-Chapter Eight: The Guy On the Balcony-

It was strange for Lilith to be in the Asterian war room making decisions that usually Gwen and (sometimes) Ace would help advise her in since they knew more about the kingdoms alliance than Lilith did, but she saw it appropriate to tell the next king of Asterin in line how Findara works. It still surprised her that he had never stepped foot into Findara before, then again Ace wasn't allowed out of the castle up until 4-ish years ago. Lilith slowly began to explain everything to Jack as they waited on Zehra and Leo Percy to get to the war room, Vulpecula was nowhere to be found but Jack knew she would pick up the plan right away if they proceeded without her. She explained the levels of the kingdom, the class system, the Elites, and anything Jack just didn't know about. "Wow, that's so corrupted." Jack said looking at the small model of Findara. He couldn't believe everything Lilith was telling him. Hana and the other simply observed around the table having somewhat knowledge of the kingdom.

"Yeah, try living there." Lilith scoffed just as the doors opened revealing Zehra and Leo Percy.

"Lilith!" Zehra greeted as she walked up to the Findarian and gave her a hug while Leo Percy introduced himself to Hana. "How have you been? How is Malakai?"

"I'm doing amazing, but Malakai has been worrying too much lately. You know how he gets when I travel in and out of too many kingdoms throughout the week, but he said thank you for the small cakes again, we loved them!" Lilith said, making Zehra smile.

"Wait... you know her? The last time you mentioned Lilith you sounded like you didn't know her." Jack recalled as Zehra shrugged her shoulders.

"It's a rule of Ace's that we all like to follow, so up until this point I told Zehra to pretend she didn't know me. Other than that, Zehra and I have known each other for a long time now." Lilith said.

"What rule? Why is Findara so secretive about everything? What's going on in that place?!" Jack asked mildly concerned of what he was already getting into. Jack has talked to people who ran away from kingdoms who ally with Findara, but nothing they say equates to the horrors in Findara. That kingdom was on a whole different league of its own.

"Jack, calm down bud. You already have too much on your plate, try to process one thing at a time." Leo Percy stated calmly as Jack nodded his head.

"The rule of thumb around Ace is to not tell him everything. We don't know who to trust within the castle, let alone the kingdom, and sometimes if you turn in someone who plays the 'devil's advocate', you can receive financial compensation of 20 gold pieces... which is a lot. That's why everything is so secretive in Findara." Lilith responded leaving Jack a little fazed, but he understood.

"Wait what do you mean by devil's advocate?" Leo Percy asked as he brought a chair up for Zehra and himself to the table and sat down with the rest of the group.

"I'm going to state the obvious for a moment, but just hear me out. King Oliver and Prince Ace express both ends of the spectrum. Prince Ace believes that us; lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, witches, wizards, spirits, and so on, deserves equality and freedom to do what we will like a lot of people in this nation. On the other hand, King Oliver and his millions of followers believe that any of those people are literal devil's advocates and the only way to save them is burning their bodies to purify them to heaven. So, the devil's advocate thing goes both literally and metaphorically here." Lilith answered trying to clarify Findara. "Explaining Findara is not easy at all-"

"It's just a Fool's Paradise." Jack interrupted piecing everything together. "Wait so Prince Ace has to put up this façade of hating people like us just until he's king. That's why Ace doesn't want you to tell him anything, it's for your own safety. The less he knows the better. What the living earth, that's so messed up. Here I thought all Findarians were awful human beings."

"That's amazing! Prince Ace is on our side, we can talk to him and figure out a plan to help everyone!" Leo Percy said as everyone agreed except for Lilith, Zehra, and Jack.

"It's not that simple Leo Percy. King Oliver will not think twice about going to war with us. Also keep in mind that our allies are not a third as strong as we are. We need months of preparing to do so." Zehra confronted.

