Celestia's POV:
Lord Arcadia's dense mahogany-colored hair, which was up to his shoulders, hid most of his facial features. But still, it was evident that he was scowling at Theo.
Theo shook his head and said," I didn't attack you first just because you are weak. I don't plan my battles that way. You just happened to be in my way, and I was obligated to meet face to face with you."
The Mage Lord then took off his brownish-grey smoky quartz crown and handed it over to Theo. Theo rolled his eyes at him in surprise. Who would have anticipated that the Mage Lord would just surrender this soon?
Well, his castle is surrounded by our warriors, and he has no other option than to surrender. But most of the leaders in this situation would directly challenge the opponent for a duel. And no leader would give up this easily!
The Mage Lord glared at me and then stared back at Theo while he was still clutching his quartz crown. "I know that you two are judging me right now. The reason why I am accepting defeat is, I lost my people's support even before you stepped into this castle. They are all tired of King Oberon's principles, and the whole Southern region wants Silver Shadow to be their King," Arcadia declared.
Even though the Mage Lord offered his crown to him, Theo didn't accept the crown from him. He then pulled back his long white sleeves a little on both of his hands and said, "It is good to know that you people are already on my side. But I want you to give me this same crown tomorrow in front of all your people. Everyone in this region must know that I am their new Lord," Theo said.
"Do you mean that you need a coronation ceremony? Then it's done! Tomorrow when the sun rises back, I'll declare you as the Lord of the Southern regions in front of all of my men," Arcadia asserted. "And this castle belongs to you now, so I plead with you to take care of her well. I built her with love and maintained her like my own child."
I sensed the sadness in his tone when he said that last sentence. So it is true what they say about him. He does like monuments more than anything else!
Theo shook his head immediately. "I won't be the Lord of the Southern regions forever, and that is not my desire. I want to be the King of the Celestial Realm. And once I become the King, I'll give you back your title. You can rule the Southern regions under my supervision."
Lord Arcadia's face turned bright instantly. He immediately knelt on the floor and bowed his head down. "I pledge my allegiance to the Silver Shadow," he said.
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Lord Arcadia took us both to the lower parts of the castle. The Fire scones, which were lit up on the wall, made the whole place glow in the bright yellow light. The floral pattern design didn't seem to end even down here. Lord Acadia might not be an influential leader, but he has his own talent!
Arcadia opened a unique door that was entirely made up of quartz. As soon we all got in the room, I realized that this room is not meant for the peasants to enter.
There were so many treasure chests in the room. The number of artifacts here seems to be a lot. Even in King Oberon's treasure chest, there were not this many artifacts.
Theo scanned the whole room and smirked at Lord Arcadia. "I never thought that you were also a burglar," he said to him.
Arcadia grunted and opened a small treasure chest. "I don't go out and steal these artifacts. If your region is so close to the barrier, you tend to find things like this on your own," Arcadia mumbled while he took out an old scroll from the treasure chest.
"Don't tell me that you have dark artifacts here too," Theo snapped at him.
"I would be just lying if I told you that I don't have any dark relics here. I know it is against the law, but I preserve them at my own risk," the mage lord replied to Theo.
"You are not that lame as I thought you would be," Theo mocked him.
Arcadia ignored his fuss, and he turned his back to Theo. He then stepped closer to the wooden table, which was at the center of the room. He spread out the scroll on the brownish wooden table.
Immediately the little scroll expanded itself double fold, and it revealed an elaborate sketch of the whole Celestial Realm. I noticed that highlands and mountain regions were shaded with a bluish hue color more, and there were very few red hues.
But it was completely opposite in the lowlands. The red hues were more dominant in the mage lands. I looked up at Arcadia and waited for him to give an explanation about this.
Arcadia gazed at Theo and said, "The blue shades represent the supporters of King Oberon. The red shades represent your supporters. As you can see, most of them in the mage lands want the Silver Shadow to be their King. You gained this much support from the Mages due to your lady love over here. My people still want to follow The Dawn!"
I smiled politely at Arcadia. "I feel so honored that Mages still have faith in me, and I am not going to let them down," I declared.
Arcadia moved the corner of his upper lip and showed his disapproval by his manner. "The real reason why they idolize you is that Mages don't trust King Oberon as he is partial. Your father treats the Fae as superior beings, and he doesn't care about the rest of us. But we all hope that you and Silver Shadow would not be partial."
Whatever he said was true. My father always told me that the Fae are the purest and most powerful entity in the kingdom of light. I wouldn't say I liked the way he treated the Mages and Wizards. And I was too scared of confronting my father about this.
"That will never happen once I become the King," Theo declared. "Everything is going to change when the Golden Dawn and I start ruling this realm. There will be no more boundaries between the highlands and the lowlands."
I always admired this quality of Theo. He is not partial to anyone. Since he is an Angelic Demon, he acknowledges the light and shadow forces equally. At that moment, I realized that Theo's principles are far nobler than my father's.