Rise Of The Celestials

Chapter 4: Meeting

"Your Highness, the man you saved has regained consciousness"

A servant had his head bowed as he relayed the news to the man who sat next to the window in a reclining chair made of polished wood.

"Tell him to visit as soon as he can", he answered without turning to look at the servant.

"Yes, Your Highness", the servant replied and quickly backed out of the room, closing the door with a soft click.

Outside the window, there was a yard in which a girl twirled around with two swords in her hand.

She phased all over the place as she attacked with her swords while an old man with white hair stood with a man who had a crown on his head as well as a woman who wore a crown as well.

The two who wore crowns were The King and Queen and the old man was the Keeper of Time, Lord Ajax who had brought The Emperor's gift during the birthday party.

The girl was Princess Diane who had been a recipient of the gift, Lord Ajax brought.

From time to time, The King would nod with a smile while the old man had a look of appreciation.

It had been a week since the birthday party. The celebration ended with everyone presenting their gifts to the princess and a long night of eating, drinking, and dancing.

Starting the day after the party, Princess Diane had been tutored by Lord Ajax for four hours each day. Two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening.

After a while, Princess Diane stopped. She sheathed both her swords before walking toward the three that had stood there watching her.

She was wearing a white training suit that was sewn with gold threads, giving it an exotic look. She had both her swords strapped to her back. A heroine was the best description for her bearing as she walked.

"Your Majesty, I look forward to having Princess Diane with us in The Great Capital", Lord Ajax said.

The King laughed out loud before replying, "It is our blessing to have you look after Diane for the past few days".

Lord Ajax, smiled and nodded before he turned to Princess Diane who stood before them.

"Princess Diane, His Imperial Majesty has ordered a place be prepared for you at The Great Khapia Academy. I hope to see you there by the end of the year"

"I am honored to receive His Imperial Majesty's favor", she curtsied with a sweet smile on her face.

"Your Majesties, Your Highness, I have been away from my post for too long. Thank you for the hospitality"

Lord Ajax bowed his head slightly before turning to the exit and walking away.

As he walked, he seemed to phase in and out of existence, till his figure looked unreal. A few breaths later, the figure faded away, leaving the area as if he had never been there.

Sitting in his chair, Prince Adrian seemed to be lost in thought. His eyes were slightly unfocused as looked into the distance like he was looking at some faraway place when someone knocked on the door of the room.

His eyes quickly regained their focus as he answered in a low voice, "come in"

A servant walked in and stood a few steps away from the door before he spoke, "His Majesty requires Your Highness' presence in the throne room before the hour is out"

"Okay, I'll be there in a moment. Tell Rodnick to enter after you leave"

The servant bowed low before backing out of the room and closing the door softly.

A few moments later, the door opened again and a skinny youth who seemed to be no older than Prince Adrian walked into the room.

"Your Highness", he bowed his head

"The King requested for my presence..."

"Understood", the youth answered.

Rodnick immediately got to work. He opened a huge closet door and walked in. He was an attendant and his job was to help the Prince do things like preparing the bath, arranging the clothes, and assisting the Prince in putting on his clothes.

It did not take too long for Rodnick to find and pick out the clothes.

Prince Adrian knew the clothes were ready but he couldn't bring himself to stand up but a few minutes later when he saw that the hour only had 20 minutes left, he finally managed it.

"Adrian get up. You have things to do", he muttered to himself before he stood up from the chair.

He stretched his arms out before he let out a sigh.

"Let's get this over with", he said to Rodnick who still stood where he was after he brought out the clothes needed. 

...

Ten minutes later, The Throne Room;

The King was sitting on a beautiful throne with a crown on his head as he listened to a suggestion by one of the elders.

"Many of the newly awakened arcana have begun the preparations for the entrance test that will take place next year. A few of them have shown themselves to be good seedlings"

The King nodded before he spoke, "Make sure that those who require it are given priority treatment. The Pagoda of Inheritance will be opening in a month. Those who do well will be rewarded beautifully"

"Yes, Your Majesty", the elder answered with a bow.

"If there are any more reports, they will be reviewed tomorrow"

All the people in The Throne Room stood up as soon as The King spoke. With a chorus, they all bowed, "Your Majesty", before walking out of The Throne Room in an orderly fashion.

Less than a minute later, the voice of the Herald rang out,

"Your Majesty, His Highness, Prince Adrian has arrived"

The doors opened, pushed by two guards. Prince Adrian walked into The Throne Room with even steps that echoed softly.

He walked at a speed that was neither too fast nor was it too slow, that at the moment the doors slammed shut, he was standing before The King.

With a slight bow, he greeted, "Good evening, father"

"Take a seat", The King answered.

Prince Adrian walked over to the chair closest to the throne and say down.