"Actually, that won't be the case." Sellandia said walking in. "Drayde and I have been preparing a group of young witches and wizards that could help out if the day were to come. Hopefully it won't ever come to the day that you are at war with Findara. Been there, done that... it's quite terrifying."

"Hey I offered you shelter with me but you denied and decided to roam dead man's land like a dummy." Drayde said defensively as his lantern brought extra light to the dimly lit room.

"Dead man's land is too close to the forest and you know it. Plus, I didn't trust you then." Sellandia huffed as she looked over to the group. "Have you all thought of a plan yet?" She asked while taking a seat, Drayde standing behind her.

"We were just about to, Jack would you like to take over?" Lilith asked as Jack nodded.

"Well now that I know that our refugees are coming from Findara in two days, I know that I will be playing the biggest distraction. Everyone's positions will remain the same, so Emily and Sam, you will be waiting here at the kingdom to help them get situated and comfy in their new homes. Zehra you will be my, forgive me for saying it, date to the ball. Leo Percy, you and Eris will continue to be our guards to the ball, however, I need you to go to infiltrate their version of the war room and collect intel on their next war. As for the refugees I assume you, Lilith, is helping guide the refugees out of the kingdom?" Jack asked as Lilith nodded her head. "Great, Drayde could you help us transport them here?"

"Hmmm, I don't see why not. Plus, it could help save a night's trip." Drayde answered with a smile.

"Thank you! So, everything remains the same except for those two new positions." Jack stated as everyone nodded.

"Erm, Jack I don't think it's such a good idea for Leo to go-" "It's Leo Percy." Leo Percy corrected Lilith.

"Right, my bad. I don't think it's such a good idea for Leo Percy to go snooping around the castle in the open like that." Lilith said with a concerning tone.

"Why not?" Jack asked.

"The castle has eyes everywhere. Especially Xavier and Gracelyn." Lilith answered and, in that moment, Sellandia choked on the air itself.

"Xavier?!" Sellandia exclaimed. Her tone was off, there happiness but regret and fear laced into her shout. "Tall, dark skin, brown hair, heterochromatic eyes?!" She asked in a hurry.

"You know him?!" Lilith asked as Drayde's grin turned into a frown.

"We didn't just know him, we taught him and loved him." Drayde said as his hand on Sellandia's shoulder tightened.

"He was one of our first students decades ago. I was still new to teaching and Drayde was still new to the dangers of certain kingdoms. Xavier is a very intelligent boy. He can come across as outgoing and caring, but he's dangerous. For so long I thought I killed him, but hearing he's still alive makes me happy yet sad at the same time." Sellandia sighed as she laced her fingers with Drayde.

"𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵." Drayde whispered to her as he kissed the top of her forehead.

"What do you mean you thought you killed him?" Hana asked.

"I- You know how you all said I know every level of magic except for necromancy?" Sellandia asked as the younger witches nodded their heads. "Well, that's not true. I know some necromancy but swore off the practice. I considered Xavier my perfect child for so long. He meant the world to me, although I wasn't his biological mother. I watched him grow up and taught him everything I know. I think it was when I started to pay attention to the other students, I had all those years ago. I made him feel worthless, like he wasn't enough. I should have praised him more and told him that I am so proud of him but I didn't. Eventually he grew jealous and envious. He tried to impress me by learning death manipulation. When he was trying to show me what he had learned, it was the same day the students were learning transportation. As the magical people in the room, you understand how dangerous it is first learning transportation. For my non-magical people in this room, one wrong thought while trying to manifest your body to appear in a different place could lead to life threatening consequences." Sellandia said as she started to get teary eyed.

