"Madness," the king barked to the old man.
Expecting him to give up his child was utter and complete tyranny. He wasn't going to entertain such madness.
He grabbed the queen and turned on his heels to leave.
"The life of one child over a whole nation," the old man let out and sighed. "A good ruler wouldn't hesitate to pay any price for his people," he said heading back to the tree.
The king paused hearing the old man's words, it was bad that he was hesitant but the old man made him realize something. At the end of the day, Ember might not be standing high anymore.
It wouldn't be safe for him or the queen let alone a child, even if he isn't killed he would be captured and go into slavery and his child either killed or sold to the highest bidder.
He had just discovered that he was going to be a father but the circumstances didn't permit him to be happy about the news.
His world was covered in blood, bringing a child into that world would make him more guilty than giving her to beasts.
Humans were crueler than beasts that embraced their natures. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
If he walked away then he would be giving up his kingdom's only chance at survival and would be dooming his unborn child to a life far worse than death. But if he choose to take the deal then he would be giving away his only child to magical beings that he wasn't sure how would treat his child.
All the options he had were bad, he turned to face the old man, as if feeling his intentions, and the old man turned around and stared at him.
"Nothing else you have is of any use to me," he uttered to the king. "The deal is on the table until I return to my tree, I won't come back out again," the old man warned.
The way that he spoke gave off the feeling that caused the king to stumble. "I can't kill my child," he spoke out in a whisper.
"I have no intentions of ending her life," the old man fired back sternly. "Your child will stay alive in the flying palace," he added.
The king exchanged a helpless glance with his queen, the woman's face had grown pale. She was also feeling the fears that her husband had. Yet as a mother, she felt the best choice was to take the deal, for her child.
"But surely you cant ask us to part with our child without even getting the chance to meet her," she asked the old man.
The old man stroked his chin as though being deep in thought. He raised his gaze to meet the queen.
"I am a kind old man, I might be able to permit you a few years with your child," he said completely void of emotions. "Twenty years, on her twentieth birthday, I will come for her," he offered.
In a blink of an eye he appeared before the king and queen, "Do we have a deal?" his voice sounded. this time around is deep and scary.
The king gulped. "Y-yes," he said unsure, the old man smiled. He looked down at the king's hand, the king followed his line of sight and saw a marking forming on his hand.
A drawing of that looked like a vine with thorn drawing at his skin. A creeping feeling was crawling up his skin as he thought of the deal that he had just gotten into the beasts.
"Can i..."
"The deal is done," the old man said, he turned to the queen.
The queen looked down at her stomach, there was a warm light in her stomach, feeling scared she lifted the hems of her top and glanced at the light forming a simple drawing like the one on the king's hand on her.
"No matter where your child runs, the mark will make sure she can't hide from her masters," the old man said.
The king dropped his hand helpless to the words that the old man said. He had sold his child in exchange for a better Ember, not that it justified what he did.
At that moment the king's wounds healed. The skies opened up and the king witnessed five beings flying down from the sky.
One had pure white wings, the second had three pairs of black wings, and the third had two pairs of golden wings that reflected the light of the sun. the fourth had purple wings that glistened as he flew while the fifth had five pairs of wings. With all the colors that the other four had on their wings.
They were too far for the king to see their faces or bodies, he stood in awe along with his queen. They watched in amazement as the flying beasts hovered over them captivating their eyes.
"They are here, raise your sword king, they will shadow you and help you defeat your enemies," the old man uttered proudly.
His words broke the king from his dazed state, he raised his sword and felt the power of ten thousand in his sword. He was energized and felt up to the task of the fight.
'Move,' he heard a dangerously low command in his mind, he looked up, for some reason he felt the fifth beast was the one who spoke.
The old man flipped his hand, the couch, the soldier, and both the king and queen appeared on the battlefield.
The king raised his sword and charged into battle. He moved at the speed of lightning and his every strike was heightened with the power of a whole army.
the queen blinked at the sight of all the blood, she couldn't stand it, it made her nauseous. She opened her eyes a few moments later and was shocked to find the king standing over the corpses of their enemies.
In the distance she could spot some soldiers retreating, the man before wasn't her husband, his eyes were darkened thirsting for more blood.
Blood trickled down his blade and his armor, yet there was no sign of an injury on him. The other soldiers were stunned and looked at their king with both awe and fear.
"All hail king Karl," the soldier who took them to the old man shouted at the top of his lungs.
"All hail," the others chanted.
"Victory to Ember!" The soldier shouted.
"Victory!" The others joined in on the chant. They finally let out a sigh of relief. It was over and to their shock, they won.