Prince Farlene

Actually, Will didn't want one of Darius' arms, no he wanted Darius dead. They began shoving him around, punching and kicking the living daylights out of him. Will had hoped to be able to goad Darius into doing something stupid like fighting back, that way his swift death would seem justified.

But Darius just did what he had always done, he simply covered his head with his hands and took all of it. He looked around the crowded street and saw some people ignoring him. They didn't care, or at least they pretended not to, as the few people who did notice acted as if nothing was happening as soon as they saw the regalia-covered clothing Will and his companions had.

To Darius, this was just like the orphanage again, so he simply laid down on the ground and tried to protect his head as best he could. Will was running out of patience, in his mind, this coward had obviously recognized who he was and wouldn't dare lay a finger on him.

"Fuck this shit, I'll end it here myself." he unsheathed a long, curved sword and pressed it against Darius' neck.

"Damn it! Did I survive the bus just to get killed by this asshole? Is this really how I die?" Darius thought to himself as he felt the cold steel pressed against his neck.

Will, on the other hand, looked back at Jade, who was standing just behind them with the other girls. All of them were begging them to stop and leave Darius alone, after all, he hadn't actually done anything wrong.

All except for Jade, that is. Her calm, expressionless face looked on, and when she saw Will hesitate and look back at her as if searching for her approval and support, she simply nodded, meaning he should get on with it.

Will steeled his resolve as the blade trembled slightly in his hands. "I'm William fucking Rylen! My father is the Gerald Rylen!" Will kept repeating this over and over again in his head, as he mustered up the courage to finish. In his mind, he was a Rylen, even if he wasn't his father's favourite so what? He knew that like all his other misdeeds, his family would find a way to sweep this under the rug.

He breathed in heavily as he slowly lifted the sword. But just before it descended Will found himself in a rather precarious position, someone now had their own blade pressed against Will's throat. A voice coming from behind him then said, "Kill my friend here, and I'll slit your throat."

Will could see his companions backing away in fear, but he didn't care, he was seething with fury as he turned to look at the man with the death wish who would dare defy William Rylen, but as soon as he saw who it was all the blood drained from his face and he turned ghostly pale.

Will immediately bowed down, dropping his sword onto the ground and clinging to the slight chance that he might get out of this alive. "Prince F-Farline," he stuttered as he tried his hardest not to wet himself. "F-Forgive me, my Lord, I did not know he was your-"

"Shut up." Prince Lionel Farline interjected. He had just finally caught up with Darius only to see him being beaten half to death by these nobles. William knew that if Lionel saw fit to do so, he could execute him right now, without batting an eye, and William's own family would've been able to do nothing about it. At that very thought, Will lost control, urinating uncontrollably. "Ugh, you disgust me." Snorted prince Lionel as he withdrew his sword from Williams' neck. "Either way, you wouldn't be worthy to die by my blade. Now leave."

"Th-thank you, my Lord." Will squeaked the words out and quickly backed away with his head lowered, not daring to give his back to the prince.

Lionel then sheathed his sword into its scabbard. He stretched his hand out to help Darius stand up. Darius looked at Lionel for a moment, his friendly face beaming down on him. Darius declined the offer and decided to get up on his own. He could still see the disdain on his face, no matter how he tried to hide it.

Lionel frowned slightly but no matter, he had found the perfect man for the job, and he'd be damned if he let his pride get the best of him like those other high-born fools. Lionel considered himself as being much more intelligent and level-headed than them.

As Darius had begun replacing the contents that had fallen out of his bag, Prince Lionel crouched down to help him. "I hope you don't mind." he chuckled as he picked up a hat and a scarf that had fallen out of Darius' bag and put them on, trying as best he could to cover his face.

Darius said nothing but simply kept placing his belongings back into his bag. "Well, you're very quiet, aren't you?"

Darius still didn't trust him as he strapped on the bag once more, whoever this guy was, Darius didn't need any more problems.

But before he got another chance to walk away from him, Lionel said, "I have a proposition for you."

"Still not interested," Darius said as he continued on. The prince then uttered something that made Darius stop dead in his tracks. He said, quite nonchalantly, "I can help you become a Spirit-smith."

They looked at each other for a while, until Lionel broke the silence and said, "How about we go somewhere more private." He said this as he looked at the citizens who had stopped to stare at their prince. Most had even begun to bow and kowtow.

"I suppose you're interested now, yes?" Darius nodded his head in response, still cautious, but feeling somewhat optimistic. The man had just saved his life, after all. Judging from the previous events and their surroundings Darius could tell that he was a high-ranking noble as well; thus, there was a limit to how much he could refuse him.

"Good, then come with me." Lionel clapped his hands in glee then took out his phone, and used an app that seemed to hail one of the speeding rail taxis. The shiny metallic sphere came to a halt beside the two of them.

Although it looked completely seamless, lines began to appear on one side of the sphere in the shape of a rectangle. It was the hatch opening as it popped out and broke apart into several flat platforms, hovering diagonally in mid-air, one after the other. They formed a flight of stairs that lowered itself down to the street. Lionel then motioned to it with a wave of his hand and said, "After you."

Although Darius tried his best not to show it, he could barely contain himself as he almost ran up the staircase and into the sphere. He was still wary of the prince but would not pass up the chance to ride in one of those things.

It was a lot bigger inside than it had appeared on the outside. It was spacious, and Darius had never experienced such luxury in his life. The interior was lined with materials he had never seen before and was incredibly soft to the touch. He unstrapped his hammer and sat down, placing it on his knees.

Lionel entered as the staircase retracted and the hatch closed shut just after him and said, "The Imperial dragon." Darius wasn't sure where it was coming from, but the taxi seemed to hum in response to Lionel's command. "Not bad, right?" he said with a cheerful grin. Darius completely overlooked this comment and asked, "Where are we going?"

"Ah, so he speaks!" said Lionel, his smile as wide as ever. Darius found the fact that he hadn't stopped smiling once to be slightly off-putting, to say the least.

"We're going to a nice restaurant I know of in the noble sector. You must be hungry, I know I am from chasing after you for the last two hours."

At that moment the rail taxi took off. It moved with incredible speed, yet Darius had no sense of movement at all. In fact, the only way he could tell they were moving was because although it had looked like a giant, windowless silver bead on the outside, inside one had a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of everything that was happening outside.

As the taxi climbed higher and higher up what Darius saw simply took his breath away. He couldn't help but gasp at the aerial view of Sahid at night. As far as Lionel was concerned, he had seen far grander cities than this, but to Darius, this was the most astonishing thing he'd ever seen.