Varian and the Seven Kingdoms (Varian's Seven Trials)

Princess Nuru

"There it is!" Yong's voice yelled from the hatch in the roof. It was dark out as the journey had taken all day and they were now approaching Zephaeli. Hugo looked in the direction of Yong's voice, leaning against the desk while Varian attached a final, light blue orb to his belt with a smile.
"It's so pretty!" Yong shouted again before climbing down into the caravan again. Hugo nudged him aside to take a look out of the hatch.
"That sure is a view...Goggles, come take a look at this."
Varian climbed up to the hatch and looked at the kingdom. It was surrounded by mountains and was twinkling with star-like lights in the dark of the night.
"Woah..." Varian stared at a tower which pierced the clouds high above the kingdom.
"Can't we go any faster? I wanna go see everything!"
"Yeah, Stripes; can't we go any faster?" Hugo grinned and Varian nudged him 'accidentally' as he climbed down from the hatch.
"Uh, no. Prometheus doesn't really do 'fast'." Varian laughed and Hugo and Yong looked at each other before the blonde climbed out onto the roof and sat on the front of the caravan. Varian climbed the ladder after him and shouted to the front,
"Hugo, what are you doing? Prometheus isn't gonna go an-" Varian started, but Hugo flicked the reins and Prometheus stopped, causing the boy to fall from the ladder and onto the floor.
"Are you okay?" Yong asked, putting a hand out to help Varian up. Varian took the boy's hand and rubbed his head. Hugo climbed back into the caravan and started to rummage through the basket of perishable food which sat on a shelf above the trunk.
"Why can't you just listen to me?" Varian sighed, glaring at the blonde.
"Cause I don't always find what you say  very interesting." Hugo responded, pulling a carrot from the basket.
"What are you doing?"
"Speeding this journey up a little." Hugo grinned, leaving through the hatch with the carrot. When Varian followed him to the roof, he saw that Hugo had put the carrot on a string attached to a poll, so it hung in front of Prometheus. The donkey's eyes crossed to look at the carrot and he started to move again. He seemed to move quicker when he realised he couldn't quite reach the carrot.
"Voila!" Hugo smirked.
"C'mon, that's cruel." Varian crossed his arms.
"He can have the carrot when we get to the kingdom."

Soon enough, the caravan had arrived at the gates to the kingdom where Prometheus stopped. Varian looked up from his work and Hugo moved to the door of the caravan, poking his head out. Two guards approached the door and the blonde looked to Varian. The boys stepped outside of the caravan and one of the guards spoke,
"Welcome to the Kingdom of Zephaeli." The guards stayed silent for a moment before returning to their posts.
"Wasn't that welcoming?" Hugo remarked, looking to Varian and Yong.

The boys entered the kingdom, leaving the caravan just outside of the gates. Varian had given Prometheus the carrot and Ruddiger followed along behind the boys. Yong was instantly awestruck by the sight of the kingdom. The slated rooves of the houses seemed to glimmer in the moonlight. The road appeared to glitter too, and was lined with street lanterns.
The kingdom was beautiful, the rows of houses rising as they travelled up a sloped terrain towards the castle. Not many people were about and the town felt very peaceful. The further the boys walked, the more they started to notice how new the buildings appeared.
"What happened here...?" Hugo asked when they came across a demolished house that had scaffolding around it. Yong walked towards the wreckage.
"Yong- you probably shouldn't.." Varian started, then watched as the young boy picked up a smashed frame covered in dust. Varian and Hugo walked to the boy's side and he blew the dust from the cracked glass to reveal a family painting. There was a young girl, a mother and father.
"What do you think happened? Do you think they're ok?" Yong asked.
"It's hard to say...it must have been pretty bad, what ever happened." Varian looked around the ruins, "The people who lived here would have had to move somewhere else and-"
"This wreckage looks old." Hugo said and Varian glared.
"Maybe they just forgot to get a few things together." Varian said, optimistically but Hugo didn't look convinced.
"Let's keep going, hey, kid?" Hugo smiled at Yong and the boys continued.