"Our princedom of Hayle was the dominant kingdom that ruled over all the princedoms of this realm. That was until my father died." She sighed sadly.
"When my father died, I, as the only offspring, directly inherited the vacant throne. Suddenly, General Talos and his henchmen besieged the capital and seized the palace from us."
"Numerous Spirits perished. Those who stayed loyal to the throne escaped the capital and scattered across the forests. General Tarsus and his men were sent by me to retrieve our scattered allies to travel to the neighboring City of Isnid and to counterattack against the rebels."
Matthias 'ahhed' after listening to her story. "That's what those groups of beings are." He said.
"What do you mean by 'those beings'?" Princess Raya asked hurriedly.
"There are groups of light beings— I mean Spirits— setting camps eight kilometres down south." He said.
"Kilometres?" General Tarsus and Princess Raya looked at each other with confusion.
"Oh, right. Different cultures." Matthias chuckled awkwardly. "Just down South. Follow me." Matthias signalled them and ran. Princess Raya and the others followed him hurriedly.
After an hour or so, Matthias looked to his east and turned. There, a group of twenty Spirits gathered inside their camps made of energy.
Matthias felt a headache going on as he needed to deal with a Spirit that looks exactly like Princess Raya. Although they really don't look alike, being a literal light being, Matthias really can't distinguish them much.
Matthias stopped behind a bush, avoiding himself to be seen. The Spirits that were with him have also caught up behind him. When Princess Raya saw them, she exclaimed, "Sister Tuwa?"
One of the Spirits that seemed to be leading the others looked in their direction, "Princess Raya?" She chirped with joy and ran towards them.
"You're safe?" She grabbed Princess Raya's shoulders and hugged her.
"Y-Yes." Princess Raya laughed awkwardly. "Sister Tuwa, there's other people." She whispered.
"O-Oh." Sister Tuwa backed down stiffly. She knelt and greeted formally, "Your subject is glad that you are safe, Princess Raya." She proclaimed.
She stood up and turned towards the other Spirit, "Hello, Father." She bowed.
The Valo soldiers knelt towards her and shouted with respect, "Greetings, General Tuwa!"
Matthias sneakily walked towards Princess Raya and asked, "I thought you were an only child?"
"Who's this human bumpkin?" General Tuwa hissed.
Princess Raya laughed, "Oh, bother. She's not my real sister." She replied, "She's a friend of mine and I like to call her Sister. But she's the daughter of General Tarsus, Tuwa."
"Sister Tuwa, this is Han Jianyu, a friend that helped me escape General Talos." She introduced.
"Oh. I thank you for saving our Princess." General Tuwa bowed towards him. "No, thanks." Matthias replied while waving his hands.
After that talk, They gathered the Spirits together and prepared to leave. "This won't do." General Tuwa suddenly said. "The Spirits that scattered throughout the forests were too many. It would take us ages to gather them all."
"I'll help." Matthias suddenly voiced out. He placed his palms together and closed his eyes. His shadow suddenly widened and separated. From his separated shadow, ten black clones rose up which startled everyone.
"Humans really do have cards up their sleeves." General Tuwa muttered with shock.
"He's from The Surface." General Tarsus said while looking at him with shock.
"From The Surface?!" The woman general exclaimed. General Tarsus nodded.
Matthias placed down his hands and sighed, "The consumption is high. I only have half of my replenished energy left."
He then extended his hand to them, "You could hand them any proof of authenticity that they are allies. I will send them to the camps that I discovered while journeying."
"Could you?" Princess Raya gasped and asked happily. He nodded, "The least I could do is help."
"Why are you helping us, human?" General Tuwa asked with narrowed eyes.
"Uhmm." Matthias went silent. Inside his mind, Old Man Sanyi suddenly voiced out, "Just say Fate. They'd believe it."
"Fate." Matthias complied with the old man. Suddenly, the faces of the Spirits lightened up, "As it is."
"I-If it's Fate, then I guess." General Tuwa muttered.
