Ian attended the party. Well. It couldn't exactly be called a party since the only people present were the King, his family, Ian and his party. Even the servants exited the dining room once the food was served. 'This is quite comfortable.' Ian was impressed by the thoughtfulness of the Royal family and nodded in satisfaction. The food was delicious. The atmosphere was pleasant. The people present were kind and considerate. Everything was perfect except- Bzz! A fierce battle of exchanging stares and glares were happening right beside Ian. It was none other than the kids. Riley, who was sitting in a seat placed between his parent and Ash and Louis, the two kids sitting one seat beside Ian, they were constantly exchanging glares with each other, creating static in the air. The two seats beside Ian were occupied by Lucas and Henry, yet, instead of getting mad at them, all of Riley's focus was on those two. "Pfft.." "Ahem!" Rick couldn't suppress his laughter anymore and it al
The lunch with the King ended nicely. Ian didn't forget to sneak in the letter he had carefully (not so much) written previously. Although Riley didn't throw any tantrum saying how he wanted to accompany Ian or something similar, he indeed had puffy cheeks and red eyes filled with water as he said his goodbye. Ian said how he was proud of him for not crying and acting so strong, and patted his head for a long time. Finally, the kid let go of Ian's arm and returned back to his mother. Their goodbye was neither dramatic not lengthy. It was almost as natural as if they were going for a walk and would return back soon. They used the palaces secret entrance to exit from the town, it was a long cave-like structure that led directly to the mountain outside. Ian and his party, led by a member of the wolf tribe, exited the cave and finally came out into the jungle. "Haaah.. We're finally out.." He took a deep breath and felt the slightly damp yet fresh air surrounding him. After say
"Ian?" Albert stood up from his seat, the pen in his hand rolling on top of the paper, spilling ink everywhere. He had a look of disbelief on his face as he tried to take in the scenery inside his room, his bedroom. There were dozens of people, including Ian, all of them who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. No. It wasn't actually out of nowhere either. He was working. He was writing in his desk. And then suddenly, a bright purple ominous looking door appeared in the middle of his room. Albert was shocked and the first thing that came to his mind was a monster breakout. Since, normally, those were the type so portals monsters used when they attacked the human cities. Specially sincr he had a first hand experience not so long ago, at the Lancaster birthday party. A gate of similar colour and attribute had appeared there as well, out of nowhere. And the next moment, monsters were crawling out of the gate like bees from a hive. There was simply no end to it. And Albert, so
"Hmm.. So you're saying.. that guy was the King of the wolves till yesterday?" Albert, placing his chin on his hands, looked at Rick as he asked. They were all currently inside Rick's bedroom. The door was locked from the inside to stop any uninvited guests from suddenly bursting in. Rick, Albert and Ian, the three of them were sitting on a sofa facing each other as Albert spoke. It all started with Ian trying to introducing them to each other. "No. As I was explaining, he was just temporarily replacing his injured brother and trying to find a way to cure him in the meantime. "So he was an 'acting King'?" It was a term that had never before been used there. Ian came up with it while trying to explain the story. "That's right." "I see.. " Albert understood and nodded his head, waiting for Ian to introduce him to the other party as well. "......" But he didn't. Albert looked at Ian with an expression asking why he wasn't speaking anymore, and to his surprise, Ian was look
A dark room. The windows were open to maintain the air circulation. And although it was a room that haven't been used in a while, there was not a speck of dust to be found anywhere. Flicker. In that dark space, something suddenly started flickering and soon, that small light turned into a door like structure. It was a gate. The next moment, a person fully covered in hood came out of the gate and stepped inside the room. "Whoa.." Ian let out a small sound as he took in the fresh air inside the room. He was surprised by how properly maintained it was even without someone using it for months. 'They kept it clean hoping for you to return.' The Phoenix commented. But it was unnecessary, if Ian had to be honest. He could tell. And even without seeing the state of his room, he knew that even before. He slowly walked across the room, tracing everything with his hands and fingers. A feeling of nostalgia covered his heart as he did so. It had only been a month or so. The time he
“So all that happened during this short period of time?" Albert asked, honestly surprised. He was currently listening to stories about Ian’s short yet eventful adventure. The kids looked really excited as they described their journey to Albert. They told him all the exciting things that they saw or learned about for the first time. How they stayed in a tree house, Ian cooking food for them, the encounter with Oliver and Ash’s mother, them showering at the waterfall, meeting the wolves, shopping in the wolf tribes village. They told him everything. Some of the things were so bizzare that even Albert had a hard time imagining them. He was also curious about the two new kids that Ian met during this journey, Ria and Riley. He was also impressed by how sociable Ria was and her cute way of self-introduction. “Yep! We had a lot of fun!” Henry cutely exclaimed. Albert was currently…Babysitting. Ria, Henry, Lucas all three of them were surrounding him from each side and he was listen
Ian was acting different. The same thought was going through almost everyone's mind as they sat inside Prince Albert's bedroom and analyzed his behaviours. Except the newly added members of their group, Ria and Rick's party, everyone else could feel it. It was a gut feeling at first, but then soon, they could even point out the little differences. First of all, him waking up during lunchtime whereas he'd normally be the first person to wake up and wake the others up as well. It looked like he had only woken up cause he was hungry. His bedhair which was normally a rare sight to see were poking out of every corner of his head and he looked like he had no intention of fixing it anytime soon. "Slow down.. You'll choke.." Albert said as he looked at Ian with a strange expression. Even he looked like he had noticed Ian's weird behaviours. Take what's happening right now for example, Ian was practically devouring his food like a starved barbarian. He almost looked like he was for
"What.the.hell?!" Someone from Ian's party exclaimed out loud as they saw the scene in front of them. They had finally reached the inside of the barrier made of thorny vines. All of them expected the cat tribes and their town to be inside that barrier. Well, it was there alright. Just, not in a shape that they would've ever expected. Right in front of Ian and his party, there was another barrier. It wasn't another vineyard but rather, a sophisticated mana barrier. A grayish hue more on the side of black was being emitted by the barrier as it glowed by itself. That in itself wasn't too much of a big deal. A barrier this size to protect a hidden village like this was fairly normal. If only it was being used as a shield, for protection. Oooong...ooongg... But this particular barrier, it was giving off a really creepy vibe as it made those noises. Ian and the rest got shivers as they looked at the huge, almost black barrier in front of them. "This thing.. what is it? Why is i