"Xavier was no more than twelve years old at the time, and my patience was running thin with him. I had 28 students to watch over before they accidentally impaled themselves on the trees. I snapped at Xavier; I literally casted a ten-minute banishment spell on him. Who does that?! He was so mad that when he came back, he cast a pain inducing spell on everything around him, including me. I counter the spell by returning it to him but triple fold. He started bleeding all over; his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. It was so bad that he foamed at the mouth and started to seize up from the pain. I didn't know what to do but watched in fear while all the students hid behind me. I never thought I would hurt one of my own kids before." Sellandia cried out. "Despite the condition he was in, Xavier placed a phobia illusion spell on the students and I. It took until Drayde found us to disenchant the spell, by then Xavier was gone and up until now I thought he died."

"Great, now we have a wizard with mommy issues on Oliver's side." A familiar voice said that the door frame. Everyone's heads shoot over to Vulpecula who leaned against the door frame.

"Vulpecula!" Leo Percy shouted as he quickly walked over to the lady covered in blood.

"Sorry I couldn't clean up. Eris told me about King Harry when I first walked in so I had to see the old man first. As for you Sellandia, I'm sorry to hear about Xavier. I didn't know that was the heavy weight that kept you down." Vulpecula sorrowfully said as she placed her sword leaning against the closest shelves to her.

"Thank you, I just wasn't expecting to hear his name after so long. I can't even feel his presence in the atmosphere anymore, he completely blocked me off from his mind. How have you been my dear?" Vulpecula asked, desperately wanting to change the subject. Yet to Lilith, it was so clear as to why Xavier has been cruel to her in all these years since she's been working in the castle.

"Same old, same old." Vulpecula answered while getting rid of her cape and some light armor that protect the major organs of her body.

"So how do you two know each other?" Emily asked curiously.

"Easy. I was fighting a spirit and it got me pretty good, like blood spewing everywhere. Then this lady, Sellandia over here, came and helped me out." Vulpecula stated keeping it short and sweet.

"You never explain anything." Zehra groaned as she sat in her chair and threw her head back in annoyance.

"I like to keep the element of surprise in play." Vulpecula retorted back. With that the small group bonded for the next two days while planning out what they needed to do in Findara and any extra information they needed. They were pretty open with each other, except for Sellandia, Drayde, and Vulpecula who had already feared they shared too much. The day before the ball, Jack went through everyone's task again making sure Eris and Vulpecula were included. To ensure Leo Percy's safety he made sure Vulpecula assisted him with finding Findara's future plans. According to Lilith, most of King Oliver's plans are written out on scrolls placed all over a room in one of the southern towers of the kingdom. She tried her best to explain how to get there, but Leo Percy's and Vulpecula's constant reassurance of 'we got it' kept throwing her to a loop. She was well aware that they could piece together the instruction of how to get to the war room from the ballroom, however, it was their safety Lilith was accounting for. They didn't understand how much they should not underestimate Findara, but their ignorance kept getting in the way. Lilith made sure to make a mental note to tell Chester to watch over the two.

The day before the ball approached and Lilith bid everyone a temporary farewell. "Are you sure you don't want me to teleport you over to Findara?" Drayde asked for the millionth time as he shook the stick a little, making the lantern sway from one side to another as Drayde tried to tempt her.

"Once again, I'm fine. Plus, I have to say goodbye to Malakai and there's some potential dates I can ruin too! I could also use the exercise." Lilith chuckled making Drayde smile.

"Wait, Lilith!" Hana called out nervously.

"What's up?" Lilith asked as she watched the small girl nervously twirl her copper locks around her fingers.

"If you know him, could you tell Cain I miss him?" Hana mumbled as she scratched her cheek nervously.

"Ah! So, you're the mystery girl that he's been talking about. Rhoma is going to be so mad that she lost 3 silver pieces to Sebastian." Lilith busted out laughing making Hana's cheeks turn to a heavier shade of red.

"H-He talks about me?!" Hana asked as she stumbled over her words.

"All the time! You have to tell me that story the next time I see you, but I'll make sure to tell Cain you said so." Lilith smiled as she gave her temporary farewells to everyone. It was early in the afternoon when Lilith began to make her trip to the Forbidden Forest to see her lover. It seems that summer was finally coming to an end since the temperature outside felt a lot cooler compared to a few days ago when Lilith first met Prince Jack. The wrestling of the trees before a huge gust of wind came along to play with her hair was probably one of Lilith's favourite little pleasures in life.

