Knights lined up at the side of the road; they swept the people scattered near the capital's entrance to give way for the carriages that were moving closer, not far from the outside of the gate.
Four white horses were pulling a carriage, which was the first to enter. It had a crest that looked like a plain ice cube with a snowflake trapped inside it, and the people felt cold as soon as it passed by them.
"It's the Frostbloom Kingdom!" Shout a man while pointing in the white carriage.
After that, a vehicle without wheels followed, hovering in the air. Instead of horses, it was being pulled by a small wyvern. Then, a flare was shot up from the carriage, and a magic circle with a lion's head appeared.
"Those magicians really love attention," a knight uttered as he saw the crest of the Bluelion Kingdom floating above the sky.
After that, the people closed their eyes to protect them from sand particles from a carriage bearing the crest of the Sandbeige Kingdom. It was covered with dust and two camels were pulling it.
People were amazed by the grandeur of the vehicles that entered the capital; however, their eyes widened and their jaws dropped when the empire's golden carriage showed up at the gate's entrance. It was being pulled by three black stallions, and its wheels were leaving a trail of purple flame embers on the road, which soon diminished after several seconds.
Then a man wearing a black robe with a golden phoenix design was sitting in a crossed-leg position at the top of the vehicle. On his shoulder, a majestic creature that symbolized the empire's prosperity was flapping its burning wings while creating an imposing cry.
It captured all the attention of the people in the place, then the phoenix flew upward and drew a ring of fire above the clouds before it dove straight back to the man at the top of the vehicle.
However, when it was only a meter away, the phoenix became a ball of fire that landed on the man's palm, and it disappeared as soon as he clenched his fist. Then he smiled and waved at the sea of people, and endless cheers echoed in the place.
"Embercrown! Embercrown! Embercrown!" They shouted, their voices filled with liveliness.
However, the two individuals inside the carriage were scanning the crowd for any dangers lurking in the place.
Soon after, the rest of the representatives from the other kingdoms arrived before the sun completely set. The knights didn't give them any special treatment by cleaning their paths towards the castle.
They only did it for the envoy of the empire; it just happened that the first to arrive earlier were the three kingdoms.
. . . . .
"Greetings, Prince Kreigster! Thank you for coming here to participate in our festival. Despite the faraway travel, you accept our invitation," the prince of Herish said while bowing as soon as the empire's crown prince arrived in the castle.
"It's an honor to attend this yearly event. Please send my regards to the king, where is he?" The crown prince replied.
He was smiling, but inside his thoughts, he felt sour. He didn't expect that the first to come and greet him would not be the king. However, to not stain his image as the next in line for the throne, he just let it slip away.
"Please pardon my intrusion, but the king is inside his workshop with the princess," Butler Gil chimed in.
Then the prince, Lex Herish, stared at the butler with confusion on his face.
'Is there a need for my father to go in there just to check my sister's work?' he thought.
"Oh, I would like to visit him and see for myself how good he really is. Is that possible?" Kreigster asked.
"That's a wonderful idea; come with me!" Lex answered before he exchanged smiles with the empire's prince.
"Old Gil, please stay here and cater to the needs of the other representatives," he added while walking inside the corridor leading to the castle's main hall.
"I will," the butler replied, bowing in the prince's direction.
Then he looked at the two people who were leaning backwards on the empire's carriage.
"Are you not going to come with him?" he asked.
However, the bulky, big man with a beard laughed at his question, while the other, who was clad in black armor, replied to him in a way that was full of arrogance.
"That's not needed; the people here are weak, and the prince needs no assistance if something happens. Unless you're telling me that you guys prepared some sort of trap for him," he said before grinning.
Contrary to the man's expectation, the old butler laughed at his remark and turned around to attend to the other representatives.
"I wonder if it will still be the case once equipped with the right weapons," he said while walking away.
. . . . .
"Lexel, your Legacy is like our ancestor's, the founder of Herish Kingdom," the king couldn't hide his joy.
The Legacy of their founder, Means of Creation, allowed him to melt, deform, and mold non-living things into something he wanted. It was considered a perfect Legacy for craftmanship to create and destroy things the moment they fell on his hands, an outstanding ability dreamt of by all blacksmiths.
