Rays from the sun poured out from over the horizon, and came over the Kingdom, shedding light everywhere, the mark of a new day, and smiles were on people's faces as they decorated the whole place.
Streets were filled with decorations of red and gold, the Kingdom's colors.
It was a day of celebration for Lia, their much-loved princess was at the most crucial part of her life and age.
She was going to be able to cultivate starting today, and the people were all happy for her.
Now and then, a group of carriages would go out of the palace laden with food, items of clothing, and a lot more things people need.
They were all sent in the name of Lia to help out lots of people who needed such items.
She even forced the building of a large group of houses where the homeless could live.
There she even made them have farms they could work in to support themselves.
That was all because she kept talking about it to her parents or so they heard, but that did not matter.
She had helped the people and they loved her for that.
The greater reason they were all happy was the fact that even though they had admired and loved her so much, the people had not seen her face before.
She always had a veil covering her face anytime she went out to do anything in public.
Others even felt they had seen her before but knew nothing about it.
All was sunshine and roses but within the palace, different emotions were all mixed up in different places, and if the people knew of what was going on, who knew how they'd feel about it?
Aramith for instance had been unconscious since the day before. Mozrael had been gloomy and didn't know how to act at all.
She was inside her room for most of the time but left for Aramith's room to watch him in his state.
Her eyes were of terror and fear it was obvious she was thinking of the worst possibilities regarding what he was going through.
She cared for Aramith more than anybody else in this life, so fear of losing him was going deep in her.
Lia wasn't any better than Mozrael.
She'd also been in her room and refused to eat anything.
They all tried but nothing would go through to her.
Her mother would have been of greater help but she was now busy.
All she felt was guilt for having caused Aramith to be in the state he was in.
She may have been impulsive in her acts, but she wanted nothing more than to be with her brother and have fun with him.
That's what led to her mistakes and hurting him as she did.
Now she only regretted not being careful.
It was supposed to be her day, but she wanted nothing more than to remain under her covers and not go anywhere or do anything, She just wanted to disappear.
* * *
It felt so different to be outside in a place filled with so much color and beauty, unlike the gloomy room he stayed cooped up most of the time and the fear he felt almost all the time.
The event was to happen in the evening so he had the whole day to himself but had no idea what to do, so he was glad to accept when someone came that morning requesting to take him out to tour the land.
He rarely stepped out of his room in the Bone kingdom, and even when he did, It was because of some official matter and not something he was doing for his own sake. He only felt disapproving looks from people anytime he went out of his 'way' to places people were.
They pitied him for having no talent or attribute and pitied the King more for having such a useless child as his son.
As Hordin stood there, he involuntarily shuddered and even though some noticed, they spoke nothing of it.
This was because they'd seen him spacing out first before he now shuddered. It was obvious he was remembering something uncomfortable so they chose not to bother him much.
After cleaning himself up and changing into a fresh set of clothes, he went out with the attendants who came to escort him.
He found out that he was not the only one as they entered one of the royal carriages and set off. Other carriages were ahead as well, each carrying an important person from other Kingdoms.
They went on and Hordin didn't bother looking out until he heard gasps of awe and looked out to see the tall, beautiful fence with flowering plants growing through the diamond-shaped spaces between.
The colors of the flowers were too catchy, one could get hypnotized by how they shifted from one shade to another as the carriages moved.
In no time, they had reached the gates to the royal garden reserved only for special eyes to see. The gates were not outdone by the fence in terms of beauty, design, and complicatedness.
The carriages pulled in and the horses slowed to a trot to allow the people the chance to take in the view.
They were truly amazed and didn't know how to react to what they were seeing with their very own eyes!
The garden was very very large and stretched as far as the eye could see, and the beauty of it was all just indescribable.
Each carriage had at least one attendant to educate the passengers on where they were and what they were seeing.
The types of flowers were being pointed out and those with other functions other than beautification were all explained to the people with this view alone, their respect for the Vermillion Kingdom had gone up some more.
They arrived at a place where the plants looked complicated and were asked to get off to go on foot.
They all happily complied, already wanting to do that long ago.
Hordin got off like everyone else and took in the view.
He watched the others as they moved closer to the plants.
First was amazement, then confusion, for they inhaled and the air alone around the plants seemed to have some sort of healing and relaxing effect on them.
They were now intrigued, for these were herbs used in the making of elixirs. Then, Hordin noticed one of the people scrutinize a plant and then open his eyes and mouth in disbelief.
"This...this is the Bruise bay leaf! I thought they were extinct."
The others were also shocked when they heard that, knowing the supreme healing properties of that plant.
It had been searched for by people all over the world for it could be used to create a god-level elixir that could save someone at the brink of death.
A closer look at the plants there and the people started to notice a few more complicated herbs among them, plants they thought had ceased to exist were all there in abundance.
Drake Marjoram, Emerald Oregano, Star of Quassia, King's Borage, and even the Elf Rijon stalk among others.
This was hard to believe! How was this even possible?
Some of these plants required cold environments at the peak of mountains to survive, such as the Flame lotus needed hot environments as well. How were they able to thrive in this place?
As they were all trying to guess, someone came to them, wearing the same red gown as the other workers in the garden She walked with purpose as she approached them, but unlike the others, they had seen so far, her outfit had a gold flower on its back.
Something to do with ranks, they all thought. She introduced herself as the one who would be guiding them through this tour. Hordin counted about thirty-five people including himself.
The lady did her job well, knowing every single herb, its characteristics, and even what it could be used for.
All that was just priceless information right there, but she gave it freely.
After a while, someone asked the question that had been going on in the minds of the people.
How is it that these plants can survive in these places even though their features prove that they can only grow in other areas?
She smiled at them and reached the floor with her hand. She used a finger and drew a complicated alchemy formation in a matter of seconds.
Those there who were alchemists could confirm that it would have taken them hours at least to draw what she'd just drawn.
The formation took on a green glow when she had finished and spread wide under their feet. One at a time, smaller formations began to appear.
Every plant had a different formation under it, others even had multiple formations rotating around their stalks, or some drawn on their leaves.
These formations were to give each plant the environment it needed to grow.
They were all amazed now.
This use of Alchemy formations didn't seem to exist in any of the other Kingdoms.
This was a discovery made by Aiden and so there was no way the other Kingdoms could know about it.
Hordin was absorbing as much information as he could, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was being watched closely.
He was sure after observing that the eyes he felt on him didn't come from the people around him.
The feeling was even as if it wasn't a human that was watching him.