered, follow me,"
Before Sydra can stand up, the chains released by the amber vortex pull the straw golem into it, disintegrating it as it passes through, "Ah, I forgot that I still had that active,"
Snapping his fingers, Sydra releases the vortex before it can drag another straw golem to its end. What was even more shocking to the onlookers was the fact that the straw golem couldn't even put up a fight against the chains, especially when they were made to deal with A-ranked guards.
"That's not all those chains can do," Sydra says, leaving everyone to wonder what else they can do as he walks off with Rachel, "I'm glad to see that you are okay, after the fight and all,"
"Yes, well I was actually warned before I went, which is why my uncle sent an S-rank guard with me," Rachel explains, "And he protected me during most of the fighting,"
Getting inside the carriage, Rachel has the driver take her back to the palace, where she leads Sydra to a private garden. The garden has several trees that extend over a small pond in the middle. In the pond is a stone path that leads to a white cabana, and that is where Rachel takes Sydra.
"Do you mind telling me what happened after the fight started? I didn't stay long enough to find out," Sydra asks, sitting down opposite of Rachel.
"Certainly, it seemed like several of the staff in the palace were working against the King, and they had requested help from a secret organization called the Sky Vipers," Rachel explains, "Although the King was able to fend off the attackers, he obtained injuries in the process, and the prince went missing,"
"Prince Lucas went missing?" Sydra asks, "The King didn't have someone watching him?"
"It seems like he didn't," Rachel says, "Anyway, how did you escape, and come to be trained by Captain Zeis?"
Sydra explains his situation, leaving out the fact that he escaped with both Prince Lucas, as well as Lady Kayla. He wanted to keep those things secret, as he wasn't sure if he could trust Rachel or not. Also, Sydra felt that there was another presence in the garden, and he wasn't completely certain of their reason for being there.
"I see, so there was actually a secret gateway out of the palace," Rachel says, nodding her head, "You're quite lucky it didn't lead to somewhere that you couldn't handle. Also, you don't have to worry about the fight against the Dean's son, I'll take care of things for you,"
"No, that's fine," Sydra responds, "I'm actually looking forward to the fight, as I'm curious to see how my powers have grown,"
The two of them talked for a bit longer before Sydra said he had to get back to the courtyard as he wished to continue training. However, on the way out, Sydra felt a massive presence approaching them quickly, and it was coming from the sky. Looking up, he saw a pair of yellow wings shining in the sun, a man with a regal appearance held in the air by them.
"Rachel, who is this boy?" The man asked, dropping to the ground in front of Sydra, "Shall I kill him?"
"No, uncle," Rachel says, rolling her eyes, "This is Sydra, I met him while I was at the Ashlock Ball,"
'Uncle? Then does that mean this is the King?' Sydra wondered, bowing his head lightly to the man in front of him. Other than the yellow wings on the man's back, he also had short curly hair and bright green eyes. He was wearing a blue embroidered royal jacket, and strapped to his hip was a silver sword with a yellow gem at the hilt.
The man looked over Sydra, his hostility slightly dying down, "I see, so he is simply a guest and will be leaving soon then?"
"Uncle Oriole, please do not be rude," Rachel snips, gently slapping the king's arm, "Sydra is actually training with the guards under Captain Zeis, and will be going against the son of the Academy's Dean in the arena in five days,"
"You mean Dean Crue? Why are the two of them fighting against each other?" King Oriole asked, looking Sydra up and down, "Will this boy even stand a chance? I've heard that the dean's son is quite proficient with both lightning and ice aura,"
"I'm sure Sydra will do just fine, and I plan on going to watch him fight," Rachel explains, surprising both the King and Sydra, "You should come as well, Uncle,"
"Hmm, it has been a while since I have been to the arena," King Oriole ponders for a few seconds before smiling, "And it would give me more time to hang out with you, so I think it would be nice to go,"
"Great!" Rachel exclaims, grabbing onto the king's shoulder as she hopped up to give him a kiss on the cheek, "I'll take Sydra back now, so he can finish his training with the others,"
The king didn't respond and simply waved them off before turning to look at one of the shadows above him, "Aslot, I want you to watch that boy and report to me if he does anything suspicious,"
The only response from the shadows was a small flash of orange lightning, and they quickly went back to the way before. However, King Oriole didn't seem to mind, simply glancing in the direction that Sydra and Rachel had gone in as he flew back to his castle, 'If that boy has any thoughts about my sweet niece, then nothing shall hold me back from ending his life,'
...
Back in the courtyard, Sydra bid farewell to Rachel before attempting to resume his training. But before he could do anything, he found himself surrounded by the guards as well as the other students from the academy, everyone bombarding him with questions.
"Hold on, hold on," Sydra shouted, quieting everyone down, "Right now is not the time to be asking questions, we should be focusing on training instead,"
"He's right," Captain Zeis said, glaring at the crowd of guards, "All of you have a lot more work to do, get back to it!"
With the Captain yelling at them, all of the guards swiftly left Sydra alone, but not before they shot him a few curious looks on their way. Although the guards had left, that didn't mean Sydra was completely left alone, as Jason and the others remained behind.
"Why didn't you tell us you knew the King's niece?" Jason asks, "That feels like something you should let others know,"
"Is it really that big of a deal?" Sydra wondered, "I simply met her a while back, and it isn't like the two of us are close or anything,"
Before anyone could ask any more questions, Captain Zeis walks up to Sydra, "I'm assuming that you are still allowed to continue training, then?"
"That's right," Sydra says, "There are a few other things I wanted to try to do with the Amber Lightning,"
Captain Zeis nodded and sent the other students away, telling them that if they had more questions they could ask after the day was over. He then spent the rest of the time discussing ideas with Sydra and practicing different techniques.
By the end of the day, Sydra was able to create several Amber portals, each one having a unique purpose, as well as several other things. However, the biggest achievement of the day had to do with another one of Sydra's abilities, the one to do with water.
While he had been training, Sydra had tried to enhance his lightning by adding the other auras into it. One of the experiments he had done was trying to create a water dome with lightning flowing through it, to create a trap area. But when he had placed the two auras together, the water underwent a change and turned into a cloud.
'An Amber Stormcloud? How did that happen?' Sydra wondered, scanning the dome-shaped cloud in front of him. Feeling a connection with the cloud, Sydra raised his hand and waved it around, moving the cloud in the same direction. Wondering what's effects would have on other things, Sydra covered one of the straw golems with it for a few seconds.
'Will it be destroyed like earlier, or something else?' Sydra thought, pulling the cloud off the straw golem. Instead of being disintegrated, or damaged in any other way, the straw golem instead seemed to have undergone an evolution, and there was a layer of amber mist surrounding its body.
On the other side of the courtyard, Jason and Indra are practicing together when Jason notices the Amber Stormcloud. Pointing it out to Indra, the two of them watch as the cloud races across the field, swelling straw golems up and spitting them back out, each one having undergone an evolution while inside the cloud.
"Does he ever run out of surprises?" Jason asks Indra, who simply glares at him.
"You're one to talk, the two of you both increase your abilities too quickly," Indra responds, feeling that his own speed is too slow in front of these two geniuses.