Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

Knock! Knock!

"Daarc, you alive?"

"I am now," I said.

My head hurt and most of the wounds stung. 

Maybe I shouldn't have run around so damn much yesterday.

I came outside. I was groggy as hell. I really needed some coffee.

There was water and I washed some of my wounds along with my face. Most of my wounds were in the process of healing. 

When will I be free from these bandages?

My body was already covered with scars and that wasn't something I was proud off.

After washing myself I put my armor on and went inside. 

"How long were you planning to keep us waiting? It'll be noon soon, you know."

Judging from the looks of the sun it was close to ten. But in this world that was more than late.

We ate our breakfast. The old man looked to be in full health; last night's booze wasn't enough for him to get sick just yet. Alisa on the other hand looked happy and Biteria smiled as well- probably.

"Here." the old man handed me a bag.

"These are?" 

"Bread and potions. You better drink one now. We don't know what might happen."

I got the picture but I still didn't want to eat more bread. I sighed and drank the potion instead.

The owner offered me some sort of hot liquid. It tasted somewhere in between black tea to green tea. I liked it. And it made me come alive a little.

Breakfast happened fast and we were back on the road before we knew it.

On the way, I filled the geezer in on the stuff that happened last night. At first, he glared at me and was literally about to hit me. But eventually, he gave up.

"In that case, we could expect an ambush. Better make it flashy…" The old man sighed. 

I looked around in awkwardness. We were dressed differently from the crowd, so it would have been easy for the authority to spot us and obviously put a stop to us. So he was probably about to do something pretty big.

"But if she could get you into a magic shop…" The old man didn't continue.

We went for the palace in the center of the city. It was big and bright and made of crystals. Yes, crystals- all kinds of crystals: at first I thought it was glass but it wasn't. The top tower of the palace even had a large diamond. Pretty much like that one movie I watched with mummies.

All the castles I had ever seen before paled in comparison. It was just simply breathtaking. 

How friggin much is this stuff even worth?

As we got closer to the city, the old man wore a smile I'd never seen before. It was a sinister smile. 

He's not going to barge in, is he?

The old man twisted his knuckles and then this neck. He was about to do something obvious. Well, it's too late to back down now.

Before my fears came to fruition, the massive double door opened and there were a bunch of soldiers along with two faces that I could never forget. One was Lianne and the other, an elf with two blue eyes. The eyes that I saw before falling down from the ship. I've finally found you!

We walked in. I was glad the old man didn't get to pull anything. Araan and Lianne were just standing there. Meanwhile, I was keeping myself sane, so I didn't end up doing something stupid.

The two of them had a unit of fancy soldiers by them. The soldiers stood in unison. 

So, she was in on this after all?

"Oh, Daarc! I didn't think you'd make it! But I'm really glad!" Araan briefly bowed his head. His immediate surge of excitement managed to surprise me. I had not- expected that.

Are you?

Araan started off the conversation with too much sympathy. I couldn't get a grasp on whether he was being controlled or being serious. He wore a gentle smile. "Lianne said there was a surprise waiting for me at the gates but I never thought it'd be you!" He looked at me with awe.

Me either.

I stood there with a stupid look on my face, dumbfounded. I was half confused, half amazed. 

What the hell?

I knew he wasn't the gentle guy he claimed to be and that was clear but another thing was clear as well. Lianne wasn't in on it- at least that's what I wanted to believe. I wanted to trust her. I wanted to trust the person who saved my life.

"I couldn't believe my eyes either. When you told me that he fell in the sea, I felt like my heart would stop-" Lianne paused. Her eyes glistened. "But I'm glad he made it."

Araan walked up to me and examined my shoulder. "By the way, what is this creature?"

"Oh right, you two don't know her name yet. This is Biteria. Biteria, that's prince Araan and I believe you've already met her, she's Lianne," I said, as I pointed my fingers at them.

"He's serious, huh?" Araan whispered.

"Shh…" Lianne whispered something.

Did these morons not consider that I was hearing them? Or was this intentional?

"That one huh?" the old man whispered.

I didn't reply and only smiled. 

Just what the hell is this?

Why the hell were we all whispering?

Lianne was also smiling. In fact, we all were smiling. Alisa was close to bursting into laughter herself. 

The situation got more and more awkward by the minute.

"Come on in, I'll introduce you to, lord father." Araan offered an audience with the king. 

The king? What's he plotting?

We were actually there to see the king too, at least the geezer was. Apparently, he was about to do something very reckless to a certain prince, so he wanted to make sure that all was according to his plans. 

I really hoped he wasn't going to pull some fast one on us and try to kidnap the king of all people.. I really hoped.