Arthur looked over at the empty spot next to the woodpecker hedge, 'I wonder if Penelope is...' His thought was stopped as he began walking the three hundred steps up to the castle, every tenth step there was two heavily armed guardmen stood on the left and right. 'Seems unnecessary, they don't even have regular attacks' he thought, every single time. Arthur, as he always did, nodded time to time at the guardsmen. As he got to the top, he was not out of breath like regular humans would be, but more annoyed that he had to walked that much to be... 'FOR FUCKS SAKE I COULD JUST FLY UP!' Arthur screamed in his head, 'WHAT A IDOIT, AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!'.
However, his anger got extinguished at the sight of the castle doors, the castles doormen Rick and Sylvester greeted him with a firm handshake each. This was very informal of doormen, however Arthur had come to know them over his teenage years, studying in the same classes together in soul study. This included Leon, and on occasion they would all go out into the pubs in the Metropolis and have drinks like regular people. Rick had a soul of a Acinonyx Jubatus (Cheetah) and Sylvester had the soul of a Hyaena (Hyena).
"Good to see you guys" Arthur addressed both Rick and Sylvester with a handsome smile.
"Alright Art! We were wondering where you got to" Sylvester turnt his head slightly to look at Rick with a smile.
"Yes where did you get to you are not normally that long?" Sylvester spoke wondering.
Arthur should check in every two weeks, however he was gone for a full month. He had a feeling he'd never had before, he couldn't explain it. Arthur felt like he should stay a little while longer, sensing something unknown, and wouldn't you know it, that's when he met Penelope.
"Well I met Pe..." He stopped himself speaking.
"Who?" Rick and Sylvester spoke in unison.
"I'll speak to you about it at the pub, tonight?"
"Sure it's been a while" Sylvester nodded and Rick agreed.
After they said their goodbyes, they opened the giant reinforced wooden doors for Arthur to let him into the castle. Shortly after that Arthur was greeted by Harold, the castles first and only head butler, a well spoken man, that of a Grus Grus soul (Crane).
"Sir Arthur it is nice to see you again" Harold said with a bow, those who inhabit the castle get called by their first names by the butler.
"Sir Harold it is nice to see you as well" Arthur found himself speaking exceptionally well when it came to conversing with Harold.
"Your family are congregating in the library Sir, they are aware of your arrival".
"Thank you Harold" Arthur nodded before departing to the library.
The library in the castle was enormous, slightly bigger than the castle gardens out front, it covered a full quarter of the castles second floor (Arthur and Harold currently on the ground floor). Arthur and his entire family loved to read, hence why they have every single book created in Magnus Luna Insulam, and several hundreds of books from Penelope's Earth (Arthur's referall to the original Earth if you can't already tell). He looks up the steps to the first floor. 'Well I'm sure as hell not walking up another load of stairs' Arthur thought to himself, and he seemingly disappeared, and got replaced by a stunning Picum.
The Picum was very large, very fast, and very clever for it's species. The red marking, unusually, spread all the way from it's neck down through the stomach and to the tip of the undertail, the underwings was also red. The black feather's were over it's head and back to the tip of the tail, a white mask-like marking covering it's face, there was also white dots on the top of it's wings. The beak and feet it possesses are incredibly strong and golden in colour, sporting very sharp claws on it's feet too, to do tasks that a general woodpeckers would not be able to do, but this was not some general woodpecker...
The library doors were opened by another two doormen, their heads nodding as Arthur appeared, the library door was wooden, shiny and very large. He walked in (bold as brass you could say) and greeted his family loudly.
"Well hello my royal family" Arthur smirked widely, opening his arms out as he walked towards them.
"Quiet boy".
This was the voice of his Immortal King, his grandfather.
"What's up his arse?!" Arthur said loudly, shocking his parents and grandmother before he reached them.
"Watch your tone boy!" The Immortal King raised his voice, "I am your Immortal King".
"First of all, grandfather, I am not a boy" Arthur growled, "And secondly, you are forgetting who is the most powerful being here, the only thing I am missing is the immortality".
"Boys boys calm down" His mother Ester spoke, flapping her arms at Arthur for a hug, "my beautiful son has return".
Arthur finally jogged to his mother and picked her up, spinning her around in the air in pure happiness.
"My mother is right, I am beautiful" Arthur laughed as he put his mother down, "it's good to see you Mum" He said quietly to her.
She was never to be called Mum, only Mother in the presence of others, but he got away with it from time to time, Arthur was her only son after all, regardless of being a royal child.
"Father" Arthur strode over to his father Elias and gave him a backslapping hug.
"My boy you are getting stronger by the day" He chuckled as he returned the hug.
"You aren't too bad yourself old man" Arthur laughed as he parted from his father.
"Finally my stunning grandmother, how are you my Queen?" Arthur bowed half sarcasticially as he approached her.
"My precious grandson" Lois raised her arms to be taken into a gentle hug with Arthur.
Although his grandmother was immortal and not ageing, he was still gentle with her. To Arthur, she was just his grandmother. He seperated from the final hug and scowled at his grandfather.
"What's your problem then?"
Although The Immortal King was, well, Arthur's Immortal King, he was very surprised at Arthur's sudden courage towards him, and he thought being away from home wasn't so bad after all. He worried he was going to reveal his true identity to everyone, but in actuality, he only revealed his identity once, and not fully anyhow... His grandfather briefly thought 'he'd make a fine king one day' then turnt back to the issue at hand.
"My problem is at the moment we are running out of poor people to man the fields".
"Well stop giving them unlimited food and too good homes for themselves, then maybe they would actually work for money again" Arthur responded while crossing his arms.
The Immortal King let a small smile form on his lips, he'd turnt away briefly to look at some books, so no one saw. 'Yes, he will make a good ruler'.
"We can't just get them out of their homes and cut off their food supply, then they won't want to do anything" His father spoke.
"I'm not saying that, I'm saying in order for them to keep their houses and all their food supply, they should be seen to be working, otherwise they will all just end up as layabouts, which we do not want in our metropolis". Arthur spoke with much authority, his family was proud of him in this moment.
"I will speak with our council and see how to roll the plan out" The Immortal King nodded to his grandson.
This made Arthur smile, his grandfather, one of the most stubborn people in their dimension, agreed with him, not an occasion you will see every day!
"So son, how is it you are supposed to check in every two weeks, but you have been gone a whole month, what have you been doing?" His father looked at him questioningly, as all the rest of his family turned to look at him, wanting answers.
Arthur looked at his feet, his arms still crossed.
"I have come across a bit of a problem".
"What is it my boy?" Ester placed a hand on his arm reassuringly.
He hesistated before looking up and speaking...
"I've met a woman"...