A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.1****
"Oww..."
Prince Maximilien sat on the solid surface and checked his leg. It was broken. Instead of crying like a helpless child in pain, he hit the bone of his dislocated leg back to its place with the butt of his gun. Now that it's healed, he went on fours to look down at the views beneath him.
"What the fuck?"
He knocked on the transparent barrier. Every time he moves, a ripple smoothly spread everywhere down the barrier's height.
"MAXIMILIEN!!!" Prince Valerian screamed at the top of his lungs and surprisingly, his brother heard him.
Azarese, stomping her feet, marched to Lord Feryzen and caught him by the collar, "What's that? What is that!?"
Valor Teivel forcefully removed her hand from his uncle, "Ask nicely or try me. I'm a believer of gender equality."
"What do you know about that shit?"
Prince Valerian pulled his mother's hand.
"Mommy, I'm getting a bad feeling. Maximilien, let's fetch him!"
Prince Maximilien stand up. He pulled out his sniper and pointed it below. He looked at its scope but its zoom is not enough to see the people below him. He tried shooting the barrier, hoping that it will break, but it didn't. The bullet bounce back to him, but his bullet changed its course before it hit him.
"So annoying! Break! I want to see my Mommy! That stupid Valerian is having the time of his life with Mommy!? He met her first than me!?" He fumed while kicking the barrier with force. The barrier withstood his efforts.
"AAAAHHHH! THIS BARRIER IS STUPID!" He screamed.
He catch his breath and decided to look around. Oh how he almost set his body ablaze because of fury when he found that the only place that is not imprisoned in the barrier is the one and only Axeore Empire. It has its own protective barrier, but he bet it is not the same as the one that stretches across the globe to imprison the other four empires inside it.
And on his left is the Other Side. He could see how tall the Wall is even from above. Their world is not a sphere. The creator created planets in odd shapes, and theirs is shaped like a stadium, a two-dimensional geometric shape whose ends are equal semicircles. And from above, in his personal account, the landmass that he could see in total is only the 1/3 of their world's entirety.
That makes the unknowns beyond the Other Side terrifying.
Because, what is on the Other Side?
"M-Mommy! MOMMY, MAXIMILIEN! MOMMY!" Prince Valerian hysterically blustered when his brother began walking to the direction where the Other Side is.
Azarese gently shoved him aside and stepped forward. She was about to unleash it when she suddenly realized what she's about to do. She looked back at them who is expecting and waiting what she will do next.
"Why do you still hesitate?" Lord Feryzen poked, "What is ugly about your race? Are you afraid?"
"Shut your trap."
Solana stretched her arms up with a nice smile. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw is her mother's sleeping face, drooling. She chuckled and wiped her mother's lips. Then she noticed the figure that's walking in the air above them.
"Are you afraid that it will scare the Prinsiaze? That his mother is a monster?"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Hands, shaped into a blade, went to the Lord. He flicked it away effortlessly.
"Mommy, Maximilien... He doesn't know anything. He's going to the Other Side!"
Watts wiped the Prince's tears. Azarese's ears clapped when he heard a laugh. Everyone felt cold and stared at Prince Maxigaufeas. He's the one who's laughing.
"Then that would be perfect. I hope he crosses that Wall and never come back!"
"You will regret saying that, Maxigaufeas Lee-puttVernignac."
And it wiped the smirk off his face. It was the first time she mentioned his name. The first time she called his name. His name is melting because of the poison she pour on it when she said it. His full name, at that.
They covered their mouths after their exaggerated gasps when Azarese turned her right hand into a wing. A bat wing in black skin.
"M-Mommy..." The shocked Prince whispered.
Azarese turned to him and smile. A wry one, and ashamed.
Prince Valerian wiped his tears and smiled back.
"You're beautiful, Mommy. You're very beautiful."
Azarese was taken aback for a moment. He balled her fists and scoffed.
"Thank you. I needed to hear that from you."
So, she opened her only wing. Her knees bent as she charge up for a leap.