Upon entering the center of the forest, Lilith's was instantly greeted by many of the baby witches and wizards who casually played little magical games that enhanced their capability of performing that magic lever. Malakai immediately noticed Lilith from across the field while talking to some of the modern wizards of the community. "Babe!" Malakai yelled as he excused himself and ran towards her. Lilith jumped into his arms, feeling herself melt away in his comfort and safety. "Oh, have I missed you. Where are the others?" Malakai asked as he set her down on her own two feet and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Lilith smirked as she grabbed on to his collar and pulled him back down for a deeper and passionate kiss.

"Kiss me like you miss me." Lilith said between breaths. Malakai happily obliged as he wrapped one of his arms around her waist to pull her in closer while his other hand was tangled up in her hair. Lilith simply cupped his face into her hands, desperately wanting this to last forever.

Once pulled apart for air Malakai spoke up, "you're here to say goodbye, aren't you?" Malakai asked as Lilith frowned and nodded her head slowly. "Well how about we walk together to the other side of the forest and we can talk about what happened?" Malakai asked as Lilith smiled.

"Yeah, I would love that." Lilith answered as they linked hands and walked towards Findara. They talked about what had happened their time away from each other, Malakai went on a rant about how the baby witches are learning their environmental control and Lilith talked about how Asterin is getting prepared for the Findarian ball.

"Lilith you know you can leave; you have no obligation to stay there after what they did to you. Stay with us in the forest, stay with me. It's starting to get too dangerous out there and you could also practice your magic!" Malakai pleaded as he held a sturdy grip onto Lilith's shoulders.

"Practice what?! My fire magic? It's such a twisted way of the universe saying to go off myself. The one thing I hate and I'm good at it." Lilith groaned as she tried to shrug off Malakai's grip on her.

"That doesn't mean you have to use it to hurt others. Fire has healing abilities too! Please I'm scared that you'll get caught." Malakai said as his tone got soft making Lilith feel guilty.

"I... I didn't know you were scared." Lilith responded as she wrapped her arms around Malakai's torso.

"Babe are you kidding?! I'm petrified every time you go back to Findara. I know you know that you know what you're doing, but it still scares me that I won't be able to see you one day." Malakai mumbled into her hair as he traced circles around her back.

"Okay just this and I'll leave Findara. I don't know how long it will take, but I know King Oliver won't do anything to me. I'm supposed to be an example that 'devil worshippers' can be converted. I promise after this ball situation I will come home to you! We can have baby witches or little forest warriors of our own." Lilith proposed, making Malakai smile.

"As long as you come back to me." Malakai said as he kissed Lilith once more before their departure.

The next day, the sun poked through the windows of the castle stirring Jack wake. The sun's rays reflected off the white and gold walls that decorated Jack's walls. The thin, blue ethereal curtains that surrounded Jack's significant, blissful bed had no avail to shield out the sun. Jack groaned heavily as he grabbed one of his many pillows and placed it over his head, not wanting to wake up at all. Well at least not wanting to wake up today, out of all days. In the far off corner of the room, where the door to the hallway stood tall and mighty, a group of snickering fairies crawled from underneath the small opening of the door.

The group of fairies crawled underneath the sheets and started to bite Jack's limbs. "HEY! CUT IT OUT!" Jack screeched as he jumped up and out of bed, the fairies giggled as they flew away from the angry prince and out of the room from underneath the door. "Get back here!" Jack yelled as he followed the fairies in nothing but his pink cotton pants. Just as he ran out of the room he bumped into a shorter, stronger figure.

"Ahhh ha ha ha! He wears pink pajamas" Zehra wheezed out as Eris joined in her laughter.

