The darkness that falls upon Xaya

A guard suddenly barges into the royal study while breathing heavily, he quickly stands up straight and put his hands down on his sides then he lifts his chin and speaks respectfully "sir sorry to barge in without you acknowledge but something horrible is happening within the kingdom!" Julian lifts his chin and looks at the guard "what's happening?" he asks with a concerned look "The trees are dying and the villagers are catching some weird sickness that even the impale doctors aren't familiar with" he cups his chin and thought for a while "I see…" Lloyd came into the room with two men following him from behind "Julian what's the meaning of this!?" Julian sees Lloyd as he quickly gets up from his seat "what?" Lloyd sighs and facepalm "the farm grounds are turning in to wastelands…and the kingdom's treasured places are falling apart" Julian's eyes widen ad he moves his hair off from his forehead and lowers his head "it can't be…" he looks at the guard "ready my carriage, I am heading to the royal church" the guard salute and quickly leaves the room.

Julian grabs his cloak and puts it on and walks pass, Lloyd but he grabs Julian's arm. Julian stops and narrows his eyes at the other male "sir Lloyd I demand you to let my arm go" Lloyd narrows his eyes at Julian "what's going on?" he asks with concern. Julian sighs and nods "the darkness has once again decided to strike, keep this information secret from the people and try to keep the kingdom safe" Lloyd let go of Julian as he replied Julian with a whisper "rouge that" Julian whispers back to him "good" he walks off and the other male watches Julian walking away.

Amber yawns and walks around the empty royal hallway "man, there isn't much to do..." when she starts to stretch her arms she notices Julian he was walking through the opposite hallway and he looks like he was in a hurry so Amber decides to follow him "I wonder what's wrong?" she mummers softly and keeps following Julian to the main door that's where the carriage was waiting for him. Julian stops and looks behind himself, his eyes shift directly at the place where Amber was hiding "you can come out" he said with a demanding tone.

Amber comes out from her hiding place and rubs the back of her head "aw dam I got caught" she starts to laugh nervously. Two guards appear behind Amber and lock their arms with Amber and throw her inside the carriage "wh- what? When did I agree to come with you!?" Julian got in afterward and orders the coachman "let's go" he leans back and keeps his hand over each other and crosses his legs. Amber leans to Julian "hey, where are we going?" she slightly tilts her head.

Julian closes his eyes and lift his chin "you will see after we get there" Amber puff her cheeks and crosses her arms "dam brat" Julian opens his eyes and grabs Amber by her throat "who gave you the permission to speak to me like that?!" Amber starts to gasp for air when she felt that the grip was getting tighter and tighter. Before Julian could snap her throat the coachman spoke "ah? your majesty we have arrived" Julian let go of Amber as she held her throat and starts to cough. She glares at Julian from the corner of her eyes "dam monster..." she gets off after Julian.

The great priest of kingdom Xaya was standing in front of the entrance "you're majesty" Julian walks up to the priest "greetings father" the priest looks at Amber and gives her an unpleased look then his eyes shift back to Julian "come, we have a lot to discuss" Julian nods and walks inside the church. Amber sighs and rolls her eyes and decides to look around. The priest lowers his head while walking next to Julian "so, I'm guessing the darkness finally fallen upon Xaya" Julian nodded and looks at the priest "I know, so do you have any idea what I should do?" The priest nods and gives Julian a serious look "of course I kept the book that has the information about this matter" Julian looks at the priest with relief "that's a great news father please show me the way" he nodded and grabs a candle holder that was laying on the desk "come follow me"

They went to a secret library that was hidden from others it was placed below the church. Julian looks at the priest as he walks ahead of him, the priest stops near a bookshelf as he takes out a massive book and dust it off and places it on the table "I am guessing young Julian and everyone that's looking after the kingdom of Xaya knows about this darkness?" Julian looks at the book and then at the priest "yes, it was supposed to be a myth and nobody knew could be real" the priest smiles softly and opens the book and start to flip some pages "I see, even a myth can come true" he slides the book to Julian as he takes a look at the book and it was a map for the seven kingdoms "why are you showing this map to me?" Julian asks with a confused expression.

The priest's smiling face turns in to a frown "when your father was the king of Xaya he did many cruel things to the kingdom. To the people, and the other kingdoms. He had countless fights for more land but he always failed to archive this goal, soon before he knew it all the kingdoms turn against him, so your first task is to reunite all the kingdoms together and gather all the secret stones that are hidden underneath the kingdoms" Julian looks at the priest "what do you mean by stones?" the priest starts to explain again "there are seven stones hidden from people's reach. Only the kings and queens knew about this, these are hidden inside the guardian's shrines but before you grab hold of the stone you have to prove the guardian that you're worthy of it because these stones hold the power of a kingdom. The darkness that drains the power out of the kingdoms and that's the power that the stone holds so you have to hurry up before the stones lose their powers and disappear" Julian nods "we will head out tomorrow, I will do everything to save my kingdom" the priest nods and hand over the book to Julian "another thing, if you want to make allies with the other kingdoms, you should be the one who should talk to the rulers you should keep a low profile so don't let anyone recognize you" Julian grab the book "so the kingdom Xaya is despised by everyone?" the priest lowers his head in disappointment "indeed" Julian nods "I see, thank you for this information I will take my leave" the priest stops Julian "wait, you should meet sister Mari" Julian looks at the priest "why?"

(Where Amber is)

Amber walks around the church when she finds another building. She blinks and decides to walk inside the building but two women block her path. They look at Amber with a serious expression "how may we help you?" Amber looks at them and rubs the back of her neck "just wondering what this place is-"she laughs nervously. The two women look at each other and then at Amber, one of them smiles and looks at Amber "this is a women's monastery" Amber smiles back "can I look around?" the women chuckle "that's can't be done only the royals are allowed to go inside" Amber blinks "eh? But I…" before she could finish her sentence a familiar voice appears from behind, she turns around to see Julian and the great priest are walking up to her, the two women knees and bows their heads "welcome your majesty"

Amber's and Julian's eyes met as he walks past her, walking inside. She puffs her cheeks when she tries to follow him the two women stop her from coming inside. She took a few steps back, Julian turns around and says with a calm and serious tone "let her in" Amber smiles brightly and watches the two women letting her in, she bows her head and follows Julian. The Priest opens a ten-foot-tall wooden door as it squawk opens. There was a huge room with benches and a stand with a book on top of it, there was also a young woman on her knees and putting her hands together it seems like she was saying prayers. After she finished she gets up and turns around, her upset face turn into a bright smile when she saw Julian was standing in front of her. She walks up to Julian and kept her smile "finally you're here" Julian looks down at the young girl, his grumpy face changes into a charming expression. Amber looks at them and felt uncomfortable "what's going on…?" she mutters softly.

(To be continued)