"When did you awaken it?" The king asked, and then he walked towards his daughter and hugged her once again.
"Yesterday's night, Father! I was playing with this staff when it suddenly glowed and melted on my hands. Curiousity got into me, so I tried to pick up the other materials in my room, and they all melted as soon as my hand touched them. After that, I experimented on several things." Lexel explained while her face was buried in her father's chest.
The king was about to reply when he heard several footsteps walking down the stairs. Based on its sound, it came from two people.
"Hide the staff, listen, do not ever tell anyone about your Legacy!" he whispered before gently pushing his daughter away from him and walking towards the door.
Lexel didn't think twice; she hid the staff beneath the rocks and placed a metal sheet above it. Then she returned to her father with a sword in her hand that she had picked up around the corner.
She was not dumb enough to not know what her father was thinking, so she took the weapon as her escape if she got questioned.
After a few seconds, the door opened, and Lex entered, followed by a man with black hair and brown eyes.
"I greet the young Phoenix of the Embercrown Empire," the king bowed, and Lexel did the same while embracing the sword upon seeing her father lowering his head to the person beside her brother.
"Raise your head, your Highness; your rank is still higher than mine," Kreigster said, and a smile flashed on his lips. Then he looked at the woman hiding behind the King of Herish.
"Are you the princess?" He asked, then stepped forward.
He leaned closer to Lexel and reached for her hand before he brushed his lips against it.
"It's an honor to meet a gorgeous lady like you," the empire prince said the moment his lips parted away from the princess' hand.
Shock enveloped Lexel's reaction, and she pulled her hand away as soon as Kreigster glanced at her. She was not accustomed to this kind of greeting, and she didn't know what to do. Her cheeks turned red, and she felt her skin burning, especially on her ears.
"I-I, Father!" She called out to the king; she didn't want to embarrass herself any further.
But the king just stared at her and shook his head before averting his eyes away from her.
'I've already told you, a princess must act like one,' the king thought.
Then he proposed for them to get back to the hall to break the awkward situation and save his daughter from more foolishness.
Meanwhile, Lex was busy understanding the things inside his head. He knew that something was amiss. Never in his memory did his sister let his father accompany her inside the workshop.
'What is it that you guys are hiding?' he asked while staring at the two figures walking before him.
. . . . .
As soon as the sun disappeared above the clouds and darkness crept into the sky, the lights glittering from different kinds of lanterns hanging at each building gave off a sparkle befitting of a festival. It was only several hours before it began, though the main start of the events would be tomorrow after dawn.
The beat of the drums rolled while music from zithers and flutes gave a captivating melody that brought the festival alive.
The streets had been occupied since morning, but they turned busier the moment the street performers came. They did their best stunts to bring joy to the crowd. Some of them sang and danced while others performed a short play. Endless cheers were given by the people. They even threw coins to show their support for the entertainers.
A man was lying on one of the roofs of the buildings; his eyes were closed, but he was listening to the rhythm of the sounds coming from the streets. Then he raised his eyelids for a moment to take a look at his right hand.
The old and thin skin of it was not visible at this time; it was now covered by a black leather glove.
It was the item from the old warlock; however, he didn't accept both gloves. He only took what he needed and let the old man take care of the remaining pair.
Then Zeno sat up from lying down. He was pleased by the music created by the humans, but a presence he was so familiar with made him restless. He leaped from roof to roof of buildings and didn't care even if someone would notice him or not.
'How?' He thought.
He was about to jump to another structure when the presence vanished. He activated Eliana's Legacy within the capital and searched for the existence that he was looking for.
However, even with the help of the Legacy, he failed to detect the same presence that he felt.
"That's strange," he uttered before trying to concentrate once again.
This time, he closed his eyes and extended the reach of the Legacy to the whole kingdom, but it gave him the same result: he found nothing.
He knitted his brows and looked around. Not far from where he was standing, he saw Kizeler with several people, enjoying the festival, but they were not the ones he was searching for.
"It's faint, but I'm sure that it's him," he uttered. "That damn fox dares to haunt me even after his death."
. . . . .