𝔇𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔞𝔩 𝔱𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥

3

"This is Alexander one of my trusted royal guards" Clara said introducing Seven and Dimitri to her royal guard. It has been 4 days since they been spying from Volacrest kingdom and taking it to Claire with fake information and Seven felt guilty about it. 

Clara gain the trust of the two males and decides to reveal her small secret. Seven and Dimitri stared at the guard, who was clothed in Elise kingdom clothing. Clara explained that Alexander was spying the kingdom of Elise in order to locate the orb. Perhaps presenting Alexander to them will help the dragon more. Alexander bowed to them as a sign of respect.

"You're free to explore the castle unless you ask Claire for permission, right?" she questioned, Dimitri did not respond, and Seven only nodded "Once you enter Claire's palace, please investigate it more and gather information about it" Clara explained the idea "Perhaps there's a secret path lurking around the castle" she added

"I suppose, I know there's a cave beneath the castle," Dimitri said to Clara, "have you checked it out?" Dimitri added

"My troops have searched that cave, the end was simply water...And oddly phrases inscribed on the walls," Clara replied with a disappointed face

Dimitri nodded in agreement as the two men left the palace with Alexander, as they walked, seven asked "So, what's the plan?" Dimitri turned to face the child, "the plan is to let adult handle this problem" he response

"Are you saying I'm useless?" Seven remarked angrily, Dimitri rolled his eyes at the child and continued walking. "I'm not that useless!" Seven folded his arms and pondered, "Perhaps I can learn magic from Claire" he thought to himself.

When they arrive at the kingdom of Elise, with Alexander who followed them from a far, the guards greeted them with a bow and they returned the greeting. Claire walked towards them "Oh, back so early?" Claire said, glancing at the gentlemen and the guard standing behind them.

Alexander bows to the queen "And why is Lucas following you?" Claire said suspiciously looking at him, Seven glanced at him confused as why he was called Lucas rather than Alexander, he had two names Alexander and Lucas to hide his identity.

"I'm here to defend Master Dimitri from his commission to you, locals may harm him if they misunderstood the issue" Alexander replied "And who gave you the capability to carry out this order?" Claire questioned

"me," Dimitri replied, He explained that his scythe was broken while spying the other kingdom. He excused himself to let his scythe be fix and Claire permitted him to go around the city to repair it

"May I join?" Seven remarked as he pulled Dimitri's clothing "No, you remain here, go study some magic from Claire" Dimitri said. Seven turned to the queen as the queen looked confused at the child's expression as it looked at her with stars in his eyes. Dimitri and Alexander left the castle leaving the two behind.

"Would you mind teaching me some magic, your majesty?" seven said with an excited look but Claire said no "I'm busy, I have many documents to do for my citizens" she remarked. She was about to leave but Seven pulled her dress to halt her. The queen was about to yell at the child but as she glanced at him, she saw a miserable puppy yearning for the magic. Claire also wanted to get away from all the busy things so why not teach a child during her break.

"fine, just one magic wouldn't hurt," she said, glancing at the child, who was jumping with excitement. They went to the backroom where guards are training. Luckily, there was no one in the practice room. Claire took a book from the bookshelf of magic spells and flipped through the pages to find a simple magic.

"This is simple, how about summoning clouds?" she said looking at the child who is confused, she sighed and demonstrate it. She stretch her palm and close her eyes as she summon a cloud.

"This clouds can carry any heavy objects," she explained as the child poked the summoned clouds. "Just focus on the word 'vlachreium'" she said

"vlarchiem?"Seven said trying to pronounce the word "vlachreium" Claire repeated herself "vlacomriu?"Seven said as Claire sighed in disappointment

"How do you call clouds without speaking a word?" "he added, "that's because I've mastered it for 5 years, so I don't have to say it, but beginners do," she said, glancing at the boy who is repeating it in an incorrect pronoun over and over again "this will take a long for you to summon it"

-

Dimitri headed to the large massive hole that led towards the cave "I recall there's an unusual language overwritten to the cave's wall," Alexander remarked, thankful there are no guards protecting the cave.

Alexander grabbed the torch on the edge of the cave, which appeared to be too deep to enter simply to discover the unfamiliar phrases. As they went deeper, the light outside began to fade, and there's quite a bit of water dripping from above. They both halt when there's a sudden shake of the ground. It stopped for a few second and before alexander could speak up Dimitri unexpectedly banged alexander's head against the wall, making the unfortunate man unconscious as his head bleed.

Dimitri investigated the cave leaving alexander and discovered the odd words. 'the orb stores energy, destroying the orb would cause the sky city to tumble to the ground' . So Clara lied about the orb since she wanted to make Kingdom Elise to collapse. Dimitri was right; he was skeptical from the start since Clara was so friendly to them, and he also dislikes the concept of treachery. Dimitri went back to alexander who was still unconscious.

Dimitri arrived at the perfect timing, Alexander awoke "What happened?" he murmured, he witnessed what happened earlier and tried to leave but was tied up. He still had a blood stain on his head but the bleeding stopped, he glanced at Dimitri.

"What is Clara's true plan?" Dimitri said, making Alexander nervous but he didn't respond. Dimitri had no other choice but to violence him in order for him to talk, Dimitri snatched his hands and told the boy "if you don't answer me, I'll shred your bones till you don't have any."

"I'll say it again, what is Clara's true plan?" he said with a serious voice, preparing Alexander's fingers to be broken "you won't do such violence" Alexander said glaring at him. Dimitri sighed and twist his finger rapidly, alexander screamed for the pain he felt but his screams weren't heard outside to call for help.

"and if you don't tell me everything you know, you may have no finger now or lose your entire hand" Dimitri said looking at this other finger. Alexander breath heavy "I don't want to repeat myself ill count from one to three for you to tell me" he added

Dimitri continued counting one to three but Alexander still didn't listen so he twisted his other finger. Dimitri repeated it till his other hand and only one finger was left, Alexander was sobbing for the agony he felt

"only one left" Dimitri said alexander finally give up "PLEASE HAVE MERCY, ILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW" Dimitri smirked at success and alexander breathe first before saying anything 

"s-she wanted the core to make this kingdom broke. T...the orb represent the sky city keeping it floating in the sky unless its destroyed... it will fall" he said while breathing heavily, tears from his eyes drip down from his cheeks "a-and" he added

"and?" Dimitri question him

"I was only here to distract you" alexander finished his words. So Clara planned it all from the beginning and used them as a distraction. Dimitri winded his eyes and run outside the cave summoning his scythe on the way 

(1312 words)