"Explain to me why a Prince of the Country under the Robert's family rule would embarrass himself as you did on a simple visit"

The room fell into silence. Prince Adrian said nothing as he kept his head slightly bowed.

"Will you answer me?", King Robert roared at his son.

Prince Adrian still said nothing. He seemed to be frozen but the thoughts in his mind had erupted in a frenzy.

He was the middle son, a spot where he did not have a lot of attention placed on him except when he was needed for something and in this case, what he was needed for was marriage to form good relations with the Nation of Zarafa.

There were days when he was still loved but the day he got a younger brother was the day he lost all standing: he became the middle son.

He had almost nothing working for him. He did not have the position to get any affection, there was his younger brother for that nor was he expected to inherit any substantial part of the kingdom, there was his elder brother for that.

The straw that broke the camel's back was the element his seed had awakened: the light element.

This was an element no one had ever awakened in the family's history. Even when the family's status was just nobility and not the royalty it was today, it had always been either the space or time element. 

The only thing left for him at that point was to be used as a tether.

Princess Caitlyn, who he was expected to marry was a pleasure to spend time with. They had spent a wonderful time in each other's company. She had an elder sister, so they were in a similar situation but he couldn't bring himself to marry her.

He had dreams. Dreams of life as a powerful arcana, but marriage at this time would lead him to head to a small city, somewhere far away, leaving him to be forgotten.

"You think yourself greater than the plans I have for you, huh?"

Prince Adrian was jolted from his thoughts. His mind whirred because he could tell that things had gone off the rails, and he was right, because the next moment, King Robert ordered with a loud voice, "bring that boy here".

The doors opened and someone was brought into The Throne Room.

Between two guards stood a familiar pretty face. He had woken up but his face did not look like that of someone who had been unconscious an hour prior.

The way he walked was quite unsteady, it was the only evidence that he had not been doing well.

Walking up to the throne, he bowed at the waist in greeting, "Your Majesty".

King Robert was surprised for a moment because Aiden's greeting had no loopholes to criticize and he had a fair face that seemed to belong to a Princess.

Aiden took no notice of King Robert's subtle twitch as he turned to Prince Adrian, "Your Highness, I am thankful that you had mercy and saved me. A favor I will carry with me always"

Then he turned back to face King Robert. His expression, a calm one as King Robert cleared his throat before asking, "Who are you and where are you from?"

"I am called Aiden, son of Fraser Tarren. I was born in the City of Nethilor", he answered honestly.

He knew he was relatively safe because he did not know the coat of arms that was depicted on the flags he saw when he was brought into The Throne Room.

When he was a little kid, he had been taught to identify every coat of arms in Kaelan Empire where Nethilor was situated.

There were hundreds of them and he had learned to identify every single one, so he could tell that he was not in the Kaelan Empire.

Unsurprisingly, he had no clue how had gotten here when all he remembered was jumping into The Devil's Summit.

"Nethilor?", King Robert asked puzzled. 

Prince Adrian also had a blank look on his face as he looked at Aiden. It was clear that they had no idea where Nethilor was located.

"Nethilor is a city found in Kaelan Empire"

"Kaelan Empire?!", Prince Adrian blurted out. Even King Robert had a clear look of surprise on his face.

It was no surprise that they knew Kaelan Empire. Kaelan Empire was one of The Seven Great Empires. 

The Seven Great Empires all had humanities half of the planet divided up amongst themselves. 

As it was impossible to have all fingers equal, some of the empires were stronger than others and Kaelan Empire was one of the stronger ones.

"How are you here?", Prince Adrian asked with a curious gaze.

"I was declared possessed by The Viceroy after I managed to escape with my life from the attack of a few savages but in truth, I was only able to do so by overexerting my newly awakened seed which left me unconscious for some time"

"I woke up to find myself summoned to stand trial but my father broke me out of the city and with the help of a one-time life-saving charm my mother left for me I managed to escape"

"I seemed to have lost consciousness again as the last memory I have is that of jumping off a cliff to evade capture. I regained consciousness today and found out The Prince had saved me from where I ended up on a roadside".

Aiden patiently told the story, switching the part of burning his primordial blood essence to overexerting his newly awakened seed, and use of the one-time spell he did not understand to a one-time life-saving charm his mother left for him. He also changed The Devil's Summit to jumping off a cliff.

"You may take your leave", King Robert dismissed after a while.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness", Aiden greeted before he left The Throne Room.

After a moment of silence, King Robert looked at Prince Adrian.

"I can tell that you already feel sorry for him. Right now, what I want to hear from you is an answer to this question"

Prince Adrian raised his head and looked at his father for the first time since he entered The Throne Room.

"What made you do what you did on that visit?"