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The soft ring of the doorbell alerted Outis to his last customer leaving for today and the incoming of a now frequent visitor. After their first encounter, he wouldn't say settled down, but became more of another annoyance than a threat. They always come at the near end of his workday.
"We just want to talk." The blonde had tried her hardest to coerce him many times.
She had been the one to be the most excessive ball of light he had ever seen. Her hair was starkly bright, like the light of sun and it waved over her face and shoulders. They were both pale and at times felt ghastly to the touch. There was something about them he couldn't put his hands on. It didn't sit right with him, and it was impossible with the twins.
However, he could never turn them away. Especially, not when they asked. Their voice, just like their music, was hypnotic, not meant to ignored. So, he gave in.
Ń̶̞͜o̵̮̪̫̒̂̎͒̌.
He resisted, heavily. At least it kept off the effects of their voice to a tolerable minimum. Enough for him to reject their pleas, whatever those were because his whole body was doing its best to break free.
"We're back~" The familiar blonde boldly burst through the front entrance in a flamboyant matter.
She was followed by her unusual quiet companion who had manage to sneak up him more than he found comfortable. In comparison to her combustible friend, she was almost opposite. They were like night and day in every respect yet felt strangely similar. Even twining in their clothes, wearing nothing but flowy shirts and rider pants. Occasionally, they would come in with a cape which worsen the panic state of Basil, as if the masks they always wore didn't obscure them already.
Outis, with all the rage he could muster, had tried to get rid of them in any means. And he tried all the means. They just seemed to either know what was coming or evade it effortlessly. Poison, framing, and not even blackmailing worked. It didn't help that he knew nothing about them, not that he hadn't asked around or try to look into them.
In a few days they had caused more nuisance than the people of the city he shared air with. They would not leave him alone and he had gotten enough social interaction from them to last him a decade.
"One bottle of healing and another for insomnia." It was their excuse to stay a bit longer than they had to and Outis immediately felt himself getting the potion from the high shelf.
By now he had relented to the routine.
They took a seat in the same spot as on the first time they met and pulled out their bag of coins.
He never said anything about their over-paying though.
"What is it that you want from me?" Outis returned to their table with bottles of glowing liquids.
It was all he could do in the end. They had somehow followed him back to the shop the first time, fascinated by him being here since he was new to{somehow, they figured that out), and he looked like someone with talent. It was their explanation the day after.
"Finally. For starters I am Milli and this ball of starlight next to me is Lea and we want you to make something for us." Milli, looked beyond the moon by the new revelation and Outis had a feeling he just make a big mistake.
A pile of papers was pulled onto the table with a big 'oomph'.
Outis peered down at it nonchalantly. He really didn't expect much from these two but the more he look at the papers the more he knew he didn't expect much from them. A little too eagerly than he liked, he snatched the papers off the table.
He flipped through them quickly with an outlandish feeling. Excitement?
Right before his eyes were what he knew to be the most perfect blueprints ever created. All the lines were straight, the writings were clean, the legends easy to follow and inventions on them were something he never seen before.
"Can you make them for us?" Lea turned towards him calmly.
He was unnaturally inclined to answer, "No. I don't have the materials for something like this."
"We will get you everything you need. Just as long as you can put them together using those blueprints, which I know you can." Milli gave a pompous smile.
Her last words felt ominous to Outis, but he could care less as everything they said felt rather ominous.
Soon they pushed back their chairs, took their potions and left.
He stood there, debating the pros and cons of his decision.
~
(The Old King)
"There is always unrest in peace. The heart will always betray the mind in your greatest trail. Ignore the heart and give way to the mind."
The same room, with the same uncaring figure replaying like a broken gramophone.
"You must cleanse the land of every insubordination and make it anew."
However, Jackal stood ramrod and at attention at every word spoken. There had been a shift in the air since the unusual visit from the Prodigal. The hallways spoke of unknown things with an edge all too unnoticeable.
"There's been unrest in the lands. The streets are whispering of disharmony."
It wouldn't be the fits of drunken citizens that know not when the streetlights go off and the morning sun rises.
"Find it out and dispose of it or else."
