Draco had been kneeling at the floating platform for at least ten minutes now, and in that time he noticed two more figures arriving to kneel next to him.
When Draco sneaked a glance to his left, he was surprised to see a familiar face!
It was a gorgeous woman, and they had short snow white hair and piercing white eyes.
These captivating eyes were locked straight at Draco, and the woman let out a gasp when she saw him.
"It's you!" She exclaimed, her voice a whisper.
Draco merely smiled back at her, causing her jade-white cheeks to redden with a blush.
'I can't tell if she's excited to see me or not.' Draco thought with a smirk.
He would occasionally sneak glances around him, but he saw that the other kneeling figures were unmoving.
Draco looked down the row towards the other familiar looking person, but he couldn't make out their facial features because of other figures that were blocking his view.
Presumably everyone had arrived, for the man sitting at the floating desk abruptly cleared his throat.
Just in time too, for Draco's knees were starting to hurt.
"Alright, it seems you have all arrived. You may stand." the man said.
Hearing that, Draco was the first to his feet, happy to be up from that degrading position.
"Good afternoon, I am Saan Khalid, fourth prince of our esteemed Khalid Dynasty." he continued.
When the other prisoners heard that, many of them bowed their heads again, evidently awed to be in the presence of Khalid royalty.
Draco merely sneered inwardly, for he was not new to these royals.
'So this is Muhammed's older brother, huh? I'm not impressed.' He thought.
From what Draco could tell this, 'fourth prince' seemed to be on par with Muhammed in strength, perhaps a bit weaker even.
The fourth prince continued, satisfied with the response to his title, "I have brought you all here before me because you have displayed excellence within the Ahmar Cage."
His eyes traveled over each of the figures in attendance, "I am here to present you all with two choices. Since you have all proven yourself more than capable in combat, you have a life changing opportunity ahead of you."
He waited a moment to let his words sink in, "You can either resign from the Ahmar Cage and enlist in a special battalion of the Khalid Dynasty, or you can return to the cage, where you will remain until the day that you die."
Draco almost choked when heard that, 'What kind of choice is that?!' Draco wondered, flabbergasted at the proposition.
Draco suddenly raised his hand, and without waiting to be called on he said, "Wait a minute! This is all a misunderstanding, I'm not even supposed to be here. The eighth prince told me I would only have to stay here for a week!"
The fourth prince raised an eyebrow upon hearing Draco's outburst.
He said nothing as he flipped through the papers on his desk. He grabbed a seemingly random paper and held it up to read.
"Ah, yes… a servant of my second sister." he said with annoyance, looking up from his paper to peer down at Draco.
He shook his head, "Whatever my little brother said has no weight, for this decree comes directly from the royal palace."
Draco's eyes widened when he heard this.
"Damn." was all he said, sighing as he resigned himself to his fate.
'There's no point arguing, if I make this royal bastard mad he'll definitely send me back into that sh*thole.' Draco thought angrily, cursing the injustice of it all.
Seeing Draco had no further objections, the fourth prince continued, "His exalted eminence, King Zain Khalid, has ordered that this task force be formed to engage in the subterfuge of our Dynasty's enemies.
"Be forewarned, there will be no honor in this position. No one will know your names, and no one will speak of your deeds. There is a high likelihood that you will perish and your bones left to rot without a grave." the prince continued, his tone grave.
He paused for a moment, "Knowing this, all who wish to continue down this path may continue to stand before me. Those who wish to deny this opportunity may take ten steps backwards."
'What a sh*tty job description, If I had any other choice I would take a hundred steps straight out of the window.' Draco thought, his eye twitching.
Draco looked around him and saw that no one had taken a step back, most of the other prisoners were staring ahead with determined expressions on their faces.
Only the white haired lady next to him was looking at him, as if she was waiting see what he would do.
The fourth prince smiled when he saw that no had left, "Excellent." was all he said.
He pressed a button on his desk and a wide hole slid open below the desk.
Draco couldn't see anything beneath the hole, but he watched with amazement as the pedestal that the fourth prince sat on began to descend into the hole.
While the prince descended he continued to look at papers on his desk, not looking up even as he passed through the hole and into the depths of the tower.
The hole slid closed behind the prince, replacing it with a pristine white floor.
After the fourth prince left a Ḥāmin walked ahead of the group and motioned for everyone to follow him.
