Request

The king was sitting on his throne with knight Flin and knight Roger by his side.

"You said you are a visgardian. I'm impressed, what would bring you and your people to ask for help from those who you casted out?" The king asked scoffingly.

"I said Visgard has fallen, the groggs have leveled everything except for the northern part where the president and vice president are and we need your help." Avon said.

"That was quick, Dr Bryan, a scientist in our village said he created an ability drug for Visgard army and gave it to your vice president. What about it?" The king asked.

"I'm sorry but we never heard about such." Avon replied.

"Now that's intriguing,? Why was the steroid not shared among them? Why is the northern part still intact and why is your president not making a move?" The king asked, tilting his head sideways.

"What are you getting at? Are you trying to say the president and vice president are accomplices of the groggs?" Avon asked back.

"Bingo! Now the question is 'why?'." The king stated.

"That's a lie, then why did the president have the army battle the groggs?"

"Isn't it obvious, battling the groggs were a trick and you all fell for it." The king taunted. "Well, that's all, how many are you?."

"About a hundred and fifty but only fifty or so are outside."

"What of the rest?"

"They got crushed under our safe house, the groggs were all using abilities and we the soldiers couldn't do much to protect anyone, we managed to escape at the skin of our teeth but the surviving hundred are still in hiding back at Visgard." Avon said.

"Why didn't you go to the other villages?" The king asked.

"They refused to let us even cross the border, their army commander said he couldn't protect us."

"Too bad, you can leave I'll have to think about it."

"Thank you.... Your majesty." Avon said and left.

"Roger, bring them in." The king said and stood up to leave.

"On it, my lord."

At the open ground, Jade and the others were listening to one of the Visgardian as she explained to them how everything in Visgard got destroyed.

"I think your president is an accomplice, he's not doing anything to stop this." Jade said.

"In a way he and his family are the only humans still alive in Visgard." Billy stated, jokingly.

"I guess it's really 'the end' for humans." Casey said, taking a deep sigh. Hearing approaching footsteps they all turned.

Avon, Saz and Knight Roger was walking towards them.

"The king has given permission to enter the village, you will stay here till he decides." Knight Roger said.

"Until he decides what?" Jade asked immediately.

"If we guard the rest of the Visgardians back here and protect them or not." Knight Roger replied.

"Wait, they're more?! But vernie didn't say anything about that." Cindy exclaimed.

"I actually did not know." Vernie replied immediately.

"I see, so he wants to decide if we go get the rest of the Visgar....." Jade was still talking when they heard a ringing. "What's that?"

"It's my phone." Avon replied, reaching for his pocket as he brought out a cell phone. "Hello..... What!..... How's that possible? Damn it."

"Who was that? What is happening?" Jade shouted.

"It's a friend of mine guarding the others at Visgard, he said the groggs are on the move but with their king." Avon replied.

"Wait, a king, yeah they had a king, jeez and we totally forgot!" Kell exclaimed.

"Calm down Kell, the king will take care of him." Cindy said.

"What do you mean by 'the king'?" Saz asked confusedly.

"Ehhm, you've not told him?" Cindy asked turning to Jade.

"Aah! It escaped my mind." Jade replied, tapping his forehead with his palm.

"What is it?"

"The thing is, we read a book that we saw at the south wasteland talking about a king's true powers. It said the king of a village is the strongest person, someone that could take on a army but it comes with a price." Jade explained.

"What price?"

"Their life force."

"Their life force! But still I don't feel that way, I mean, powerful." Saz said, taking a deep sigh. "What about the queens?."

"Born or married, they become the second strongest in the village and the first son becomes the third while the rest of the children are normal."

"Wow! Those are really great news to hear, how come you kept this from me." Saz said.

"Saz, it seems you are forgeting something, it really comes with varieties of price." Peter reminded.

"(Clears throat) Enough of the chit chat, we have something else to worry about." Knight Roger said. "How long will it take the groggs to reach here."

"Five or six days." Avon replied.

"Alright, Saz take them to the castle, have them change their clothes if there's any." Knight Roger said and they all left.

Jade went to Dr Bryan's lab to request for an update.

"This is not as easy as you think Jade, science is step by step, skip one and you will pay for it, sometimes scientist pass on without even finishing their projects." Dr Bryan said.

"Come on, don't give me that, the world is really ending, I'm telling you." Jade said.

"Mark, do you mind giving that chicken some piece of advice, I can't seem to concentrate here." Joe said, mixing two liquids at the other side of the Lab.

"Did you just call me a chicken?" Jade shouted.

"Shu shu, get out." Mark said, teasingly. The three of them laughed at Jade as he angrily left the lab.

When Saz and Knight Roger got to the castle, knight Roger went to the king's chamber. The king was sitting on a golden color chair closed to the window, staring down at the villagers going to and fro.

"Your majesty, we received a message. The groggs are coming along with their king."

"How long?"

"Five or six days would do."

"Contact the other Kings for me, we need to tell them our plan. Get captain Drek for me, he's surely taking part in this war."

"On it, your majesty." Knight Roger answered and left the chamber.

'Time for us humans to decide our fate.' the king thought.

At the same time Jade with the squad were discussing at his place. Mr Arthur already left for the king's castle.

"So what's the plan?" Casey asked.

"With what we've learned, we can't win against the groggs' king, so the plan is to weaken their force to enable the kings deal the finishing blow. " Jade said. "Sounds easy, right?"

"We hope so." Kell replied.

"When all this is over can we throw a party to celebrate?" Cindy asked.

"That'd be great." Rhen replied.

"Sounds fun." Jade said.

They chatted and after some time they left, remaining Jade and Rhen.

"You're not leaving yet?" Jade asked.

"No one's home, my dad's still at the smithy." Rhen replied.

"Want to go for a walk then?"

"If you say so."

The two of them left the house and took a walk down a minor street.

"It's unlike you to take a walk, what's up?" Jade asked.

"It's nothing, I just felt like coming with you." Rhen replied. "I feel like something bad is going to happen somehow, so I thought it would be better if i had a time together with you, I mean in case you died."

"Come on, don't worry about me, I can take care of myself." Jade said, using an assuring tone.

"Really?"

"Really."

...

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