Fantasy Gaiden

The king looks somewhat crestfallen, but nods as he removes his hand from Lumina's head.

"I see." he says. "I won't stop you if you wish to leave, but I will offer a room for you all to stay in for the night. I'm sure you're tired and some rest could do you some good."

The black scaled Firstborn steps away from the throne and points an accusing finger at the group, his voice and red eyes thick with malice.

"You don't even know who these people are! How could you possibly offer them quarters in this palace when knowing almost nothing about them?!" he growls.

The king pushes his son's arm down and looks up at his tall offspring. "Go stand next to your sister, Hazhulkhen. And stop pointing, it's rude!"

Hazhulkhen backs away with a snort of contempt.

Lumina looks to the others, and then back to the king. "I'm sorry, but we'll have to discuss it amongst ourselves." she says.

With that, the king snaps his fingers and all of the Dragonkin turn their backs on the group.
Stepping back, he holds a hand up towards them and a small glowing bubble of magic forms around them.
"This spell is known as 'Shroud of Silence'." he says. "We cannot hear what you are saying, but you can hear everything we say. We will turn away so that we can not make out the words you speak."

As soon as he has explained, the king turns his back.

Lumina looks to the others. "What do you all think?" she asks. "We could stay here for now, and leave in the morning, or we could just ask to leave now."

"My people will care for us as long as we're here. After all we've been through, some rest will do us good, especially if it's in a safe place, with good food and real beds, for you at least. I think we should stay for a while and rest up." Jörmungandr says.

"I don't. We 'ought to leave, right away. I do not want to stay here." She says, as if her opinion outweighs everything else. "Hospitality never comes for free or without expectation."

Jörmungandr looks at her with an unreadable expression. "And what happens should we be attacked. Do you think you could defeat a determined group of bandits in your condition? And should we encounter worse than bandits? Are you confident that you could defend yourself?"

"Yes. And I could handle it alone. What a stupid thing to say." Aurelia rolls her eyes.

He stares at her long and hard, and then sighs.

"I pledged my loyalty to you for saving my life, and while I cannot accept the fact that you would willingly throw your life away, I will stick by your decision. If you wish to leave the safehalls of the castle, I will go with you. However, should you fall in any battles that may happen along the way, my oath will still stand, and I shall avenge you, even if I am upon Death's door."

Lumina turns to Goredim and Bella. "What do you two think?" she asks.

Goredim crosses his arms. "All I want is a pair of pants."

It had been difficult to see the Half-Orc in the darkness of the ruins, but now he could be seen properly.

His skin is a dark rose taupe color, and his long black hair is slicked back and falls down just below his shoulders.
He has fiery orange eyes, though the left one is blind and clouded over due to a long scar trailing down it.

His body is muscular and hairy, covered only by a loincloth that is tied down with a simple length of rope; understandable due to his mentioning of being enslaved.
A strange tattoo adorns his forehead and travels down his cheeks, ending underneath his pointed ears.
The most notable features he has are his Orcish nose and tusks, which give away his heritage with only one glance.

Turning away, Lumina blushes in embarrassment at the Half-Orc's reply. "Ah...I see. Uhm, Bella, what do you think?"

Aurelia gives Jormugandr's long-winded talking the cold shoulder. She has no care at all for his opinion now.

Bella tilts her head thinking. "I don't know. I've never known a lord to be kind, without reason. Something must be afoot... or there could just be nothing."

Lumina nods her head. "I hope he isn't offended by our decision." she says.

Turning back, she reaches her arm through the bubble and taps the king on the shoulder.
The bubble slowly starts to evaporate as the king turns around.

"Have you decided?" he asks.

Lumina nods her head. "Yes your majesty. We have decided that we must move on. Forgive us, but we must decline your gracious offer."

Wrapping an arm around Lumina's shoulders, the old Dragonkin beams brightly as he starts steering her in the direction of one of the doors.

"That's quite alright. You needn't apologize. Oh, and you don't have to bother with all of those pesky titles, you aren't my subjects so you shouldn't have to refer to me as you would your own king, just call me Maagakhen. Right this way all of you, I'll help you get home...Er, if that's where you're trying to get of course. I never did ask, silly me!"

Opening the door, Maagakhen reveals a long hallway with a flight of stairs at the end.

