The Destined One

Back in his hut in the elven forest of the outer lands, Knight sat on the ground thinking back to the moments from the Divine Continent. Both he and Don were inseparable then. This was the first time in a long while that Don went somewhere without him. Knight realized that they were going to face many more unique situations here than in the Divine Continent.

Ever since they arrived in this new world and rescued the elves, Knight knew they were not alone in this world. If they were going to face powerful enemies, they needed to protect the elves, at least until they turned this group of weak elves into deadly warriors.

Aside from that, Don and himself also wanted to increase their cultivation. Right now, they were both at Moon level. But to rule this continent, they had to reach the peak Star level.

While Knight was introspecting, a figure entered his hut. Knight ruffled his hair and slowly stood up to see the figure that entered the hut. It was Amaryll sporting a worried face.

Her emotions were not easily hidden on her innocent face. Her confusion and worry were evident in the creases of her lovely brow and the downward curve of her full lips. But her eyes... Her eyes showed her soul. As Knight looked into her eyes, he knew that she was still thinking about the bandits and Minister Brian. She was tightly clutching at her green skirt, and her mouth was twitching like she needed to speak but simply unable to find the right words.

Knight knew what she was going to ask; the same question she had asked him countless times since Don's departure: What do you think happened to Don? Do you really think Minister Brian will die? Are we safe here?

After a couple of times of Knight reassuring her, he started to get irritated at answering this cute little elf as he gently shook his head and stepped towards her, "Look, Amaryll. You're really starting to get on my nerves."

Amaryll didn't look surprised to hear Knight. Her face still showed the same worried expression when she entered the hut, "I'm sorry, but where's Don? He should be back by now, right?"

She walked towards Knight and sat before him, crossing her legs and placing one arm on her chin to support her head.

Knight breathed out a heavy sigh, "I told you, everything will be alright. What are you so afraid of?"

She avoided Knight's gaze for a moment. Her body tensed, then eventually, she looked at him, "I...What if something happened to Don and Minister Brian found us?"

"Hahaha!" Knight laughed as soon as she finished talking, his white teeth fully exposed as he laughed.

Amaryll was surprised to see Knight's reaction as she couldn't find the reason for his laughter. Her worried expression turned into pouting, "What's so funny?"

"You think a puny Minister in a puny city is gonna kill Don."

A simple line of words, but Knight was extremely arrogant and domineering.

"Why do you trust him so much? You are a magical beast, and he's a human."

The laugh on Knight's face vanished in a second when he heard Amaryll's words. He frowned as he looked straight at Amaryll's eyes, his gaze as sharp as a knife.

"You know nothing about me and Don. For you, I'm a magical beast and he's a human. But for us, we are brothers." Amaryll sat there in silence as Knight continued, "Don never easily trusts anyone, but he doesn't betray the people who trust him."

"I'm not trusting a stranger, especially a human at that. Although, my brother seems to trust Don. I don't know why," she let out a sigh. 

"That's because your brother doesn't want to live the rest of his life hiding and running," Knight calmly replied as he ruffled his mane, which he liked to do many times a day.

"Can Don do something like that? I mean, uniting all the races and building a kingdom?"

Knight neglected Amaryll's gaze and continued to ruffle his mane and said, "Of course. Don and I can do that, but not with you questioning the man who saved you and your entire tribe."

The elf narrowed her eyes as she leaned forward a little, "I'm not being ungrateful or anything. It's just that his ambition seems unrealistic. That's all."

"You will see," Knight simply said three words, but his tone was full of confidence and arrogance.

Amaryll wanted to ask why he was so confident when Arwen rushed into the hut, his face having a little smile. After Don's departure to Slave city, Arwen was pretty tense like Amaryll. But now, his body language had changed and relaxed.

"Don and Uncle Dior are back." 

Amaryll quickly rose. As for Knight, he just smirked at Amaryll and swaggered out.

******************

Leaving the Slave city, Don did not take any detours, heading straight back to the elven camp. By the time they reached the camp, it was already past morning. He would have reached it sooner if not for Uncle Dior shouting in fear and constantly wanting to throw up multiple times. Even with all of Uncle Dior's shouting and flying, the half-elf had not woken up. She was still sleeping in Don's arms like a baby.

Uncle Dior was not able to guess how she can sleep like this in the arms of a stranger. He could see that her arms were still around his neck, and Don's brown robes were still wrapped around her and providing her with comforting heat. The half elf's face was calm and serene while she was sleeping, the exact opposite of what he saw back in the auction.

Just as he landed near his hut, he saw Arwen walking towards him with Knight and Amaryll beside him.

"Don, Uncle Dior, what took you so long?" Amaryll asked. It only took her a moment for her eyes to widen in surprise at the sight of the half-elf in Don's arms. Clapping her hands in surprise, she almost shouted out loud, "Who is she? What happened to her?"

