"The prince would pave a way through the thorns only to discover that the entire castle was trapped in stasis. A form of stasis called an enchanted sleep".
Reis stood in court. The prosecutor brought forth the charges, premeditated attempt at assassinating royalty which was considered high treason. The guards were called forth to give their testimony and they testified of what they saw, "the accused attempted to dismember the princess' head from her body".
The defence brought Reis' grandfather to testify on Reis' behalf and he did his best to explain that Reis was not harmful to the princess. Next, Aurora herself was brought to testify.
"He did attack me but I did not get the impression that he attempted to harm me in anyway. He spoke of strange things" she said.
"What are these strange things he spoke of?" the prosecutor asked Aurora.
"Something about dragons and Dragon Rangers. He spoke of people I was supposed to know and he acted like he was very familiar with me" Aurora explained.
"Do not listen to his babble your highness. Apparently this rabble is trying to confuse you. Reis Dragonhaӓrt, I order you to tell us of these strange things you attempted to fill the princess' head with" the prosecutor demanded.
"I doubt it will make much sense to you your honour so I'd rather remain silent if you do not mind" Reis said seriously.
"I do mind and you do not have a choice" the prosecutor said.
Reis sighed.
"To begin, I would have to tell you of the Tragic Legend, a tale which is not simply folklore but truth" Reis said.
"I'm sure we all want to hear this 'truth'" the prosecutor said and everyone in the courtroom except for Aurora, Jared and Reis' grandfather as well as the defence attorney laughed at him.
"Fine, here goes;
Long ago, there was a Great War in the world of Ryugaeia. It was known as the Drӓkan War. An evil Dark Dragon by the name of Armageddon sought to exterminate humans and rule Ryugaeia. To accomplish his dark purpose, Armageddon raised a legion of Dark Dragons, then joining forces with an equally evil warlord, he terrorized Ryugaeia. The Dragon Knights fought back with their elemental Dragon Partners. Many lives were lost in that battle and Armageddon was winning the war.
It was when all hope seemed lost that the surviving dragons combined their spirits and a Dragonhaӓrt was born. The Dragonhaӓrt being made of countless pure souls was supreme and defeated Armageddon in a duel of massive elemental display. Armageddon was defeated and sealed but at great cost. Dragons suffered the Great Extinction and the Dragonhaӓrt lost and without purpose faded away.
Prophets and seers prophesied the return of the Dragonhaӓrt and the final defeat of Armageddon but no one knew when the Dragonhaӓrt would return" Reis narrated.
"Foolishness! And you would have us believe that such a tale is fact? This is a courtroom for discussing serious legal matters and not a place for a child to spread idle fantasies about!" the prosecutor yelled.
"I told you it wouldn't make much sense to you" Reis grumbled immaturely.
"And what were your motives for sharing such a tale with the princess?" the prosecutor asked.
Reis remained silent.
"I would remind you Mr Dragonhaӓrt that you are under obligation to tell us the whole truth and you have taken an oath to do so" the prosecutor reminded Reis.
Reis frowned.
"It's because…I had to. There is no time. You have all been caught in an illusion cast by your enemy. It's a spell he calls 'The Severing' and it's interfering with your memories of Ryugaeia's true history" Reis tried to explain.
"And you would have us believe that somehow you alone were unaffected? Are you trying to imply that our memories of our lives are a lie as well as the clearly established facts of Ryugaeia's history?!" the prosecutor exclaimed in disbelief.
"It didn't come out of my mouth" Reis laughed nervously.
"Mr Dragonhaӓrt, do you believe this situation to be humorous? Depending on how the proceedings of this court end, you may be sentenced to execution. Do you still believe this to be a situation to laugh about?" the prosecutor asked.
Reis smiled.
"I have nothing to worry about because everything I've told you until now is true" Reis said.
"We shall see about that. Do you know that we are actually aware of how sketchy your background is? Parents unknown, appeared in Saggeese roughly two weeks ago and attempted to assault the princess with a sword a day after. Does this all sound familiar?" the prosecutor asked.
"It's already been two weeks?" Reis seemed surprised.
The prosecutor appeared really irritated with how lightly Reis appeared to take everything. Aurora on the other hand was amused and there were certain things about what Reis had said that seemed familiar to her.
"Princess Aurora Saggeese, you seemed to imply that though you were attacked by this lad here, you didn't get the impression that he was trying to harm you. Why is that?" the defence attorney asked.