Now that everyone was moving, Draco was able to spot a figure among the group. The figure had recognizable blond hair, and seeing the man's face Draco became sure.
He ran up to the man and tapped him on the shoulder, "Demetri!" Draco said, his voice low.
Demetri looked at Draco and gave him a sheepish smile, "Draco, my friend. Quite the commotion you made earlier."
Draco chuckled when he heard that, "I honestly didn't know if you had survived the forest or not. When did you get here?" asked Draco.
Demtri laughed at that, "I don't know how I survived either. That Ape was a fearsome foe, I'm surprised you're alive as well." he said.
Draco wondered if he should tell Demetri the truth or not, but eventually he decided not to.
After all, it's not like he could tell Demetri that he had eaten the Ape and was now growing hair all over his body.
"I escaped from the Ape and made a break for it. While I was running away I was ambushed by someone, I took them out and apparently I was the last fighter standing." Draco explained, telling Demetri a half-truth.
Demetri clapped Draco on the back, "I'm proud of you, friend. Now we need to focus on the trials ahead of us."
Draco nodded his head, chuckling ruefully, "I know. It seems the fourth prince has placed on the Suicide Squad."
Demetri laughed, "Indeed, but whatever happens we need to look after each other."
"Agreed, let's make it through this." Draco said solemnly.
As the two were talking, Draco noticed a small figure was following behind them.
He looked over his shoulder, "What do you want?" he asked the white-haired girl.
When she heard this the woman looked like she wanted to cry.
"So mean!" she pouted, stomping her petite feet against the floor before saying, "I was just listening to what you were talking about. It sounds like you've been through a lot."
Draco smiled lightly at that, "You don't even know the half of it."
The white-haired girl continued, "My name is Snow, and I just wanted to thank you for what you did for me back in the arena." she said, genuine thankfulness in her eyes.
Hearing the woman's name which matched up with the powder he used to sell, he couldn't keep a smile from growing on his face.
He also almost burst out laughing when they thanked him, and he didn't know if he had the heart to tell them the truth of the matter.
He simply nodded his head and said, "Anytime, Snow. My names Draco."
Snow smiled broadly at that, showing Draco pearly white teeth that fit with her name.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Draco." she said in her dainty little voice.
"Likewise." Draco replied.
As the two were talking their group had reached the end of the massive room.
They had stopped in front of the room's window, and now that they were close enough Draco could make out where they were.
It looked like they were at the very top of what was presumably the Ḥāmin tower.
When Draco peered over the edge of the window he could see the bustling Royal Palace below him. All of the figures moving about the palace grounds were little more than dots from this height though.
The Ḥāmin leading Draco's group stopped before the window and a control panel slid out of the ground. The man entered a code of sorts into the control panel and the glass plane in front of them promptly slid open.
Once the window was opened intense winds began to blow into the room, buffeting the loose fitting clothes of everyone present.
Shortly after the window opened the sounds of a loud engine could be heard, and Draco looked up to see a large aircraft descending until it was level with their position.
The airship was long and blocky, and had to be at least 20 meters (65 feet) in length.
It was propelled by four medium sized jet engines located around the base of the ship, and they emitted blue-white flames as they held the vessel steady.
The back of the hovercraft held a large door that began to open downwards, creating a ramp of sorts that led into the ship.
Without saying anything, the Ḥāmin jumped through the window and landed on the ship's ramp, walking into the vessel without preamble.
Three more Ḥāmin soldiers that Draco failed to notice also jumped into the ship. He wondered when they had joined his group, but he figured he had missed their appearance while he was re-uniting with Demetri.
Following the Ḥāmin guard's lead, the other prisoners began to jump into the vessel.
Eventually it was Draco, Demetri, and Snow's turn, and they promptly leapt onto the ramp, steadying themselves against the intense winds as they walked into the vessel.
Once they had passed the doorways boundary Draco felt a wave of pressure flash over him, telling him that this vessel was imbued with a spatial-compression artefact.
The entrance of the ship appeared to be a few dozen meters long by itself, and it looked like a storage room of sorts.
Crates and barrels of unknown origin littered the room, and Draco couldn't help but wonder what goodies were held inside of them.
Standing along the walls of the room were several more Ḥāmin soldiers, all radiating a faint pressure that marked them as elite soldiers of the Khalid Dynasty.
'These guys mean business.' Draco concluded, sensing their power that rivaled many of the people he had previously faced within the Ahmar Cage.