Prince Maximilien stopped before the Wall. He placed his hand on it. Like water but he didn't get wet. It's soft even. So, he pushed his hand more inside.
Everyone turned away when she finally flew. Watts Xirquit covered his eyes and the Prince's so the dusts won't get in their eyes. Solana twirled her finger and sent the dusts and winds away. She smiled down on them. A little help.
"MAXIMILIEN!" Azarese called his name.
Sun dropped her glass on the floor and stepped out of the shade of the restaurant she's getting breakfast at.
"I won't let you."
She pulled out the shining lasso out of her storage space and sent it to Azarese. The lasso extended its length and wrapped itself around Azarese's ankle. Sun gave the lasso to a random Academian who is watching and took his ability to speak and think. She erased the memory of others who saw her do it and left.
"Fuck!?"
Azarese looked down and found the lasso around her foot. The Academians pulled her down but Hands swiftly cut the rope before the force reached Azarese. She went on, setting the sabotage aside but she already send Eins and Zwei to capture the one who did it.
"Mommy!?" Prince Maximilien instantly wore a smile on his face. His mother is getting close to him, "Why you look like that---"
Azarese's eyes slowly widened. Everything went in slow motion in her eyes. How Prince Maximilien turn his head to look at the Wall to how some force beyond it pull him in.
"NO! MAXIMILIEN!"
Azarese punched the barrier now that she made it there. She flew to the left where the Other Side is but the stubborn barrier blocked her.
"MAXIMILIEN!" She and Prince Valerian screamed who tried to fly to join her.
"No! Let me go! My brother---MY BROTHER IS IN DANGER!" He cried helplessly as he try to remove all the hands that were pulling him back.
"PRINSIAZE!" Valor Teivel thundered, scaring the Prince. His terrified glistening eyes were widening as he stare at his uncle.
"C-Calm down, Prinsiaze. I'm sorry. Forgive me, I didn't mean to raise my voice. Forgive me."
He kissed the back of the Prince's hand again. He even went down to his knee to show how genuine he feels.
When Azarese landed, it caused a minor quake. The spot she landed on broke and cracks spread far and wide on the surface.
King Liorei and Princess Lorreign just arrived on the scene late from all the commotion that has happened.
"You're from the Other Side. Tell me what's in there."
Everyone stepped away from her. A ruinou haze was suspended in the air and it came from her. The haze blocked her face, as if it became a mask on her. It's swirling, spiraling, clockwise and counter. They gulp when they began hearing and feeling a pulse.
Skadi Eira opened her eyes.
"Speak. My son... Something pulled my precious son. Tell me what's in there. Tell me that my son is safe...then I will spare you."
Her shadow expanded. As it expand, it looked like an obsidian mud that is boiling. The Academians screamed and ran away from it but it seemed like the shadow is chasing them. Those who got caught in it began to sink as slim tentacles of ink wrap themselves around their preys and pull them deeper into their lair.
"You should be able to tell. What you caused and created were there. You created those monsters. And now, those monsters will pay you back by the means of your son---"
Lord Feryzen raised his hand and built a shield to protect himself and Valor from her attack. He parried the monstrous tentacle away and it exploded.
Azarese tilted her head to the side. She doesn't have a face anymore but mask of black haze.
"I'm going to kill you and everyone related to you."
Lord Feryzen smiled harmlessly and nodded, "That includes your son, the Prinsiaze."
"Then I will make him an exception."
Lord Feryzen sighed. He folded three fingers before folding the other two. The next thing they knew, Azarese is inside a cage. The Lord whistled and from his shadow rose a crow.
"Sing a nice lullaby for the Mi'zaar. A very nice and sweet lullaby."
And though it is a crow, it amazingly possess a golden voice. It just started singing but the crow suddenly died. It fell to the floor, frozen.
The yawning woman descended.
"Fighting again? Without me?"
Solana slide down the cloud and went to the crow her mother froze.
"Mommy, birds are my friends! How could you---?"
She pouted at her mother while scrunching her nose.
"I don't like it."
"But I do!"