"The way he handled the sword while dealing with the ornamental plants in my garden was far from ordinary. If he really wanted to harm me, he wouldn't have attacked me in such a clumsy way" Aurora said.
"There's no way to verify the princess' words. She only recently began training in the Saggeesian Royal Fencing Style. She shouldn't be skilled enough to tell whether this assassin is skillful with the sword or not" the prosecutor argued.
"If what the prosecutor says is true, then I would like to ask Princess Aurora Saggeese one more question" the defence attorney said.
"I see the prosecutor has already concluded that I am an assassin. What happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'?" Reis asked.
"Not when the facts against you are so glaring can we call you innocent!" the prosecutor snapped.
"If you say this lad was very skilled with the sword, then how could you who lacked experience with one disarm him practically unarmed?" the defence attorney asked.
Aurora opened her eyes in surprise as she recalled the Dragon Parry move.
"From what I've seen so far from my studies on the Saggeesian Royal Fencing Style, the technique with which you disarmed young Reis here is foreign to your martial art. I would like to ask, are you perhaps taking martial arts lessons from another person aside your instructor?" the defence attorney asked.
"No" Aurora responded but she looked confused. "I don't know" she said with a confused expression on her face.
"What do you mean?" the defence attorney asked.
Aurora remained silent.
"I don't intend to pressure you your highness but you did swear to tell the truth and you are under obligation to answer any question posed to you during this hearing" the defence attorney reminded her.
"It's strange but lately…I've been having dreams and this boy appears in a lot of them. In my most recent dream, he was teaching me swordsmanship" Aurora said.
The defence attorney sighed.
"There is no way we can verify that" he said. "But what else can you tell us about these dreams?" the defence attorney asked.
"I object your honour…the defence is attempting to infringe on the princess' privacy" the prosecutor objected.
"It's a little too late for that now. Not when you got Mr Dragonhaӓrt here to spill a secret he would rather have been silent about" the defence said.
"He is the assailant. Any attempt to conceal information only further proves his guilt" the prosecutor said.
"And the princess was the victim of the so called 'assassination attempt'. She should have nothing to hide" the defence attorney argued.
"Is there a point to this defence?" the judge asked.
"From what I can see, the princess' dreams may be tied to this strange tale the young lad is telling us" the defence attorney said.
"Objection overruled. Go on defence" the judge said.
"I will ask again your highness…what else can you tell us of these dreams?" the defence asked.
"There is always a person in front of me bleeding from a severe wound and he utters these words '…dragon ranger, my partner and someone very dear to me" Aurora said.
"Dragon Ranger? Your honour, we all heard very clearly when this lad mentioned the term 'Dragon Ranger' in his tale. It may be farfetched but I believe the princess' dreams and this lad's tales are somehow connected" the defence argued.
"It could also be that the princess' dreams were triggered by this lad's fictitious tales. It is factual that dwelling on a thought before going to bed can cause it to manifest as a dream" the prosecutor said.
"Your argument may be solid however it is on record that the princess said 'in her most recent dream' which begs the question, for how long has the princess been having these dreams?" the defence attorney said while straightening his glasses.
"For as long as I can remember. At first, the imagery of the dreams were very vivid but over time they became less and less vivid and I forgot them immediately I woke up but ever since he showed up…" Aurora pointed to Reis. "…they have become even more vivid than before" Aurora explained.
"The cracks in The Severing must be widening" Reis thought to himself.
"So if what you're saying is accurate, you should have been dreaming of this lad before you ever met him" the defence attorney said.
Aurora nodded.
"But how is that possible? Could this lad have infected the princess with some form of sorcery?" the prosecutor growled angrily.
"If you are so eager to accept sorcery as the cause, you might as well accept the lad's tales as truth" the defence attorney said and straightened his glasses even more till his eyes were hidden by the gleam of the light reflecting off his glasses.
"So…" the prosecutor began.
"The only way you have a valid case in pushing the whole sorcery charge deal is if the lad's claims are false and as we all have accepted sorcery doesn't in fact exist" the defence attorney said.
"Actually, the dragons of Ryugaeia are not a thing of sorcery. They represent the elements themselves so you could think of them as a vital part of nature" Reis corrected both attorneys.
"In other words regardless of the existence of sorcery in this matter, these 'dragons' as you call them should exist" the defence attorney said.
Reis laughed.