"Hey cut it out!" Vulpecula ordered as the two immediately listened. "You got quite the day ahead of you Jack. Time to get ready." Jack nodded his head.

"Good morning to you too." Jack greeted the trio.

"You wouldn't have gotten up any other way and you know it." Eris noted as Jack rolled his eyes knowing they were right.

Vulpecula was right, Jack did have quite the day ahead of him. It started off with breakfast and listening to the Asterians' complaints. Luckily for him they were simple complaints like 'will there be more jobs coming soon' or 'if they could trust these Findarian runaways'. With the new information Jack received in the past days, he properly educated his people on what to expect and that they should not be afraid. This calmed the nerves of many people and the rest of the morning went smoothly for everyone.

Around one in the afternoon, Jack took a quick visit to see his dad after Emily and Sam were done doing another healing treatment. It was a comfortable, casual conversation that they exchanged. Jack noticed his dad being in better shape, but still not the best shape to be walking around. King Harry told his son of the wonderful adventures he used to have with Sellandia and Drayde, and how he met his mom... that would be a story for the wandering traveller for another time. King Harry also expressed how proud he was of Jack of taking control of this situation and taking his first steps into being a true ruler.

The hour before the ball started Jack stared at himself in his mirror. His heart started to race badly, he knew he was about to enter a whole different world within the next hour and Jack didn't know if he was ready for that. A small group of young men and women stood around Jack as they admired their work on him. The mirror reflected a subtle yet bold look. The jacket Jack wore was a dark blue with a simple gold design that looked like branches and gold buttons to hold the jacket closed. His pants were white with a gold line on the side of the pants, nothing overly standoffish but nothing under dressed either. Jack tucked away any strands of hair popping out of place that was cut off for the undercut.

"Thank you, seamstress and seamsters. Beautiful job as always." Jack thanked as he placed his gold crown on top of his head gently. The group giggled and awed over him as he left the small shop and walked outside. Jack stood in pure admiration of the sight in front of the small group surrounding the carriage. Zerah had her hair curled up in an angelic way that complimented her long, flowing, baby blue dress with translucent bishop sleeves. Vulpecula had half of her black, wavy hair swept to the side that covered one of her eyes. She wore a navy-blue dress that hugged her figure tightly. Then there was Eris and Leo Percy who wore their formal guard attire.

"Take a picture, it will last longer." Zehra said as Jack snapped out of it.

"Wow. I just never seen you two this well dressed before, you both look beautiful." Jack complimented.

"This is the first and last time you will see me dressed up for anything." Vulpecula said as she quickly got a burst of excitement. "But look what they did for me!" She said excitedly as she extended her left leg to show a slit in the dress, but she pulled the clothe back to reveal a strap of knives and daggers attached to her thigh.

"That's killer!" Leo Percy said as he looked at the design of the strap just as Emily and Sam arrived.

"Alright let's go." Jack announced as they all got into the carriage and left for the ball. The hour ride to Findara would have been a drag if Jack had travelled alone, but with his group of friends attending as well made the ride feel like fifteen minutes long.

"Hey you all might want to check this out." Eris said from outside the carriage as they and Leo Percy made the horses come to a halt five minutes away from the gates to Findara. Jack didn't know if he should feel inferior or not as he looked at the massive kingdom. Asterin must have been the same size as Findara but nowhere near as welcoming.

"Alright, we'll display an illusion of a meteor shower once we meet up with Drayde." Sam said as he hopped out of the carriage and wore her cape.

"Try not to have too much fun!" Emily added as Sam helped her out. The carriage continued its way towards the castle where music and laughter could be heard from the gates. Zehra we repulsed by the way everything was set up in the Slums. She could tell the run-down houses built with very little materials were given as much love as they possibly could be given, but it was still no excuse for anyone to be living in that. As they passed through Silver City the environment seemed to have a significant change. There were people walking around from one store to another, lively chatter, and a lot of stare towards their direction as the carriage entered Paradise Gardens. That's where the most dramatic change of scenery happened, and man was Lilith not kidding about the fashion statement of Findarians.

