8 Chapter 8: The Pact

"I won't tell you about it."

Elastor said coldly. Eva was surprised, she said:

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's a private matter between me and Zed. You shouldn't mind either."

Eva thought:

"So what kind of mystery does Zed have?"

Elastor said:

"And Julia, do we just let her sleep on the floor like that?"

Eva replied:

"Hmm, give her a blanket and leave her there. It's for tricking me."

Elastor stayed overnight at the Dream workshop, of course. The next morning, Zed had partially recovered, he slowly opened his eyes and woke up. Zed sat up and sighed, he said:

'Am I home?'

Zed saw that his whole body was bandaged, he said:

"It's true that I haven't fought in a long time. It was tiring fighting yesterday."

Zed looked beside her, it was Eva, she slept on the floor so she could take care of Zed when he needed it. Zed saids:

"She bandaged and took care of me? Looks like she should say thank you."

Eva was also awake, she looked at Zed and said while yawning:

"Good morning Zed, wait..."

Eva looked at Zed who had woken up, he waved his hand and said:

"Good morning."

Eva was delighted, she said:

"Zed! Are you well? I'm so happy."

"Not exactly, but it's probably okay."

Elastor and Julia entered the room, Elastor said:

"How are you? I thought you were going to die and leave the Dream workshop to me."

Zed replied:

"Why did you spend the night at my house? Wait did you just say you wanted me dead? Never. And why is Julia here?"

Julia said:

"I'm sorry I lied to Mr. Zed, I'll help you now."

"Can I trust you?"

"Hey, I said I'm sorry."

Eva said:

"It's okay Zed, she apologized anyway."

Suddenly the little The Knight appeared and sat on Zed's shoulder, he said:

"How are you, master?"

Eva and Julia screamed in fear and stepped back, Eva said:

"What the hell is that?"

Julia said:

"It fought with the lion yesterday and it looked so fierce, why is it so tiny and talking now?"

Zed said:

"Calm down it won't do any harm if I don't give the order. This is The Knight, my elemental spirit. If it were in Tiny form, it could manifest itself without my command. And thanks you The Knight."

Eva and Julia calmed down and approached The Knight. Eva said:

"The Knight? It looks so cute."

Julia said:

"And what is an Elemental Spirit?"

Zed replied:

"What is it? Elastor, do you remember?"

Elasor shook his head not remembering. Eva and Julia thought to themselves:

"What do these two remember?"

Elastor said:

"Anyway, I'm going home. Goodbye everyone."

Zed replied:

"Goodbye Elastor."

Elastor went downstairs and put on his cloak. Julia also came down, she said:

"Hey, you're still injured. Maybe the soldiers outside are looking for you."

"I'm fine, it's okay. And the soldiers can't do anything to me. Goodbye, Julia."

Elastor left the Dream workshop and stepped outside. Outside, people stood in two rows, each holding flowers and wearing beautiful clothes. The street was decorated with flags of other kingdoms with congratulations, and the city looked like it was celebrating some big day. People stood in the way, so Elastor had a hard time walking, he thought to himself:

"I don't know if I can get to the gate to escape."

There were several people talking to each other on the street, one of them said:

"King Urizen has invited all the leaders of the kingdoms to negotiate in a meeting."

"Meeting what?"

"I do not know."

Elastor heard that, he thought to himself:

"All the leaders? I want to see them too."

From the gate a group of soldiers entered, the leader had a majestic, arrogant and strong demeanor. He was king Zenhector Corput, king of the desert kingdom Sandx. King Zenhector and his entourage entered the city, waved to the people and entered the castle. Next a dark carriage surrounded by monsters rode in with Dark Elf soldiers. He was King Halazar Yus of the Dark Elf kingdom Lanxter, a man of mystery, intrigue and evil mind. Even though the people were scared, they still solemnly welcomed him. Halazar looked outside in the carriage and whispered:

"People of Gloria, so dirty."

Halazar and his entourage entered the castle. Next a glittering carriage floated by butterflies flew past the city gates. Surrounding the float were giant butterflies rode by Elf warriors. She was queen Eculida Quart of Newlaphaine kingdom, a benevolent, gentle and intelligent queen. Queen Eculida released rainbow-colored butterflies to the people. The people rejoiced with fireworks to welcome the queen. Queen Eculida and her entourage flew into the castle. Elastor looked at Queen Eculida's carriage and whispered:

"I need to find a place to observe the meeting."

Elastor climbed onto the roof and ran to the castle. He landed in a nearby bush and knocked out one of the soldiers again. Elastor donned the soldier's armor and entered the castle like a normal soldier. Elastor thought to himself:

"How stupid of me to do this again."

Elastor stealthily followed the leaders' entourage and saw them enter the meeting room. Suddenly there was a sound of a group of people approaching the meeting room, Elastor pretended to be guarding nearby. It was Urizen and his entourage. Waiting for them to pass him, Elastor knocked out the last in the procession and put on his armor and followed Urizen's entourage. Elastor entered the conference room and stood solemnly with the other soldiers. Elastor thought to himself:

"It's time, the meeting has begun."

The leaders sat around a round table, on which was a map of the Highland Continent and the locations of the kingdoms. Urizen sat down on the chair and said calmly:

"Welcome the leaders of the Sandx, Lanxter, and Newlaphaine kingdoms to Gloria Kingdom. I invite you to this meeting today to discuss important matters."

Zenhector replied:

"I don't know King Arthur has just given the throne to the new king. May I know your name."

"My name is Urizen Gloria, son of Vansing Gloria, the king who waged war across the Highland Continent."

