Devastation

The King was busy during the days where his heir went on a journey to the border. He buried himself in work to avoid overthinking or being worried about his son's safety. But still, he can't help but stop and look outside the window in the direction of the Southern border. He's been restless for no reason.

He stood up and opened the window to stand there and just look outside. He thought of resting for the rest of the day since he knew that he can't work with his unstable state of mind. King Leon was about to walk away from the window when a wind spirit landed on the windowsill. Inside the spirit was a rolled paper.

King Leon's brow furrowed at the sight of the wind spirit, normally messages from General Rohan was sent by a carrier pigeon. It was out of the ordinary for them to use this kind of way to send a message unless something bad happened. A sudden premonition struck King Leon and he shakily reached for the rolled paper. He was hoping that what he thought of was not the content of the message. The paper was slowly unrolled and the words inside caused the king to stagger background knocking on his table. He caught the table's edge to stabilize him. The news shock his being into something indescribable. His fears came to reality and his world that has been cracked from the moment his queen died, slowly crumbled down. He can literally hear glass shattering at that moment.

General Reious opened the door since the king was not answering and found King Leon leaning on the table and was about to fall. The general rushed to support the king and prevent him from falling into the ground.

"What happened, your majesty?" he asked in an anxious tone but the king didn't answer. This is the first time he's seen the king in this state. He guided him to the couch on the king's study.

The king remained silent and a tear suddenly fell from his eyes. Reious was shocked at the king's sudden tears that's when he saw the piece of paper the king was tightly clutching. He calmly stepped forward and slowly pried the king's fingers to see what the letter was about. The general firmly shut his eyes to stop himself from shedding tears and slowly walked to an empty chair. He silently sat down to force himself to calm down. The prince was pronounced dead, this is news that would bring down anyone to their knees, even the king of Archellia was reduced to a mess.

Reious knew that at that moment, he can't show any weaknesses because for the following days he would undertake the governing of the kingdom in the meantime. He looked at the king who remained silent and was currently covering his face, and shook his head. Reious stood up and went out to instruct the palace guards stationed at the door and the hallway to leave, he didn't want them to see their king in such a state.

After the hallways were cleared, he ushered the king to stand up and guided him to his room. The king was so lifeless that he didn't even notice what was happening around him. All he could think about was his son was gone, and at the thought of not even seeing his son's body was piercing his heart so much pain that he can't bear. To know that your child died was a great blow to any parent and the knowledge of not seeing his face for the last time was more devastating.

Reious stepped back and sat on an inconspicuous corner silently watching the grieving king. He too was out of words and chose not to speak. Both of them were lost in thought for the rest of the night.

At the first light of dawn, Reious left the king's chamber and went to find Aries. The woman was still energetic with her books but at the sight of the worn-out Reious, she frowned.

"What happened?" she asked in a serious tone.

"The prince..." he trailed off. It's difficult for him to be the bearer of the bad news.

Aries raised an eyebrow at Reious's hesitation, it was not like for him to hesitate in any way. "Did something happen?"

He gathered his courage and told Aries about the letter and the news. "The prince lost his life during their journey to the southern border."

Shock was Aries's first reaction and followed by pain. "The king... how is he?" she asked in a shaking voice.

"He's not doing good, the letter stated that the southern border and the order tried to find the prince's body and the other soldiers who also fell on the river, but they didn't find anything. The Serpens River is notorious for taking lives and for their bodies to be buried beneath the waters, never to be seen again."

"What do we do now?" Aries was now unsure of how they should proceed.

"We prepare for a funeral, even without the body," he answered surprisingly calm.

"But what if the prince survives, he has a unique constitution and has an affinity, maybe there's a chance..." Reious shook his head. That is unlikely to happen, they both knew that it was just wishful thinking. The force of nature is beyond human comprehension. They might have evolved and acquired power but all of this was still borrowed from what was around them.

Aries clamped her mouth in frustration, is it just wishful thinking? Both of them fell silent for a moment not until a knock on the door broke the silence. A guard spoke from outside informing them of the morning meeting they should attend.

"We should go and inform them," Reious walked to the door followed by Aries.

The morning meeting was filled with surprised gasps at the news. Soon after the whole kingdom came to know of the tragic event and started to mourn for their lost prince. The king was indisposed for the following days and was still in deep anguish. Reious have tried to talk to him for so many times but the king was unresponsive.

A grand funeral was arranged to honor Prince Orion, all the people from the capital attended and mourned, even people from other parts of Archellia offered their condolences to the bereaved family. Leon managed to attend but he remained like a puppet, not talking nor moving on his own.

After the funeral, another message reached the palace, with The Order and General Rohan's help the situation on the border was stabilized and the general would be coming back to the Capital City. The Order however disappeared after the stabilization. No one knew where they went, they left without any messages and never came back.

General Reious sighed at the news, he knew that it was difficult for The Order to return maybe because of guilt, but to suddenly leave, he let out another sigh. He kind of understand what the three were thinking, he just hopes that this event would not cost them their lives and do something reckless.

The Order of the Blue Phoenix was gone and General Rohan retired from his post. The king became more temperamental and very difficult to deal with but Archellia still managed to move forward despite the unexpected loss of their beloved prince.