11 11. The First Demon Prince- Jin

“You see I have been waiting for all of you to come,” a man completely draped in a dark green foot long robe, sitting in a fashionably crafted throne, out of rocks, sat like he ruled the place. He had been covering his face with a mask all along, so only his mouth was visible. However the words he uttered made him sound very relaxed and chill as if he had no worries. Before him lay the crown prince Amir, his hands chained up after a vicious fight with the aforesaid man and his gaze strictly that of rage and resentment towards him.

“Why... did... you take away the crown princess?” His voice was more agitated than he looked. He only slanted his head and puffed a small laugh under his breath as if it was an utterly pathetic question.

“ANSWERRRR MEE!!” Amir screamed which amused the latter to an extent that he stood up, walked towards him and bent down to hold up his chin in order to make himself face him.

“I. Wanted. To. Play. With. You. Pfft,” he clearly whispered each word right at his face so that nobody else could hear it. Amir’s hands were tied up and every passing second felt like the chains were draining his magic. He still managed to give him the most scornful look ever.

“Oh! Look how mad he is?! Poor boy!”

“Jin, why the hell are you doing this? What did she ever do to make you like this?”

As if the entire air in the room changed, and he stopped mid tracks as he was going back to his throne, his voice came out as cold as ice, “She didn’t! She never did.” He looked back at him but this time, his face; it didn’t have a hint of what was going on inside his head, “YOU DID!”

Noises of footsteps and he instantly had his smirk growing up on him again, “Looks like all of our guests are here.”

The three siblings, the four bodyguards, all of them were there, right in front of them where Amir lay injured, chained up looking like he had no energy to even stand up.

“BROTHER!!” “YOUR HIGHNESS!” They all went to surround Amir to help him when Jin said in the background with the obvious fake smile on his lips, “What a touching family reunion.”

In the years, never had they seen Amir like this before. Amir had always been the role model for all his siblings, the one who is always the top in his gurukul, the one who had never lost a spar, always standing straight with his head held high. However at that moment, more than shock and disbelief, they were broken to see him like that. He said slowly, in a broken voice, “Hurry...up, leave. Leave and call for help. He...he is not someone who we can handle. Ask father....hurry up! Leave. He ...he is the first demon child, Jin!” Hearing the name, somewhat all their faces were left with no traces of blood and it was almost as if none of them would dare move.

“What’s the hurry? They just arrived anyway,” he spoke with the same smile intact.

“Why don’t you wipe that smile off first?” Vinasaka murmured without looking back.

“Huh, did you say something?”

“I SAID WIPE THAT SHITTY SMILE OFF YOUR FACE RIGHT NOW!”

“NO!! Vin!!” It was useless. Even if Amir and the other tried to scream to make him stop, he had already charged towards Jin who however looked like he couldn’t care less.

Blocking his fiery fist with a single palm like it was nothing, he said, in a voice even more cheerful which made Vinasaka more agitated than ever, “If it isn’t my little brother?!”

“I AM NOT YOUR BROTHER!”

Vinasaka kept throwing punches at him aimlessly, every one of which was very efficiently dodged by Jin.

“Vin stop! You’re no match for him!” the others kept calling him but he seemed to listen to none.

Finally, Jin held his fist stopping him from his maniacal throw of punches everywhere, “Enough!” Seeing this the others started panicking and as Zaharia almost stood up to run to save him, however nobody noticed that Mihas had already shot his arrow. It’s like he intentionally let the arrows hit him since it wouldn’t have much effect anyway but at the same time he didn’t realise that one of the arrows would hit straight at his mask that would lead it to shatter in pieces.

Vinasaka leapt back instantly. That was one horrifying looking face, burnt completely around the eyes, to the point it would be unrecognisable to his own people. He stepped back holding his eyes with his palm, clearly agitated, “YOU!!! YOU DARE....!!”