"Another thing disturbs me, from the evidence presented by the only other witness present at the scene of the supposed crime and by that I am speaking of the boy's grandfather, you were heard to have uttered the words 'I know you. No, it can't be. It was all a dream'" the defence attorney said. "Could this be because of your shock at meeting someone from a dream in reality?" he asked.
"It was more than that. If I was the only one that knew him I would have been willing to accept that it was all a dream but he knew me too and he mentioned elements from a dream I had told him nothing about" Aurora said.
"Your highness, have you told anyone else about this dream?" the defence attorney asked.
"Only my brother, Jared Saggeese" Aurora said.
"Call in Jared Saggeese" the defence attorney ordered.
Jared was called to the witness stand and made to swear to tell the truth.
"Prince Jared Saggeese, your sister Princess Aurora Saggeese claims to have told you of these 'dreams'. How far back was it when she started talking to you about them?" the defence attorney asked.
"It feels as though she had told me about them from the time we were kids" Jared said.
"What do you mean 'it feels'" the defence attorney asked.
"I mean, she did tell me except I've been having similar dreams myself and in these dreams none of us have these dreams because they are real" Jared said.
"Boy, you sure are more confused than your sister" Reis thought with a silent laugh.
"You've been having dreams yourself, and what do you see in these dreams?" the defence attorney asked.
"Objection! I fail to see where this leads. I believe we are here to discuss serious legal matters and not dreams or fantasies" the prosecutor declared.
"Except we are beginning to see a connection between this lad's 'tales' and the prince and princess' dreams" the defence attorney said.
"I would like to see where this leads, objection overruled!" the judge declared.
"I hope you are not implying that the prince and princess are making up tales as well. That would be an attack on their very honour" the defence attorney said to the prosecutor.
"Just get on with it" the prosecutor was beginning to get irritated again.
"So Prince Jared Saggeese, what do you see in your dreams? Do you see this lad?" the defence attorney asked.
"No, I've never met him before. However, my sister and I are almost always travelling with a man who has silver hair like this lad and blue eyes" Jared explained.
"What of the term 'Dragon Ranger' do you encounter it in your dreams?" the defence attorney asked.
"In my dreams, Aurora and I are Dragon Rangers" Jared declared boldly.
"What of you Princess Aurora Saggeese, are you and Jared Dragon Rangers in your dreams?" the defence attorney asked.
"I-I don't know. I can't remember" Aurora admitted.
"Since she is the target of the Severing, its effects appear to be stronger with her" Reis thought to himself.
Meanwhile, in the Eagle's Eye Guild, Sir Raphael had just returned from one of his journeys into the heart of Saggeese. The others awaited him anxiously for news.
"I've got good news and I've got bad news. Which do you wish to hear first?" he asked the members of the three teams.
The only ones unaffected by the Severing.
"We could use some good news right about now" Master Jin said.
"Fine, it appears that majority of the enemy's troops if not all of them defected to Aurora Saggeese's side and are now trapped in the Severing with her so we shouldn't expect any attack from a human army" Sir Raphael said.
"And the bad news?" Mistress Suzuna asked.
"The enemy appears to be mobilizing a force composed almost only of Wyverns so we might be attacked soon" Sir Raphael said.
"How does he plan to coordinate the Wyverns without a human army?" Shin asked.
"Good question. From what we've learnt so far from our previous battle with Galigaos, a very powerful person is capable of bonding with multiple Wyverns and you need to keep in mind that the Wyverns are soulless dragons so they do not really have wills of their own. This could imply that they were designed to be controlled. Since they have no souls, they cannot resist the bonding, a reason why bonding with multiple Wyverns isn't more difficult than bonding with a single Dragon. Since Galigaos bonded with quite a number of them and was under orders from the evil currently ruling Saggeese, we could infer that our foe is someone many times more powerful than Galigaos. He might be capable of bonding with all the Wyverns under his command" Sir Raphael explained.
"That doesn't sound so good" Shin said.
"The only other piece of good news I can give you is that the Wyverns are significantly weaker than the Dragons in terms of combat ability but they more than make up for that weakness with their numbers" Sir Raphael explained.
"Thanks for the info. I will try to relay it to Reis" Shin said and left the party.
Reis meanwhile was back in his cell. He heard Shin's message loud and clear.
"The enemy appears to be mobilizing a force composed almost only of Wyverns" Shin had told him.
"There isn't much time" Reis thought to himself but he was at a loss as to what to do.