Revelations - 2

Both of us start to follow the old man to thrash…I mean enjoy his hospitality, but mom stops in between.

"Agh, It's been bugging me for a while but, have we met before?" She says as she looks at the guard while he looks into her eyes with the same look of dismay.

"Oh…maybe you have, mam. It's quite rare but possible that am just one of the faces in the crowd which you have some record of." He replies her while turning his eyes towards the ground.

"Hmm, is that so? I do feel like I have seen you somewhere…but I just can't get it right." She says while squeezing her eyebrows and thinking a little too hard.

He does feel a little bit weird to me…He was fine at first but his expressions changed ever since he returned with that old man.

"Well, forget it…Keep working hard!" And we leave the place with me observing, everything, silently.

*

LUNEBERG, VITALIS KINGDOM

THE ROYAL PALACE

THE KING'S CHAMBER

It was a quiet place, with not a speck of light to be found anywhere, around the room. It was a large spacious room with the bed in the center covered with opaque curtains.

It was full of elegance and royalty. If someone entered the room, he/she would be flabbergasted with the interior designs and the creatively sculpted and decorated with expensive items. But in that dark room, even they didn't have any luster of themselves. It was as if everything had been absorbed by something.

Outside of this very room, a person knocked at it's doors. They were wearing a completely black attire, going as far as covering their head and face with a hoodie and a dark cloth.

"Your Majesty, I have some news to dispense you with." The person said in a low voice.

"Ah…it's you, Doma…" A soft and gentle voice addressed the person outside the doors. "Come inside."

The person pushed the left door inside silently and entered the room carefully with the attire intact. They looked towards the bed, with almost nothing visible but a light silhouette of a body moving inside.

"I think I have already told you to enter the room without knocking…still, you stay outside." Light and gentle white skin, the body looked was definitely not of an adult, in fact, it was too young for a teenager. He mingled his golden-white hair strands while smiling by himself. "Do you fear me too?" He asked but this time it felt a little down although the boy was smiling.

"I wouldn't dare to, Your Majesty!" Doma said while keeping her head downward.

The boy inside beneath the curtains, over the bed, was sitting with his head resting on his left knee while his right leg laying flat on the mushy mattress. "I see…what did you come here for then, Doma?" It was a reply filled with the same feeling as before with the unfazed expression.

"One of the guards from the first gate brought a news to our royal palace and it concerns you too. From what they said, which I myself confirmed before bringing it to you." Doma paused for a second, with a sigh, but continued, "The ICE SAGE is coming to the royal palace to give you a visit…"

The smile from the boy's face disappeared as his eyebrow flinched and his gentle skin began to show visible traces of nerves around his forehead.

"Did you just say, 'Ice Mage' ?! I heard it correctly, right?!" The tone turned more serious as the entire bed covered with curtains started shining with bright golden light so intensifying that the room that looked dark as the night sky turned into a light show.

Doma closed her eyes as if she anticipated something like this already happening and just turned herself on idle mode for the time by.

"T-T-That old hag, what is she doing here after such a long hibernation?! Does she think she can go in and out as she pleases? That short-tempered woman, who does she think she is?" The boy stood up on his bed and took out all his frustration in a single breath.

"Calm down, your majesty, it's not good for your health to be so aggressive. Please get your composure also, I think she knows what she is, and as always, intends to use her authority to it's fullest." Doma said as she started to brief the boy.

"Haa…" The boy exhaled lots of air as the light shining through the curtains calmed down, under control.

"You have a large responsibility on your head so please act accordingly or your people will start to rebel against you."

"You are right. I apologize for losing my composure. Regardless, what does she want, is she coming to the palace?"

"Actually, she isn't coming by herself but has actually asked for the royal knights to escort her and all the other hospitality, I am sure you are aware of."

"That b-"

"Your majesty…"

"Tsk, get her what she wants then…just don't expect me to go there, because I am not going to move an inch outside of this palace, you understand?" The boy said.

"Of course, I refrain from accepting such a foolish request, Your Majesty. Just remember that you are a king and act like one outside this room."

"Why do you refrain from using my name when you are already rude enough to shoot out those stone cold words, hmm?" The boy said as he laid himself down freely with his eyes closed.

"I apologize for my rudeness, Your Majesty. That was not my intention at all. I was j-"

"Then keep you intentions under your control and," Suddenly, the cool and gentle voice turned to a more deep and pressurizing one as he opened his eyes and looked at the Doma through the curtains, "don't you dare teach me what I am supposed to do?!"

"S-s-shiii!! I-I apologize, Your majesty!" Doma said as she grabbed her chest with both her hands and exited the room in hurry.

'Was he not wearing the black strap, embedded with dark matter?' Doma said as she moved away from the chamber.

"That impudent fool already got everything ordered from the escorts to the ministers, then why did she even disturb me?! Am I just a formality to her?" The boy thought in rage. He was facing some kind of mood swings from a gentle king to an immature kid to a lunatic with multitude of anger, evenly incomprehensible.

"Also, since it's been a while, I will have a long conversation to you about every damn thing you messed up after leaving this place, Umi!"