Secret Meeting With The King (1)

As Luca began to lead his dragonling partner through the dimly lit passages of the palace, he started talking about how these passages existed. The existence of the Nightwatchers being revealed to the young whelp made Arcturus excited, knowing that he now knew an incredible secret. "That's so cool, big brother! Now we can sneak into the palace whenever we want!"

Luca chuckled, "That's not how it works, Arc. Some of the ones in the palace have sensors to alert the king of a Nightwatcher's arrival, at which point he will open it. Others, such as the one in the gallery we just used, will not activate at all without His Majesty's action. There's even one passage, the critical escape tunnel, that only activates when touched by the king's signet ring, which can only be worn by those of the Valar bloodline. No tunnels exist that can just let you sneak in whenever you want. That would pose a monumental risk to the palace's safety, after all."

"Aww... I guess that makes sense..." Arcturus's curious nature was suppressed slightly when he heard that his idea to sneak into the palace was naughty but a fantasy. After a moment of silence, the dragon whelp spoke again, "Then... big brother, how come you know of these passages, or of the Nightwalkers? You said that their order is extremely confidential, right?"

Knowing that he'd have to explain to the King the full truth of his mission, hence knowing that Arcturus would learn it as well, Luca sighed in resignation, "I'll tell you the full reason when we speak with the king, okay? It'll be much easier just saying it once. A shortened, simpler version of the truth is that I knew a Nightwatcher veteran once. His oath of secrecy had become void, so he could speak of it as he wished." This was mostly true, as the original identity of the player that first posted the secret entrances and such to the game forums had become a high-ranking member of the Nightwatchers. Originally, he could not post those things, as per a type of non-disclosure agreement, but that agreement was disposed of once the Valar Kingdom fell to the demonic hordes. Thus, he could post the secrets as he wished. As the former capital had fallen, by releasing these secrets, players could potentially break back into the city when necessary. The critical escape passage's bloodline restriction became void as well with the death of the royal family, otherwise, there would be no way to pull it off.

"Hmm... that already sounds sketchy, big brother..." As young as Arcturus was, he wasn't stupid by any means. The explanation he'd just gotten was full of holes large enough to drive a truck through. The biggest of these holes was the fact that Luca even knew a former Nightwalker. Most people wouldn't know of Luca's past, but Arcturus, short-lived as he was, did. Aside from the handful of people the young Dragonborn had gotten familiar with back in Greenfield Town, Arcturus knew of everything that Luca had experienced. He was even aware that Luca had 'appeared out of nowhere' at the age of ten in Greenwood Town. Nobody knew he existed prior to then, too. Therefore, Arcturus could infer that the existence of the aforementioned Nightwalker member was likely a fabrication. As for the oath of secrecy becoming void, this was only secondary to this first hole. There were only two ways an oath of secrecy could be voided: the death of the contractor, in this case, the Valar royal family, or by the contractor's prior approval. For an unknown child to be enough of a reason to get a contractor's approval was already incomprehensible. As for the death factor, the royal family was clearly still alive. Arcturus could easily deduce that his big brother wasn't telling the truth.

Luca felt guilty continuing to lie to his lifebound partner, but he held strong in his decision, "I know Arc... I know. I promise you'll understand it once we meet with His Majesty. This matter is too big to hide forever, and I need to tell His Majesty now before it's too late."

Arcturus's draconic gaze turned to stare deeply into Luca's eyes. This stare was constant, lasting many minutes before the silent walk was broken with the dragon whelp's words, "I really hope you're telling the truth, big brother..." That stare, the innocence in it, burned the Dragonborn lad's heart. Oh, how it hurt!

___

Several awkward moments of walking, during which Luca constantly sweat bullets under Arcturus's gaze, passed uneventfully before the pair arrived at a rather large octagonal room that served as a converging crossroads for seven other passages. In the centre of the room was a circular, currently covered, hole, within which a cylindrical tube led down to another area. This room stood directly above the king's study, though separated by a good three metres of solid stone, heavily enchanted to ensure no sound escaped. By entering the tube from the crossroad's hole, a Nightwalker would drop out from the ceiling one metre away from the king's left side. The study was quite large and had four identical pillars in symmetrically placed spots. One of these pillars was the facade of the Nightwalker's secret passage to the royal study. To enter the tube from either end, one first had to receive the king's permission.

With a very quiet clicking sound, akin to the one Luca had heard before, the manhole-like cover on the tube slid open. The young Dragonborn unhesitantly stepped in and plummeted through to the king's study, with the rather dumbfounded dragonling following along. As the tube was meant for an adult, and Arcturus was only the size of a full-grown wolf, he could manage to fit in without much trouble. The bottom of the pillar had a small but high-grade Wind-type array to soften the landing and, if needed, send its contents upward to the crossroads room. Due to this array, Luca and his partner, who landed on top of him, did not hurt themselves from the fall.

When the pair of human and dragonling tumbled out of the pillar into the king's study, Arthur Valar, who was originally prepared for a serious beginning to their meeting, was instead astonished. His previous demeanour was briefly replaced by a confused expression as he took in the sight of Luca, attempting to straighten himself out with a very, very red face, while Arcturus fidgeted, showing none of the natural air that a Dragon Clansman should possess, mostly due to his less-than-stellar entrance.