"Are you ready?" Zehra asked as the carriage came to a halt in front of the main castle doors. Leo Percy and Eris opened up the doors to let them out. Many Elites and other guests from neighboring kingdoms stopped to stare at Jack as he walked up to the doors. The designs and colours of the castle made Jack's stomach feel uneasy. He could obviously tell who was wealthier due to their bold dresses and headpieces. The Findarians wore a lot of black, red, and silver colours to stand out to the rest of the kingdoms that showed up that night. No one wore pink and purple from Petrina or yellow and orange from Caspin. None of Asterin allies were here, only Findara's allies. Zehra and Vulpecula were holding on either side of Jack's arms, Leo Percy was walking behind the trio, and Eris was guiding the group through the dimly lit castle to the ball room.

Everyone was whispering to one another while Jack and the rest passed through. "From Asterin, Prince Jack and his women; Lady Zehra and Lady Veronica." A very tall, brown haired guard announced as all eyes laid upon the group.

"Veronica?" Jack whispered over to Vulpecula.

"It my alibi, just go with it." Vulpecula said as they walked down the stairs to the main dance floor. The moment Jack let go of the girls and let everyone take on their given roles a wave of girls from other kingdoms surrounded the prince. Not only were there young ladies or princesses surrounding him but some Elites and servants trying to make him comfortable surrounded him as well. Jack was finding it hard to breath and to talk as the overwhelming scent of perfume and high-pitched squeals took a hold of him.

"Ladies, ladies! Please let the man breathe!" A voice called out making the group around him calm down. A small girl with big, curly, blonde hair pushed her way through the crowd and took the hands of Jack. "May I have this dance prince Jack?" The girl asked and Jack quickly followed her to the ballroom's floor. The music just began when the girl and Jack started to dance, but a white-haired boy caught the attention of the young prince. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦? Jack thought but immediately disregarded it as he swayed from one side to another with the girl in a flowy red dress.

"Thank you for helping me out back there..." Jack said as he elongated the ending.

"Persephone! Lilith told us that you would be arriving today." Persephone said as Jack dipped her gracefully.

"Ah, anyone Lilith trusts is a friend of mine." Jack noted as Persephone smiled ash she twirled in Jack's hands.

"It was really hard for me to get her trust. If you want, I could list off the names of people I trust." Persephone offered as Jack dipped her gracefully.

"That would be a lot shorter than the list of people not to trust." Jack laughed as well as Persephone. As the two continued to dance they had a light chatter of the few people that could be trusted and other facts about the kingdoms as well.

"Well thank you for the dance." Persephone bowed.

"Please, I'm the one that should thank you." Jack bowed back as he nudged his head over to the group of girls watching him.

"If you want to get some fresh air the balcony is over there. I'll create a distraction for you if you want? I'm sure this is all too much for you since this is your first time here." Persephone suggested.

"Thank you so much Persephone-" "Please my friends call me Perce." Persephone interrupted.

"Hey I have a Percy too! Except he only goes by Leo Percy." Jack said and Persephone's face lit up.

"Maybe we're related!" Persephone joked as Jack gave off a light chuckled. "Anyways, let me give a quick distraction for you." She added as she noticed the group of women approaching them again.

"That would be much appreciated." Jack nodded as she looked over to the group of girls.

"OH MY! IS THAT NATHAN MCMILLAN?!" Persephone yelled as she raced across the ballroom floor followed by a bunch of screaming from the ladies to see this Nathan Mcmillan guy. Jack took this opportunity to walk over past the towering columns and onto the balcony.

The cool October air helped calmed Jack down as he felt his anxiety get blown away. Jack looked up to the sky and was about to peek over the balcony to see the autumn coloured trees, but in that exact moment Jack was hit in the face by some frosting.