"They're this gullible?!" Matthias gawked secretly. "Spirits all believe in the absolute intangible. Fate, Destiny, Luck, Misfortune, etcetera. One mention of either of those, and they'll believe it like a fanatic." Old Man Sanyi replied.
"Then, we'll place our trust in you, Han Jianyu." Princess Raya said and smiled.
Matthias smiled back. Princess Raya then conjured ten light orbs and sent them towards the respective shadows. "That is the Light of Royals. As the last living royal, I represent the Loyalists as its ruler." She stated.
"May the Lord of Fate and Protection guide and protect you all from mishaps." She said and bowed.
The shadows bowed and sunk in the shadows. The shadows then glided through the ground going to their respective destinations.
After that, Matthias and the others went southwest; The City of Isnid.
The group of 32 walked for hours, rested, and walked once again.
When they arrived, they were shocked and terrified at the sight in front of them.
Matthias was also shocked. He saw the outline of the glorious towering walls of pristine white quartz. But the whole image of the walls was ruined, cracked, and punctured.
The golden gates were down, mowed. Inside, kneeling Spirits were suppressed by their same race holding spears and swords.
Patrolling soldiers filled the destroyed streets, white banners with a symbol of a red diamond fluttered throughout the roofs of buildings. The Royal Flag was white with gold rim and a tree of life in the middle that was surrounded with laurel. The Flag of Hayle was white, just like the Royal Flag without the gold rim and the tree of life replaced with a flower; The banners that were fluttering inside the city weren't one of the flags of Hayle.
"Even Isnid!" General Tuwa cried. She kneeled, heartbroken.
Energy was sapped from Princess Raya as she slumped down, absentminded. Fortunately, she was caught by General Tarsus.
"Old Man! Return me my godcraft for just a minute! No, even just for a second!" Matthias exclaimed in his thoughts.
"No, Matthias. This is a part of your test. Solve it without your godcraft." Old Man Sanyi stated with a straight voice.
"Old Man Sanyi! Have you gone mad!?" Matthias angrily thought. "You're gonna let them just do this?! You said it yourself that it was fate that we met, then, we ought to help them! I am a god, and I have power!"
In response to his rant, Old Man Sanyi laughed mockingly, "Don't even, Matthias." He replied. "You also said it yourself. You are a god and you have power. Then why would you use your power against mortals with their mortal ways?"
"Even if it hurts your conscience, be indifferent. Immortals and Mortals have a huge disparity between each other. If you are still bound by things like this, then don't even consider yourself an immortal. Even if you don't die, as long as you don't fully understand what mortality is, you will never be immortal."
"Immortals control the fate of mortals. Immortals govern the natural laws and succumb to the absolute. Immortals aren't what mortals think of them to be, lofty unkillable beings. Immortals have their own responsibilities just like mortals. You know that yourself."
"If you are in your own world of creation, then you can do what you want, but please limit yourself. You are in another place. Gods will not like your nosiness."
"Learn, Matthias. Even if you are a god, you are not that free. You have responsibilities, so don't be too attached to others. Don't interfere too much with the affairs of the mortal realm. I'm letting you here because I restricted your godcraft and authority. Once you choose to forcefully possess your godcraft and authority, I will directly push you out of this realm and not train you. You will not even have a chance to help them, I won't let you." Old Man Sanyi coldly reprimanded and he stopped speaking.
Matthias went silent and looked back to all the things he did. He once massacred millions if not billions just for his own benefit. It really was laughable that he was being mad for this kind of thing. He slowly realized things about his mortality. It was laughable that he was classifying himself as an Immortal when he doesn't even understand what mortality is. At last, he just sighed and turned to them, "Let's go. We won't be able to go against that many of them. We wouldn't be able to do anything if they found us. We would need to sacrifice others if we want to escape that much of an army."
Hearing him, everyone weeped. They saw their kind and allies suffering under the cruel hands of the enemies. "What we need is to gather all that we can gather and strategize. As long as we're alive, we can fight."
"You're only like that because you're not our kind. Typical Humans." General Tarsus snorted.
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