Darkness.
Darkness was all Kai could see around him.
"Mom? Dad?" With a trembling voice, he called out to his precious parents, but all he got in response was the echo of his voice. The words bounced all around him, sounding against his ears as the mighty beats of drums, and forcing him to hold his hands over his ears.
"Son! Don't worry about us! Run!"
All of a sudden, the darkness around him morphed to show his father, kitted in his familiar armor. Blood ran down his face, and one of his eyes swollen shut.
"...Don't worry about us... Be strong, my baby boy..." The scenery morphed, and next, he saw Kate, his mother, kneeling on the floor, with chains around her neck, wrists, and ankles.
Kai's eyes shrunk in fear, and the darkness enveloped him again, twisting and morphing, before presenting a blurred face with a miter stop the person's head. For some reason, the pitiful smile that the figure gave him was as clear as day.
"Argh!" Kai bolted up from the bed, soaked in seat. Immediately, a comforting embrace engulfed him, and he was soothed by the familiar voice of his father.
"Shhh, it's okay, kiddo. I'm here." Roland smoothed down his son's hair with worry written over his face. Kate had told him that Kai experienced nightmares some times, but he never remembered them after. Only that he would have a haunting look on his face, and be unable to interact with for the next half hour.
Before long, Kai was back to snoring in Roland's arms, and the man could only sigh and shake his head.
.
.
When morning came, Roland was glad. He took a bath with Kai, had some breakfast down in the guesthouse, and set off with Kai. Of course, he also made sure to bid Bella farewell, or he would not hear the end of it when next he saw her.
True to his word, just under two hours, Roland pointed at the tall spires in the distance that jutted up into the blue sky. These tall spires belonged to the castle that was in the center of the capital city of the Holy Kingdom.
When the horse stepped out of the cover of the trees, Kai had to raise a hand to block out the sun for a moment, before his eyes adjusted to the lighting. When he opened his eyes again, his mouth fell open in awe.
Sparkling blue water extended behind the distance city that was still well ahead of them. The blue sea extended far into the distance, and Kai could see a few ships moving through the water. He could not see the harbor, which was an intentional element that had been taken into consideration when the city was being built.
"Beautiful, eh? Let's hurry up and I can take you to see the dock soon." Roland chuckled and urged his steed to run faster. Twenty minutes later, the had descended from the hill, and were in front of the city gates.
The massive walls of the capital city, Henan. made it so that they could not see the inside of the city. A battalion of armed soldiers checked over those who tried to enter the city to make sure that no enemies were able to sneak into the city.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't little mister Roland? And who is this little one over here?" A burly guard came over to them with a smile. He knew Roland very well, and had personally come to check them instead of letting someone else do so.
"Good morning to you too, Captain Fred. How's work going?" Roland laughed. He put his arm on Kai's shoulder and introduced him. "This is my boy, Kai. I've told you about him before." Roland introduced Kai.
"Ah, yes. What about his mom?" Fredrick tilted his head and looked behind Roland.
"Ah, well... She passed, and so I brought him here to stay with me." Roland's smile faltered, a well trained action.
Fredrick's face immediately soured as he mentally berated himself, but he was not to blame. "Well, sorry to hear that. Take care of this little kiddo for us, okay?" He patted Kai's head with his wide palm and waved them through.
Kai tilted his head back to look at the soldiers, but soon turned forward when the sound of the gates lifting up reached his ears. With a heavy groan, the thick bars that blocked out people lifted off from the ground, raising up into an opening above it, and allowing a new wave of outsiders and returnees into the capital city of the Holy Kingdom.
A cacophony of new and vibrant sounds, sights, and smells assaulted Kai all at once, making him scrunch up his nose and widen his eyes. The road to the capital city had been smooth and well paved, but the inside of the city's walls were something else entirely.
The firm stone underneath the horse's hooves were like a luxury that was not provided to most other places, but here, where interlocking tiles ran through the wide streets, Kai felt as if he had stepped into one of those fairy tale stories that his mother had told him as a baby.
The roads were wide enough for four large carriages to move through at the same time, while giving ample space for other people to move through the streets at once.
It was all a new sight to Kai, and he was excited to explore it with his father.