Meeting

Arlitos walked alone down the hallway, politely acknowledging the greetings of the maids and servants who were doing their work.

"Welcome back, your highness." Said an old butler as he walked down the hall.

Arlitos smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Harold. Where is my father?" Arlitos asked.

Harold pointed over his shoulder. "He's in his office." He said. Arlitos thanked him and waved Harold off.

Harold was his father's personal butler. He managed things for his father and treated Arlitos well, so he had a good relationship with the old butler.

Arlitos stopped at a pair of double doors which were decorated in white and gold. Arlitos raised his hand and knocked twice on the door.

"Father." He said, raising his voice so the person on the other side of the door could hear him.

"Come in." Said an authoritative voice on the other side of the door. Arlitos opened his door and walked in, making sure to close the door behind him.

"I see you are back." A man with similar looks to Arlitos said, he had blond hair and blue eyes like Arlitos, the only difference was that the man looked older and more manly than him.

"Yes, father." Arlitos respectfully said.

His father perked an eyebrow. "And? What about the dragon?" He asked.

"The dragon and Freia are both in their shared room." Arlitos reported. His father frowned in confusion.

"Freia?" His father asked, tilting his head.

Arlitos raised his head to look his father in the eyes. "The tortoise, father." He simply stated.

His father once again frowned, this time looking visibly upset. "Why did you place them in the same room? I let it pass when you spent extra money to buy a random turtle, but you also put them in the same room?" He questioned.

Arlitos opened his mouth to retort, but thought against it. He pressed his lips together and took a deep breath. "The dragon won't like it if they are separated."

His father glared at him, but sighed and waved his hand. "Ok, whatever. I will go meet the dragon later." He dismissively said.

He didn't really care about the money. His father merely thought of it as the price for the dragon.

This time, Arlitos shook his head in rejection. "Please don't. They have just arrived here after a long trip. I advise you to wait until they've settled first."

Arlitos's father frowned in agitation and spoke as if he was suppressing his anger. "Fine. Then can you at least find the spiritual speaker?" He asked.

Arlitos denied him again with a shake of his head. His father was about to burst into anger, but Arlitos spoke before he had the chance. "We have more pressing matters right now." Arlitos seriously said, his voice grim.

Taken aback by his son's change in character, his father calmed down and listened seriously.

-

Altos leaned back in his seat with wide eyes. "So, the demon invasions haven't ended yet?" He repeated for the nth time in the past few minutes.

Altos was the name of Arlitos's father. He was forty years old right now and was the current Emperor of Astava.

For this first time in his life, Altos felt a scythe pressing down on his neck, waiting for the right moment to take his head.

Unlike his son, Arlitos, he had no magical capabilities. He had no strength to actually protect himself and heavily relied on guards and magical artifacts.

After all, magical abilities weren't hereditary. Gaining magical abilities took luck, and even then, that didn't automatically make a person powerful enough to kill an army.

His son was one of the stronger ones.

"And, where did you say you saw these black flowers again?" Altos asked, addressing Arlitos who was still standing respectfully in front of his desk.

"Fallen Path." Arlitos responded with certainty, his arms behind his back and was staring straight ahead.

"Fallen path.." Altos muttered, searching his memory. He raised his head once he remembered. "Why were you traveling on that run-down path?" Altos asked with furrowed brows.

"We were camping there. It was precisely because it is run-down and rarely ever used that I chose it so we could rest there without the dragon or Freia being spotted." Arlitos stated.

Altos frowned. "And you let the dragon out of the carriage? What if the dragon flew away?" He angrily asked.

"I believed that the dragon wouldn't leave without Freia. Even if it did, I am confident enough in my abilities to stop that from happening."

Suddenly, the calm air started to shift as a harsh breeze swept through the room, sending the papers on Altos's desk flying. At the center of this was Arlitos, whose hand was slightly outstretched .

Both Arlitos and Altos were completely unscathed by the wind. That was because Arlitos didn't let it touch his father.

The papers, which were swept up by the wind peacefully flew back to their original spot like nothing ever happened.

"You shouldn't rely on your abilities so much." Altos said, uncomfortably shifting in his seat as he rubbed his arms.

"It's not reliance, father. It's called confidence." Arlitos calmly said. He looked dignified as he tilted his head up with a noble expression.

Altos sat upright in his chair again and stared at his son with unknown emotions. Unknowingly, he felt threatened by his son who wasn't even an adult yet.

It was all because Arlitos was the only one in the direct line of the royal family that had magical capabilities. Not even Arlitos's mother or sister had them.

Despite feeling uncomfortable in his heart, he didn't forget his original concern. "So you found traces of a demon portal near Fallen Path. How long do you estimate it has been there for?" Altos asked.

Arlitos's eyes wandered as he calculated in his mind. "Based on the colors of the flowers, I would say they are at their halfway period." He said.

The flowers were different at different stages of their life cycle. At the beginning, the flowers are black, but they don't have flickering lights traveling through them yet.

At their halfway period, which was also the prime of their lives, the black flowers would have white lights traveling through them like fireflies. That was the stage they were at when the trio saw them.

At the end of their lives, they were wilted and shriveled up like the embodiment of death itself. It means that the demon portal will open soon and marks the start of the demon invasion.

But the wilted flowers are also a sign of hope. This is the time that the heroes are summoned into this world by the gods, just before the demon invasion.