Threats were never new but at the same time unnerving. Jackal knew that they wouldn't do anything to harm him yet. It was as if they were waiting. Waiting for him to make a mistake, step over a boundary that not even the fake title of Prince of the Einshire Empire could save him.
"Yes, your majesty." It was the sound of his flat emotionless voice that stirred his conscious.
Like clockwork a servant would come in with a covered tray. Jackal would lift it up to reveal a coded document, just in case anyone would try to test their luck. But as luck would have it, no one would dare go against the crown (except the Church), unless they too would be one of hundreds that go missing. Family members would vanish, house and belongings burned and nothing and no one uttering their names again.
As he took within his hands the document of the day and scan over the jumble of gibberish written down, he picked out the letters and words that did matter.
'Underground Illicit Boxing Ring'
Boxing?
From what he could get from the paper, it was another form of illegal street fighting. A new and feverish form that have exploded with the common folk and gamblers alike. This would be fine if it didn't include exclusive additions of Ingnasualt new and formidable unspoken monster and sprites. Somehow someone was able to travel to that hellscape of a region and wrestle with the dark past that plague the Empire up to this day, centuries later.
Jackal placed the paper back, having read enough and bowed down to the emperor before leaving. It was looking to be an interesting case.
~
As always, Prometius would retire to the simple quietness of his chambers nearing the end of the day. It was never usually a mess, despite having maids and many servants to clean up after him, he would go out of his way to clean his own space. Often times, he would notice the brief sigh of relief or a face of appreciation whenever they would come on their daily chore. It made him happy, being the one to relieve even just a bit of tension and stress from those around him.
However, that wasn't always the purpose of his intentions. He didn't want them to notice his growing obsessions. All the maps and books he had collected about this palace, the lit streets just outside his big wide windows and the much more. It would disturb them if they had known how he knew all the little hallways they traverse and the secret corridors that well...weren't so secret anymore.
So why did he stay?
Even with all the absurd security and guards in rotation he could've surely made it out of here one way or another. Prometi could feel nothing but placid in these walls. His needs were always met, and any feelings of discomfort and curiosity were wash away by long lectures of responsibility.
"You haven't even finished your training yet son. To be the Empire's sword is the biggest blessing that runs in this family." His father would always go on about the long history of the Einshire and Gailus family deep rooted entanglement.
"We were blessed by the goddess herself to be a strength of our people. The same people who are longfully waiting for your ascension to the throne, you will have to bear the mark of the blessing soon." His mother was always with his father when it came to this argument.
"Ah, yes. Soon you would have to leave the nest and see the world you so desire for yourself. Leaving me and your mother with just your brothers and sister. Lacking a chick in the coop." He had said this with a playful remorse, his fuzzy eyebrows scrunching up before a wide smirk pressed his face.
"It would just mean we would have to make another child to fill in the gap. Oh, how regretful..." A chaste kiss to his wife lips and he whisper something in her ear making her blush and laugh.
It was in that moment he knew the conversation was over and discreetly left the two.
However, even after many similar talks it couldn't quelch this longing in Prometi heart for more. To get the blessing would mean he would have to go from his family, home and dear subjects and into the heart of Einshire. He would have to go to the College of Alexandrite. It was a place where many nobles went to receive the highest level of knowledge one could receive from the Church. The course was rigorous and stiff, but it only lasted close to a year and a half. Once passed, you would be considered highly by many, and your path would be easy.
Despite this, he had heard from the maids about how stuck-up the people of Einshire were. It did make him feel uneasy but hopefully they are a whole lot nicer than assumed. Maybe, everyone would get along like they did in the palace. In the end he was doing this to protect the ones he loved and cherish so even if it was hard, he would have to push through it.
Prometi sigh echos through the hollow room. There should be layout of the Alexandrite College somewhere. He would brush up on it so to not get lost. It was in a cabinet under his bed which was centered in the room. As he lifted the covers and pull out the floor plans a familiar paper fell out. It was written in the scribbles of his younger years and at the very top in bright red was the words 'ESCAPE PLAN.'
He chuckled and put the paper back where it came from. It would take something unexpected if he would ever enact the old fever dream. Every time he tried to when he was younger, he would get swift up by the guards or maids.
Yes, it would take something miraculous.
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