"It's a long story. We saved this poor soul from Minister Brian. Don, you should bring her to Arwen's hut."

Don nodded and began to walk towards Amaryll's hut carrying the half-elf. After a few steps, Don came in front of Amaryll and Arwen's hut.

It was a makeshift hut crudely made of some woods, and branches, and covered in long big leaves. The hut was six feet tall, and two people could share the floor comfortably. There were no beds or anything, just animal fur spread out on the ground to sleep on and a cloth bundled up as a pillow. In front of the hut was a small fire pit to warm up.

Don entered the hut, knelt before the makeshift bed, and gently dropped her on the bed. However, the half elf's arms were still tightly wrapped around his neck.

Seeing this, Amaryll walked towards them and removed the half elf's hands around him. Don then finally put down the half-elf on the bed.

Don gazed at the half-elf for a moment and gently stood up to walk outside. Meanwhile, Amaryll, Arwen, and Knight followed behind him.

"Don, is he dead?" Amaryll couldn't help but ask with a nervous voice as Don watched the late morning sky, his brown hair blowing in the wind.

Don ignored her gaze and continued to look at the sky, "Yes. He's dead."

They were just mere words, but it lifted a huge burden in Amaryll's heart as her face revealed a relieved look. She let out a heavy sigh, but Arwen was not relieved as much as Amaryll. Arwen knew the true purpose of Don's visit to Minister Brian. It was not simply to kill him, but to also know more about the mysterious mage.

For a few breaths in time, nobody spoke. The five of them just remained there in silence as Don pulled out some folded papers from his pockets. He reached his hand towards Uncle Dior, gesturing for him to take the papers.

With a confused look on his face, Uncle Dior stepped forward to take the papers from his hand. The papers looked aged and made of finer material as he opened the papers, seeing a map of the outer lands and a red 'X' mark on the map. 

"It's a map... a map of the outer lands. Wait…." Uncle Dior frowned and stared at the map confusedly.

At the moment, everyone was looking confusedly at Uncle Dior, including Don.

"It's a map of the outer lands alright, but this 'X' points to the middle of nowhere."

"Let me take a look," Amaryll stepped towards Uncle Dior and peeked at the map over his shoulder. "Hmm... There should be nothing there except trees and more trees," Amaryll exclaimed. "Arwen, do you have any idea on what is on there?"

Amaryll grabbed the map from Uncle Dior and handed it over to her brother. Arwen took the map and stared at it for a while, studying the map and running his fingers through its surface.

Seconds later, Arwen's eyes lit up in realization as his hands started to shake a bit. He slowly looked at the people who were watching him with surprise, urging to know his answer.

"It's the castle. It must be the castle," Arwen said, his body trembling.

"What castle? Arwen, what are you talking about?" Amaryll urged him.

Don and Knight looked at each other and turned their gaze to Arwen.

"It...It's the lost castle of the Dragon King," Arwen said as he trembled. 

"No, it's not possible. I thought the castle was destroyed along with the Dragon King," Uncle Dior's voice had a tinge of fear while speaking to Arwen.

"No, it's not destroyed. My grandfather told me the Dragon king teleported the castle and hid it with magic before he died-" 

Before Arwen could finish, Amaryll asked, "Then how do you know it's the castle of the Dragon King?"

"Because grandfather told me before that the Dragon King died, that he made a map and sent it away with his trusted bodyguard..." Arwen recalled his memories for a minute and continued, "Grandfather told me that the Dragon King ordered the guard to hide the map safely so that only someone with a world-changing Destiny could find the castle."

"This couldn't be the map the guard hid, right? I mean, how could you possibly tell what that map looked like?" Amaryll couldn't believe Arwen.

"Because this is not an 'X,' it's the symbol of Dragon King," Arwen pointed at the 'X' on the map to Amaryll and Uncle Dior, "Look closely and touch the 'X.' You'll see that it's not 'X,' but two dragons crossing each other."

Amaryll quickly grabbed the map from Arwen's hands and stared at it closely. She rubbed her fingers on the 'X' and shouted in surprise, "Yes! Yes! Yes! You were right, Arwen! It is two dragons. Is it really pointing towards the Dragon King's castle?"

Uncle Dior watched the excited Amaryll for a moment and turned towards Don, "Don, where did you get this map?"

"It was in the hidden safe of Brian." As he said, the excited look on Amaryll's face vanished.

"Why did he have this map? Did he find the castle?" Amaryll tightly held the aged map as she stared at Don.

"No, he didn't. If he did, why was he not in the castle?"

"Don's right. If what Arwen said is true, only the one with the destiny could find the castle, right? Then how could our dead minister be the destined one?" Knight spoke in confidence and certainty.

"What Knight said makes sense. It's not someone like Bryan that can find the Dragon King's castle," Arwen agreed with Knight.

"We have to find this castle," Don stepped forward and removed his magic mask, revealing his real face.