A Toast

"So, who's the idiot?" Bryan asked Lobian.

"He's from the Klagan Kingdom." Lobian answered.

"That's right, so you better leave if you want to avoid trouble." The Klagan individual haughtily said.

"Do you want us to beat him up or something?" Bryan casually offered.

Lobian looked at him with surprise and shook his head, "No need, he's an eyesore anyways. Aren't you, Trox?"

"What did you say?!" Trox spoke in an angry tone.

Lobian narrowed his eyes, "You sure you want to fight me?"

All of a sudden, Trox could feel a tremendous pressure on his body. He couldn't move a single inch and just stared at Lobian with slight fear.

"Pathetic!" Lobian released the pressure.

"Wait for the last round of the tournament. My big brother will crush you!" Trox said before fleeing away from the area.

"What a loser." Ash shook his head.

"He isn't going to achieve much in his life." Algo said.

"Now, who is his big brother that can supposedly defeat you?" Ray curiously asked.

Lobian looked around and said, "Why don't we all go to a famous restaurant that I know and we'll talk there?"

"Sounds good." Ray nodded.

"Let's go right now!" Algo was excited.

In a three-storey building named the "The Food Paradise", the group found a table in the third floor in the otherwise jam packed restaurant demonstrating it's popularity and quality.

"We're in the third floor only meant for the upper elites of the Aeron Empire." Lobian smiled.

"Good thing we're your friends." Bryan chuckled.

"The menu...looks...so...delicious...!" Algo couldn't stop drooling.

"Sorry, but he's a major foodie." Ash pinched Algo's cheeks.

"Haha, order whatever you want. It's all on me." Lobian waved his hands.

"Now that I think about it, you five don't care much about royalty or status, do you?" Lobian asked.

"No, we don't. We judge a person based on their actions, conversations and our own intuition. And so far, you are a good guy." Asif said with a nod.

"Haha, thank you. Although, you guys are young to be so mature." Lobian blushed slightly.

"Well, what can we say. Without parents, we had to rely on each other although we have an amazing old man in our lives." Bryan said.

"I would love to meet him and ask him how he managed to stay sane with you guys." Lobian chuckled.

"That's an understatement!" Ash said.

""HAHAHAHAHA!"" They laughed together with Ash and Bryan patting each others' back with force.

"So, I heard something about the Naelor Kingdom?" Asif questioned.

"Is that where you're from?" Ray added.

"Yeah, I'm from the Naelor Kingdom. To be more precise, I'm the current heir to the throne of the Naelor Kingdom." Lobian nodded.

"Oo, so you're like a prince then?" Ray was interested.

"More like, he is a prince, dumbass." Bryan uttered.

"What's your rank?" Ray looked at him smugly. Bryan just gave him the middle finger and ate his food disgruntledly.

"So, how many kingdoms are there?" Ash curiously asked.

"In the Aeron star field? Too many to count but there's only 4 major kingdoms that serve directly under the Aeron Empire. They are the Sharka Kingdom, Naelor Kingdom, Klagan Kingdom, and finally the Belron Kingdom." Lobian explained while shoving a piece of red meat into his mouth.

"You've met Garr from the Sharka Kingdom, me from the Naelor Kingdom and Trox from the Klagan Kingdom." Lobian continued.

"What about the...Belron Kingdom?" Algo asked with a mouthful of food.

"If you look behind me, you'll see a two females with antennas on their forehead and wings on their back. They're from the Belron Kingdom and their wings are their characteristic trait." Lobian quietly informed.

"Holy fuck, they're so beautiful." Ash said with a hand on his chin.

"Don't be a creep and eat your food." Bryan disturbed him.

"What a busybody."

"The big brother that weakling was talking about is the heir to the Klagan Kingdom and unfortunately, he is a monstrous genius favoured by the entire Klagan Kingdom and some of the upper elites of the Aeron Empire. He is most likely to win the tournament according to my sources but since I've met you guys, I'm not so sure about that anymore." Lobian smiled happily.

"You can count on us for beating up his ass." Ash pounded his chest with pride.

"Apart from that monster from the Klagan Kingdom, there are two other strong contenders. Eris Belron, heir to the Belron Kingdom and Allie Volker, the young princess of the Sharka Kingdom."

"Allie Volker?" Asif repeated.

"Yes, the younger sister of Garr Volker and the most powerful one amongst the young generation of the Sharka Kingdom." Lobian explained.

"Interesting..." Bryan smiled.

*Click Clack*

"What a surprise..." A friendly voice sounded out from behind the group.

"And speak of the devil, Prince Khai and Princess Kaya, another two extremely strong contenders to win the tournament." Lobian smiled.

The brothers turned around and saw Prince Khai and Princess Kaya gaining everyone's attention in all their glory. The other tables knew it was too rude for them to interrupt them so they gave a slight bow of respect in their direction and minded their own business.

"Mind if we join you?" Kaya asked.

"Not at all!" Ray hurriedly said before offering her a seat. Bryan and Ash rolled their eyes. Kaya sat between Ray and Algo. Khai sat between Bryan and Lobian.

"I assume Lobian brought you guys to the famous restaurant in Planet Aeria." Khai smiled.

"Yes, he did and boy are we glad that we're here." Ash was loving the food.

"Excuse me!" Khai called out and soon a waitress came over.

"How may I help you, Prince Khai?"

"Please get a jar of Lotus Wine and some snacks accompanied with it."

"Yes, Prince Khai. I'll be back shortly." Khai nodded and the waitress left to get the jar of wine.

"Aren't we young to drink some wine?" Asif perked up his eyebrow. Lobian, Khai and Kaya looked at him weirdly.

