Chapter 3

In the morning

"Agh.. What time is it?" Nox says, looking out the window to see that the sun is not out yet

Then Nox goes to a drawer, removes his pocket watch and looks at the time

"Oh, it's five o'clock already," he says to himself

Then Nox goes to the cupboard and removes a pair of clothes that the butler gave him at the Emperor's request, He then proceeds to go to the bathroom to wash himself up.

After a while, he comes out puts on his clothes goes to the mirror and starts adjusting his clothes

' so, rule number five, he said to always wake up at five o'clock in the morning and be done with my routine by six o'clock in the morning then to come to his office and do the task he will assign me' he thought

When Nox is done with his hair, he hears a knock on the door

"Come in!" he yelled

A maid opens the door

"His Highness has called you to his office" she informed

"I see, please lead the way," he said

Nox and the maid were walking in the corridor

"May I ask your name?" Nox asked

"My name is Maya Sir" Maya replied

"Well Miss Maya, please call me Nox" he smiled

"Very well then, Nox" she replied

When they reached near the door to the office

"Well then, Nox see you soon," Maya said

"You too," Nox said smiling at her

Maya smiled back and turned to leave

Once she left Nox knocked on the door

"Come in" he hears a muffled voice

Nox opens the door and sees the Emperor doing some paperwork

"Mhm?….. Oh, you're here" he said in a monotonous voice

"Well, let's keep this brief, the spirit festival is coming up, you should get ready for it, so you are allowed to go to the training grounds and the library only" he continued

"Mhm, Understood, I'll start today" Nox replied

"Mhm, now leave," the Emperor said

In the corridor, Nox was walking towards the training ground while walking the princess came towards him

"Princess Abigail, it is an honour to finally meet you" Nox greeted, bowing down slightly and coming back up

"Likewise, Guardian of Light and Dark" Abigail greeted back, also bowing down slightly and coming back up

"Please call me Nox" he requested

"Mhm yes Nox," she said

"Well, I will leave you to your work then, see you later Princess" Nox said turning to leave but a voice stopped him

"Wait, Nox I want to talk with you about something," the princess said

"Oh, umm... What is it that you want to ask" he asked

"Let's not have this conversation here," she said

she dragged him out of the palace and into the garden and they both sat on a bench

"What is it that you wanted to ask me, Princess?" Nox asked again

"I have questions related to the upcoming spirit festival" Abigail said

"May I ask why?" he asked

"Well….. It's my first time attending the festival, so I wanted to ask you about it so that I know what going on" she claimed

"Oh, then I'll be happy to answer them for you" he beamed

"Okay, So first can you explain the reason behind the festival?" she inquired

"The reason behind the festival is to find people who have a connection to the elements" he answered

"But we already have you and the Guardians, so why do we need people who can control the elements?" She asked

"Well it was under our influence of magic that they came to be" he answered

"What do you mean by that?" She asked

"I mean that some people are sensitive to our magic and have a lot of magic energy inside of them, that energy is associated with the person's spirit, if a person is kind and caring the element that represents them will be water and the water Guardian will help them to control that magic energy and then they have opportunities ether the join the adventure guild or the Imperial knights or they could have a peaceful life, so that's why there's a spirit festival" he answered

"Oh I see" she exclaimed

"How is the festival performed?" she asked

"Well all kingdoms come together in one place with their respective Guardians and at sunset, we Guardians perform a spell one by one to see which individual embodies which elements" he explains

"Mhm!" she hummed in astonishment

Questions were asked and Nox answered them all, there were general question

After an hour

"Thank you for answering my questions, Nox" she exclaimed

"Of course, princess," he said as he smiled at her

"You may leave now," she said

"Goodbye, princess" Nox bowed and left

Nox left walked towards the training grounds and went to a secluded spot to practice his spells

'Well I know the spells of the dark book or Acura like I have been practising that book since I was a kid, so I should practice the light book or Aonani since I have been doing that for a year' Nox thought

When he decided on what he wanted to learn, Nox summoned Aonani

Then he said a word and right after he said that, little bright orbs were summoned around Nox then he moved his hand and with the help of the light orbs he made a bow in one hand and stretched his hand out, along with his eyesight and with the other made an arrow and tried to shoot the arrow but couldn't as his energy was almost fully depleted