Solana carefully scooped the bird in her palm. She closed her eyes and began humming a song. The energy gather into an orb and when it was big enough, she gently buried it inside the crow. It flinched and instantly flew away from her to return to its master.
"Fascinating." The amused Lord murmur as he check on his little familiar. Good as new.
Prince Valerian faced the Lord with a commanding presence. And he ordered, "Free my mother this instance."
Lord Feryzen smiled and bowed before him, "As you will, my Prince."
The cage collapsed. Prince Valerian turned around and teleported in front of his mother. He placed his hand on her head and said, "Please sleep, Mommy." He received her in his arms when she fell and calmed down.
"Punish the boy that laughed."
"Is that order for us, Prinsiaze?" The Lord clarified. He's still bowing with his hand on his chest.
Prince Valerian carried his mother and faced them.
"Prinsiaze, Prince Maxigaufeas is a friend of mine---"
"AND I AM YOUR PRINCE! THE HEIR! Do you wish to bend my will, Valor Teivel?"
Lord Feryzen felt the chills scratch his flesh. He could only close his eyes tight. He'd rather not receive the same scolding from the Prinsiaze. He'd rather not incur their future Ki'zaar's wrath.
"He laughed about my brother's peril. I gave him my mercy but I regret doing it. My brother, Maximilien! We almost reunited with my mother and he laughed!"
"A foolish man, he is. Allow me to exact your wishes, Prinsiaze. Your Uncle's compassion is quite..."
"My Lord!" Valor Teivel never felt so betrayed in his whole life.
Lord Feryzen opened his eyes and looked at him. He slowly shook his head.
Prince Valerian's eyes glow, white, "I want to see his soul break like ours."
Lord Feryzen smiled, "Your words is the path of light that guides us amidst the darkness, Prinsiaze."
He straightened his back and tap his foot once. Prince Maxigaufeas found himself restricted by ropes and caged. Lord Feryzen threw him disgusted stares.
"How dare a blood of traitors offend our Prince? You've been warned. He's given you mercy. You disappoint me greatly, chimera."
Prince Maxigaufeas couldn't believe it. His eyes reflected how betrayed he was. The professor he loved so much is looking at him so sickened. The professor whom he learned a lot from, a favorite, always correcting him, who is almost a father to him... is disappointed at him. That alone is enough to break his soul.
Lord Feryzen flicked his finger. The Empress Dowager who was resting in her chambers was transferred outside, floating in the air.
"N-No!"
Lord Feryzen kept the Prince's noises inside the cage. Valor Teivel grabbed his Uncle tightly by the arm.
"Stop."
Watts Xirquit approached Prince Valerian but he sent him away. He doesn't need a whisperer as of the moment for his resolve is solid. Maxigaufeas must be punished.
"Are you against His wish?"
"I AM."
Lord Feryzen heard his bones cracking from the tightness of his grip on him.
"He may be the heir, but I am the Ki'zaar's brother. I am his regent and protector. My words are his. Are you against the Ki'zaar's words?"
Prince Valerian's eyes became red.
"Do you want me to send you back and see it yourself? My father sent you here FOR ME. He won't take your side BUT MINE!"
"You think so lowly of my brother. Our bond is not as shallow as yours, humans!"
Lord Feryzen slapped his nephew. His touch is with magic that put the Prince to sleep.
"Forgive him, my lord Prince. Your father and uncle lack backbones," he bowed again, refusing to meet his rage. Even the Earthlings couldn't bear to look at the Prince. Because if they do, they will break.
"But,"
Princd Valerian's forehead wrinkled.
"---we have a more pressing matter to focus on. Prince Maximilien is our priority now. To appease you, allow me to do this instead."
He send the Empress Dowager back to her chambers after the deed is done.
"What do you think?"
The Prince calmed down. He nodded. Then, he began walking past them.
"We're going to the Other Side. But we're only saving my brother and my Daddy."
Watts Xirquit clenched his fists.
Another opportunity missed. All because of the Vernignac's temper and grudge.