Before they could take a clear look on his face, he covered it with a black cloth. It’s as if there was something he didn’t want them to find out...something other than the face. Meanwhile, Mihas, finding an opening, launched his third and fourth attempt almost simultaneously, and this time Zaharia charged as well. Well honestly, with both of them charging together would be hard for him to tackle as well, so at that very moment the only thing he could do was to break out of the dungeon to protect himself but not alone. Quickly analysing his own position, he took Vinasaka in one hand, as a hostage, and stormed out of the dungeon breaking the roof.

There was no way for Vinasaka to break through his grip; if only his hands were loose, he could have at least tried something. However it was firmly tied by a chain which looked like the spiritual weapon of Jin which also meant that Amir was probably free now. As expected, the rest of them followed those two outside except Amir. The dungeon looked like it would fall apart anytime now. But....but the crown princess! She was still inside! How could he leave her there.

There was a visible change in Jin’s eyes as if he was startled by the fact that the dungeon was crumbling down. He didn’t plan it and the moment he was almost about to push Vinasaka aside in order to rush inside, he found two faint figures emerging from behind all that smoke and dust. Therefore, he stopped in his tracks. Maybe it was a mistake but Vinasaka could feel the muscles of his face relax a little.

Watching Amir coming closer with an unharmed crown princess and gradually letting Zaharia take over, Jin spoke, “Well honestly, I wanted to capture your sister actually! But then I thought it would be a lot of trouble, so I went for our dear crown princess. As expected she was obedient.” The frown on Both Amir’s and Zaharia’s face was growing bigger and scarier. A hot headed Zaharia was about to strike the very moment but... a slash of a sword and Vinasaka was instantly pushed away from the demon prince beside him. His feet tumbled and he found himself supported by a familiar face as he looked up. The smile on Vinasaka’s face was inevitable as he found who the face belonged to.

“Are you alright?” asked Mir nervously and just as Vinasaka nodded he asked again, “Who is that? Why are you here?”

“Ohhhooohooo...wait, don’t shoot questions now. The timing isn’t quite right,” Vinasaka said but found himself getting pulled away soon by his brother, “Stay away Vin! Who is he now?” Mir said as he hid Vinasaka behind himself. Mir only finally understanding it was all the royals, bowed almost as a reflex and remained in that position. Realising that no one else knew who Mir was except him, he suddenly ran beside Mir and extended his hands as if shielding him, “He is my friend. Don’t hurt him!”

“Friend?”

“DO YOU THINK I’LL ENTERTAIN YOUR DRAMA HERE???!!” The voice came from behind which suddenly drifted away everyone’s attention once more and they all faced Jin. Amir could no longer hold it in and blurted out finally, “What do you want with me? You said I wronged you. Then why don’t you dare say how and when?” As he finished, everybody there was dumbfounded.

Jin had that annoying smirk on his face again when he replied, “Oh! Looks like you are the forgetful type.”

“WHY DON’T YOU SAY IT CLEAR ENOUGH FOR US TO UNDERSTAND!” Amir was now tired of all the twisting but as soon as he said this, there was a loud noise heard at the background indicating the arrival of the reinforcements.

“Quick...that was quick,” Jin looked over at the direction from where the soldiers were coming and then looked at the dead demons all over the ground, “Second Prince was it?” he stifled a little sarcastic laugh, “You are much more talented than what I thought you would be. Then for now, our meeting ends here. I’ll come back. Wait for me then.” He said those words before he turned into a green sparkle and disappeared.

Some of them were relieved, some were nervous about the warning while Amir only thought of the answer that he was yet to get. Mir parted his ways there, after Vinasaka whispered to him, “I’ll explain later! Don’t forget my birthday.” He winked playfully and when Mir wanted to say something like, “Actually, it’s also...” Vinasaka was almost dragged back by Amir into his chariot. He hurriedly, waved him a last goodbye before leaving finally and they both knew that it would probably not be possible to meet each other anytime soon, so the only thing they could wait for was the birth day.