"that was too much maybe I should rest a little" Nox huffed as he sat next to a barrel

Nox closed his eyes and relaxed a little

After a few minutes, he heard footsteps coming towards him, he got up and looked at who it was only to see the Prince walking towards him

"Prince Ezra, good evening" Nox bowed

"Good evening, Guardian of Light and Dark" Ezra greeting, sounding a little distant

"Is this your training area? I'm sorry if I interrupted your schedule" Nox apologized

"Oh! No, it's alright, I just wanted to ask something" He explained

"Mm? Oh, I'll be happy to answer" He smiled

"I am on my break now, so I wanted to see some of your spells" he explained, scratching the back of his head

"I would love to show you, but right now I'm recovering" he explains feeling ashamed

"Oh don't worry, I'll sit with you," he said and smiled

So the Prince and Nox sat down together and started to talk together

"I am sorry if I came as rude, I didn't mean it, I thought you would be arrogant" The Prince apologized, kind of embarrassed

"It's alright everyone thinks that," Nox said not really caring about the rumours

The Price looks at him in pity

The Prince and Nox sat together and talked till afternoon

"Oh! Look at the time!" The Prince said, surprised

"Mhm.. It's late" Nox replied wanting to talk a little more

"Well, before I go can you show me a spell?" The price asked, eyes glowing

"Of course, Prince Ezra" He said getting up

"Please call me Ezra, from now on" he requested

"Yes Ezra," he said

Then Nox summoned Aonani

"Can you summon both books?" Ezra asked, tilting his head in confusion

"I can, but It will take a lot of energy" Nox explained

"I see," he said

Then Nox summoned an arrow of light and shot toward a tree

"Wow!" he exclaimed, eyes shining in awe

"Thank you, I can't summon a bow and arrow but I can summon an arrow but it can only go straight" he blushed as he explained

"Prince it's time for your classes" someone called out

"I should go, thank you for showing me bye," He said waving as he left

Then Maya came

"The Emperor has called you," she said

"Coming" Nox smiled at her

She smiled back "Let's go"

In the corridor

"Umm…. Miss Maya?" Nox called out

"Yes Nox" Maya replied

"If you don't mind.....what is your age?" he asked, not sure if he should've asked it

"Oh I'm twenty-five years" she answered

"Oh! I thought you were eighteen" Nox said surprised

"Heh… you're too sweet Nox" she exclaimed, chuckling a little

Nox was blushing

When they reached the Emperor's study

"I'll get you something to eat at night okay?" Maya asked

"Oh! Sure can you eat with me?" Nox replied

"Mhm, sure" she smiled

Maya left and Nox knocked on the door

"Come in," The emperor said

"You called me," Nox said as he went in

"Oh you're finally here," he said with disdain in his voice

The Emperor got up and went towards Nox

"I wanted to ask" he started

'What's with the Royal family asking me questions today?" he thought

"Want were you, talking with my son and daughter" he said

"You better not be spouting nonsense about me" he continued

"No, Your Highness, your daughter was asking about the spirit festival and your son and I were talking about his day" he explained

Just then Nox felt a strong pain in his body

"Ahh!" Nox screamed as he fell on the floor

"You think I can be fooled!?" The Emperor yelled in anger

"But I'm telling the truth" he struggled to say

But the Emperor didn't listen and the pain increased

After two hours Nox fell unconscious and then the pain stopped

"Guards! Take him to his room" The emperor said in a monotonous voice

After a while, Nox woke up in his room and looked out the window

"It's night already?" Nox asked himself, voice raspy because of the pain he got

There was a knock on his door

Nox couldn't speak so he went to the door and opened it only to see Maya with some food in her hands

"Hello Nox, I got some food," she said, smiling at Nox

Nox smiled back at her

"Why are your eyes red?" she asked

Nox couldn't say to her about the events that took place so he just stayed quiet looking down at the floor

"Forget I asked, Let's eat," she said as she sat on the ground

Nox looked at her with bright eyes and went with her to sit on the ground with her

"Okay," he said his voice still a little raspy

Maya eyed him but didn't say anything

They both sat there and ate and chatted together