"It's just up those stairs! We need the balcony so that your heads won't hit the roof. That would probably knock you unconcious and force you to stay for a few days. I doubt you'd want that to happen, and I'd feel terrible if you ended up getting stuck here because of my folly!"

Aurelia goes up the stairs, to the balcony.

Once outside, Maagakhen closes the doors and turns to the group, his voice no longer sounding as nice and warm as it had st first.
He sounds depressed and weary as he walks over to the balcony and leans over it.

"Is it true that you all came from the Mad Isle?" he asks. "The island that serpents guard?"

The aged king doesn't even wait for a reply, but instead keeps talking.

"The Spirit Elf that arrived earlier came from the same place. He said he had been studying there for five years. He even managed to break the seal over the Empty Tome...Though he left the key due to not knowing its significance."

He turns to the group and produces from his cloak, a large tome bound with purple leather.
The tome is held shut by two straps that are each closed by a large buckle, and a strangely elvish-looking metal filigree runs along the length and edges of the spine. In the center of the filigree is a keyhole.

"There was a key somewhere in those ruins. If you truly came from that island, do any of you have it?" he asks.

Lumina and Goredim both shake their heads, indicating that they don't.

"I do. What of it?" She says, not making any move to present the key.

"I would like to retrieve something that I put in this tome." he says. "In the school of magic, it is possible for magicians to create their own spells with empty tomes. However, skilled magic users can also seal items inside of them. Which is something I did long ago."

Aurelia takes the key out of a pouch, and steps forward to the Firstborn Lord to hand it over. She has no reason to believe he's lying, and has no need of the key anyways...

The old king takes the key and inserts it into the keyhole.

As he turns the key, the book flies open on its own, flipping its pages several times before a Griffon's Feather flies out from it.
Reaching up and catching the feather between two fingers, he turns to the group.

"Are you all sure you don't want to stay?" he asks hopefully. "We have many rooms to spare!"

Aurelia shrugs, running a hand through her black hair. "Perhaps a few days, and no more. " She would never say it, but Aurelia desperately needs to just stop for a while, and rest. Willpower and sheer refusal to slow down can only carry a dark elf so far.

"R-Really?" he asks with a gleam in his eye. "You've changed your mind? Marvelous! I shall have the servants prepare rooms for you immediately!"

With that, he turns and heads down towards the stairs.

Goredim sighs as he scratches his head. "While he's at it, maybe he could find me a pair of pants."

Lumina taps her finger on her hand as she replies. "I'll ask him about it." she begins. "By the way, Aurelia, why did you change your mind, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I did not feel like listening to everyone whining about my choice to move forward. But apparently I'll never be free of complaints and questions." Aurelia crosses her arms, and leans against a wall. She'll wait for the elderly King's return.

Lumina shakes her head. "I'm asking because I'm just curious. You don't have to answer any of my questions if you don't want to."

"Please, think about what you've just said." Aurelia says with a frustrated growl. So many wasted words, lacking in real purpose and drive...

Goredim huffs and crosses his arms, cutting off Lumina before she can reply. "We're all tired, and we've all been through a lot. There's no reason to start arguments over something trivial. That king will be back up here soon, and then we'll all be able to rest. So why don't we all just look forward to that?"

The Half-Orc sits down and smiles. "Personally, I'm just grateful that I'll finally be able to sleep in a real bed for once in a long time."

With an angry sneer, Aurelia pushes herself off the wall, pointing an accusatory finger at the half-orc. "You do not decide what is trivial to me!" The bastard halfbreed and the preacher, neither lifted a finger to fight the sea monster, and they claim exhaustion? The thought was enough to make Aurelia's blood boil.

"You're right, I don't." he says. "I never said I did either."

He shrugs his shoulders as he continues. "I just don't really see the problem."

And it seems like in an instant, he's bowled over on the floor, the side of his head ringing with blunt pain. Just a moment before, he'd been sitting fine, but that dismissal, that offhand remark let Aurelia give a show of her anger. A rounded metal gauntlet backhanded in to the half-orc's head with no hesitation, no power pulled. "Insolent, ungrateful bastard!" The Dark elf says through clenched teeth. A poignant show of just what race he was goading. Perhaps not how he saw it, but it hardly matters to Aurelia.

Before Lumina can reprimand Aurelia, she is again cut off by Goredim, who replies from the floor as he rubs his head.

"You say that as if I have any reason to be grateful to you." he says.