When the old man arrived at the eight-foot-tall fence which had been almost totally destroyed, he jumped over it and continued to move forward.
Just when he arrived where the others were, he saw the skeleton throw a green glowing ball at the knight and immediately after that he fell to his knees and began gasping for air.
The green ball began to grow bigger after it had latched onto him and it wasn't long before it began to envelope him.
The princess wanted to go help but before she could take a step forward, the old man grabbed a hold of her hand and signaled for her to stop.
They stood there and watched in terror as the green ball quickly began to envelop the man.
His gasps soon turned into screams and he grabbed his head with both hands as his eyes began to glow bright green.
His eyes were torn wide open and just as the green energy completely enveloped him, he fell to the ground and the others watched as his skin slowly began to vaporize, leaving nothing but his bones.
He lay there lifelessly on the ground and it wasn't long before his whole skin completely burnt off and what was left was only his skeleton.
" Van." She gasped, covering her mouth.
" Kill them." The skeleton ordered, pointing at the group of people right behind him.
What remained of Van immediately turned around and just as it did, a strong gush of wind blew it away and right past the hooded man.
The hooded man heaved a sigh and held out his open palm towards the princess.
A small black portal appeared right in front of her face and black threads surging with energy emerged from within it and latched around her neck.
Her eyes spread wide open and just before she could hold onto the vines that had latched around her neck, they retracted and she immediately crashed to the ground.
" The time for our departure has arrived." He said as a black swirling black hole appeared right behind him.
He stepped through it and the skeleton followed soon after, the portal immediately closed up after that and the skeletal remains of the young knight began to burn away and black smoke soared into the sky.
" Just who was that man, that skeleton had the same speed and power as a grand knight it's quite clear that he could have easily killed every single one of us." Harry thought, looking at the scene in front of him in shock.
*****
The illuminating moon lit up the dark place and Harry was looking outside through the window while leaning onto the walls of the room.
He was sitting on top of a mat and looked at the other end of the room to see Evelyn sleeping peacefully on another mat that was placed there.
" She's slowly recovering from the trauma, but her mother's condition is taking a much bigger toll on her mentally." He thought, standing up from the mat.
He looked around the room as he got up and there was nothing inside it aside from the mat which he and Evelyn were using for sleeping.
He approached the door and closed it behind him after coming out of the room.
He walked straight towards the exit to the house and as soon as he opened the door, he saw a man sitting on the pavement in front of the house with both of his legs crossed against each other.
Harry could tell from the way his shoulders were positioned what he was doing but as soon as he took a step forward, the man lowered his hands and turned his head to face him.
" Isn't it a bit too late for you to still be awake?"
" I tried to get some rest, but it's just not working." He replied, slowly walking towards the old man.
" You seem to be troubled by something, feel free to confide in me what it is."
Harry sat next to him and said, " I'm not a resident of Azurelia and I was wondering if you could tell me stories about its first queen, I used to hear great tales about her back at Atlantis."
The man laughed slightly and turned to face, " To think that a resident of Atlantis would actually want to know the histories of Azurelia of all kingdoms."
" I've heard tales about the history of Atlantis and Azurelia as well, but it's the past after all."
" *Sigh* your mental stability is quite commendable, it's quite unfortunate that you had to witness such a grave sight, and as for Azurelia, I'm afraid I don't know much about her either."
Harry didn't say anything and gazed up at the starry sky with his hands folded on the ground, he wanted answers and he wanted them fast.
A short while after their little conversation, Harry went straight to his room and when he woke up the next day, it was already bright and sunny.
He yawned and rubbed his eyes as he stood up from the sleeping mat and walked straight through the door.
He walked straight through the passageway and arrived at the living room.
The room had only a small table and a few wooden chairs around it and he could perceive the scent of tea from inside it.
The floor was covered with a mat and a little further to his right was the exit to the room.
He approached it and when he came outside, he saw both Evelyn and the old man sitting on the pavement in front of the house with their legs pulled in and crossed and their hands placed together and raised slightly below their lower lips.
He slowly moved to the side while watching the both of them and it wasn't long before Evelyn opened her eyes and gripped her head while groaning in pain.
The old man opened his eyes as well and immediately grabbed a hold of her and not long after that, she slowly let go of her head, while breathing heavily.
" It's best you stop with the meditation until you manage to clear your mind." He said, standing up, "
well, you sure are up earlier than expected."
Harry didn't say anything and simply rubbed his hair while putting up an awkward smile as the old man walked past him.
After the man left, he brought down his hand and stood there watching as Evelyn slowly got up from the floor with her hand placed on her forehead.
She was grimacing but after a few seconds, she brought down her hand and stared right at the first person she saw standing in front of her.
" Morning Evelyn." He said, waving his hand at her.
She stared at him for a while before replying, "Your eyes seem excruciatingly dull, go give your face a proper washing."
" Is it that bad?" He asked, widening his eyes with his palm placed on his forehead.
" Ugh, now you're making it look even worse... everything about you is just so unbearable, I couldn't get some shut eye after waking up yesterday in the middle of the night and it was all because of your breathing." She said, making her way to the door.
" Do I really snore that much?" He thought, staring at her.
A while after she went in, Harry went in as well and a few hours after that, they were both standing in front of the house.
Harry was wearing a pair of brown strides, accompanied by an ash-colored long-sleeve shirt and a pair of slippers.
Evelyn was putting on a diamond blue dress which complimented her blonde hair and clear light blue eyes along with a pair of brown boots.
" Come on let's get moving." She said, taking a step down the pavement in front of the house.
" Say hi to your mother for me." The old man said, waving his hand at them.
" We will." He said, waving back at him as he slowly walked behind her.
While they were walking along, Harry was constantly looking around the place which was just like the capital, developed compared to other places in the kingdom.
There was a lake far to his right and by spacing out the buildings in the area, a road big enough for a cart to pass through was created, and walking along that same road, they began to approach a medium-sized gate.
After walking through the gate, they passed through a short road that had a few trees by the side before arriving at the southern gate of the capital.
" The medical building is just a little far to the northeast, try not to get lost along the way." She said, approaching the guards in front of the gate.
Harry watched as she had a little chat with the guards and it wasn't long before they let the both of them pass through.
Evelyn looked around the place and breathed in heavily as she enjoyed every moment that went by, everything about the capital seemed very pleasant to her and without realizing it, a slight smile crept up her face as she strolled along.
While they were walking along, a boy with a bandage over the right side of his face was looking at them from behind a tree and a huge frown was noticeable on his face.