"Is there something on my face?" Asif touched his face clueless as to why they were staring him like that.

"Wait, you mean to say you've never had wine in your life?" Lobian carefully asked.

"Yes, me and my brothers have never had wine." Asif nodded in confusion.

"Why?" Khai was curious.

"Because our 'kingdom' didn't allow anyone to drink below the age of 18." Bryan explained.

"That's ridiculous." Lobian was flabbergasted.

"If you let the wine affect you, you can easily use your elemental energy to dissipate the effects without any repercussions whatsoever." Khai casually said.

"What the fuck?!" Bryan was elated to hear the news. "Finally I can taste alcohol..."

"Fucking dumbass!" Ash shook his head.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" Khai asked.

"Nothing much. Lobian here was telling us about the four kingdoms and the geniuses of the current young generation." Ray said.

"Ray, this leg tastes so fucking juicy..." Algo said while licking his fingers.

"I fucking know right!" Ray took a bite.

"The geniuses of the current young generation..." Kaya thought about something.

"There was some Eris Lebanon an-"

"Eris Belron!" Lobian corrected Ash.

"Ah right that. Then there was a Allie Walker an-"

*Cough Cough*

"Allie Volker!" Lobian corrected Ash again.

""HAHAHAHAHA!"" The others chuckled and laughed.

"Hey hey, I heard them wrong alright. Oh yeah, you didn't tell us about the name of the other one." Ash looked at Lobian with questioning eyes.

"Haha, the one from the Klagan Kingdom is called Urza Kallux, the Godsun." Lobian lightly said.

Kaya frowned slightly and Ray noticed it. With curiousity getting the better of him, he asked her, "What's the matter?"

"*Sigh* He is interested in me." Kaya coolly said.

"Oo, just like me then." Ray smiled.

"You don't understand. I loathe him. He thinks he's above everyone else and deserves to get everything. I've never met anyone so stuck up in his own world." Kaya was irked by him.

"So you hate him?" Ray asked.

"Yes." Kaya angrily nodded.

"And you like me?"

"Ye-" Kaya stopped herself and Ray simply smiled.

""Hahahaha!""

"He got you good, sis." Khai rubbed his sister's head.

"Tch!" Kaya swatted her brother's hand away and looked at Ray with mock disbelief.

"Haha, I'm sorry. Just wanted to get your mind off of him." Ray rubbed the back of his head.

Kaya indeed felt her mood improving and felt more brightened, "Thank you."

"No worries. Anyways, I hope I get to fight him. That way I'll show him there's always someone stronger." Ray said while casually ripping the meat of a bone.

"Ray, fuck you and your face." Ash flipped him off.

"Pfffft! Hahahahaha!" Bryan spat out his drink and laughed.

"What did I do now..." Ray scratched his cheek.

"He's just jealous." Asif said.

"Don't worry man, one day you'll get the girl of your dreams." Ray consoled him.

"What element does that Urza guy have?" Algo mainly asked.

"We're not 100% sure but he's a dual elementalist and one of the two elements that we identified is the Fire element." Lobian said.

"His other element must be a unique element." Asif thought out loud.

"Who cares anyways, if any one of us brothers fight him, he's gonna get pummeled into the ground." Ash casually said.

"Regardless of how confident you feel, you must be careful." Khai seriously said.

"We might as well listen to you." Asif said while Khai nodded.

At this point, the waitress from before came over with a tray. She placed a jug and a few snacks on the table and excused herself.

"Ah here it is." Khai and Lobian licked their lips. Khai opened the lid of the jar and a heavenly smell wafted out assaulting their face.

"Oohh what the fuck..." Bryan was instantly smitten with the smell.

"Wow..." Asif was equally as flabbergasted.

*Gasp*

Both Ray and Ash took deep breaths, enjoying the insane scent emanating from the jug. They felt their face tingle with anticipation. Khai poured a cup of wine for everyone in the table.

Bryan raised the cup in the air and said, "Here's to a cold night, warm friends and the start of a new era! Cheers!"

""CHEERS!""

They all took a sip and savoured the wine to its fullest. The brothers felt different but in a good way with their cheeks flushed. They could feel their body rejuvenating and their mind clear from distractions.

"I need to save me some for the future." Bryan said with intense desire.

"You let me handle that." Khai patted Bryan's shoulder and they happily chuckled.

"So Ray, although you said you five are brothers but I don't see much of a resemblance amongst you." Kaya spoke with a hand on her chin.

"Haha, we are brothers by name not by blood but that doesn't stop us from being inseparable." Ray smiled.

"Then w-what...about your parents?" Kaya hesitantly asked.

"You don't have to be so careful, Kaya. About my parents, well we all are orphans so we don't know about them and I don't think we care anymore since we have each other." Ray took a sip of the wine.

"I see. You are kind of like me. My mother unfortunately died during childbirth so I have never met her. It was only me and my brother taking care of each other. My father is the King so he did not have much time for us but lately he's been spending a lot of time with us which I'm glad for." Kaya said with a smile.

"Well, let's drink to that." Ray raised his cup.

Kaya grinned and raised her cup, "Cheers!"

They took a gulp and smiled widely at each other.

"Oh right, how about you tell me a secret of yours and I'll tell you one of mine." Kaya suggested.

"Haha, I like that." Ray chuckled. "Let's see, a secret of mine. Alright, I have a white round scar under the right side of my chest. Let's just say it was a stupid accident of mine when I was playing as a young kid."

"A white scar sounds amazing, probably looks cool too. I'd love to see it one day and....now it's my turn. I have a moon-shaped birthmark somewhere on my body." Kaya grinned and took another sip of wine.

*PFFFFT!*

*COUGH COUGH*

"Hahahahaha!"