The leaders were very surprised, Zenhector stood up and said angrily:

"You are the son of the Tyrant king. You have called us here to make war or to assassinate us. Guard!"

The Sandx warriors immediately surrounded Urizen with spears, he raised his hands and said:

"You may call my father the Tyrant King, but I am not like him. Your Majesty if I had intended to wage war against the kingdoms I would have done so. If this were an assassination I would have done it myself. right now. If you don't believe it, you can finish me now."

Zenhector and Urizen looked at each other, he looked very calm. Zenhector said:

"Enough, go back to your positions."

The Sandx warriors dropped their spears and returned to formation. Urizen smiled and said:

"Thank you very much, please sit down and let's start the meeting."

Urizen and Zenhector sat down and started the meeting. Halazar said:

"So what did you call us here for?"

"A Pact of all four of us, Your Majesty."

"A Pact? That's ridiculous. So what is that Pact?"

Urizen said proudly:

"I want to unify the four kingdoms of the Highland Continent under a common flag. No one will be the king, but we will choose the leader."

Zenhector laughed and replied:

"Then why should we agree to that. The fact that the kingdoms have their own independence has kept the peace for many years. Unification will cause a lot of racial problems because my people do not likes the people of Gloria and the Elves don't like Dark Elves."

Halazar said ghostly:

"A rather tempting offer, but it is true that it will raise many problems. The Forest of Nightmare is so powerful that my powers can only keep it within the bounds of magic. If the old pact is broken, the boundary is broken will be gone and it will be harder for me to control the forest and it will spread further. But unifying the kingdoms if you help me, I can guarantee the forest will be fine."

Eculida replied:

"You always say that so you can practice more dark magic. I understand you well Halazar."

"Oh, how painful. Wish I had taken your power that day to take care of my forest."

Zenhector said:

"Tell me more about why we should join your alliance."

Urizen replied:

"Not my alliance but ours. I assure you that the formation of this joint alliance is an important act. We can help and develop the kingdom together, the difficulties of all kingdoms can be solved, think of new economic, scientific, and technological developments... Wouldn't the Continent become more prosperous and richer than before? race can be difficult but we can get through it together so we can live in one kingdom And remember, there are still many kingdoms outside the Highland Continent I will continue to invite them to join Joining this alliance, meeting and making friends can help us even more."

Halazar said:

"Help and solve problems together? Tell me how you can help me."

"You said your Forest of Nightmare is getting more and more dangerous, I believe with the new potions we concoct, the Sandx warriors and resources and maybe queen Eculida's magic can stop or destroy the Forest."

Zenhector said:

"I will not share the rare minerals of my kingdom, especially with the Dark Elves and the people of Gloria."

Urizen replied:

"So do you know how to extract that mineral differently?"

Zenhector reflected, he said:

"The dwarves can mine those precious minerals."

Urizen replied:

"With those rudimentary tools? It is possible but too slow, my inventors have created magic-powered drills with long working capacity and more mineral extraction. "

Zenhector said:

"Really? You can do it with that machine."

Urizen replied:

"Of course, what about Queen Eculida?"

Eculida said:

"I have no problem, I would also gladly do business with the kingdoms if my people could freely trade around."

Urizen replied:

"Of course, queen, kingdoms can trade in other kingdoms if they don't cheat."

Halazar said:

"So I wonder, what if one of us doesn't accept the offer? Are you going to wage war against those who disagree?

Urizen replied:

"That won't happen, I invite you here to join the alliance voluntarily, without coercion. If anyone disagrees, that's okay, I respect their opinion and will continue with the next plan without them."

The leaders were surprised and nodded in agreement. Urizen said:

"Think carefully before making a decision."

Zenhector thought to himself:

"This will benefit my people, we can get rich by exchanging and trading precious minerals. My people may not need to live nomadic in the barren deserts anymore."

Eculida thought to herself:

"I'm very worried if the Dark Elves will harm my kingdom? I agree that witches' magic can help develop the Highland Continent but Halazar is so suspicious, why is he looking at me like that. "

Halazar thought to himself:

"A perfect opportunity to steal Newlaphaine's power of light. But since Eculida is doubting me, I must find a way to make her less suspicious of me."

All three leaders had their own plans for the common alliance of the four kingdoms. Urizen looked at the other three and thought to himself:

"What are they thinking?"

Then he said:

"If you need time, you can return to the kingdom to have time to think. When you have decided come back here and join me in this alliance and unite the Highland Continent into one."

Eculide said:

"So the old pact is gone but the magical border will remain until we make a final decision."

The four leaders stood up and took the emerald from their crown and placed it on the table. The four jewels slowly merged into one great emerald, the Emerald of Peace, an emerald for the rulers to swear by for the common good of the four kingdoms for the Highland Continent. Halazar said:

"The Emerald of Peace, let's wait until we have a decision together."

Urizen's servant put the Emerald of Peace in a golden chest and locked it. Urizen solemnly said:

"The meeting is over, say goodbye to the kings and queens and wish everyone's kingdom well."

At the end of the meeting, King Zenhector, Queen Eculida and King Halazar and their entourage returned to their kingdoms. Elastor also quickly escaped from the castle and went home. The people held a grand farewell for the leaders. Elastor thought to himself:

"Urizen will form alliances with other kingdoms and unify the continent? Even though he usurped Eva's throne, he really has thoughts and is responsible for his actions. Damn, maybe I'm possessed by him convincing."

Elastor looked at Halazar's carriage and whispered:

"One day I will come and kill you, Halazar."

Elastor left the city and went to his little house in the Northern woods.