The age of Bangna

The calling of a new era

After that morning, Earth never had another nightmare, the medicine that Mix brought him did wonders allowing him to have peaceful sleep without waking up absolutely terrified, feeling the grip of death near even if in his nightmare. It felt too real sometimes, the various ways in which he was murdered in his dreams, sometimes suffocated, other times beheaded or made to drink a poisoned chalice, his assailant always dressed in a red velvet cloak obscuring their face. It's been an entire week without an episode, and he feels stronger than ever seen evidently in his training as he never seems to tire and even during endless, never-ending meetings held by his father, Earth found himself able to concentrate more and think better. This newfound energy had its downsides as well as now he couldn't be excused from attending all the speeches held by the royal court on accuse of him being tired or sick. The only thing making it better is that he gets to see Mix after they are done passing by the corridors, attending after Nammon and aiding him in delivering medicines to various people living in the castle. They don't have time to speak or linger with his father always present beside him to discuss other matters needing attention. However, it never passes Earth's notice that whenever they pass by each other, Mix smiles subtly at him, mouthing his name with his lips their own little secret between them, something to be shared when they were alone with each other. Mix only came in the early mornings and late evenings to check up on him as per his duty but Earth always managed to rope him into lingering a bit more talking about nothing and everything. Amid the responsibility and weight of being the prince and sole heir, Mix was to Earth a breath of fresh air, ultimately someone to confide in and forget about the worries of the day and of the future, it's too soon but Earth already feels that he's become dependent on his physician to feel alive and present and to not feel like he was just a title. He'll try to hold on to what he is feeling for as long as he could, hoping it would last for a long time.

"What are you smiling for?" Nammon asked Mix, thumping him on the shoulder and making the most embarrassing of noises, "Thinking about someone?" he adds, Mix tries to hide his face as his carer as always was too loud, probably the entire castle had heard every word by now. He continues to walk resolutely ahead not willing to fall to Nammon's bait in teasing him. So, what if he's been a lot more relaxed and content lately, it's just that he's used to living this new routine now and the castle feels more welcoming, it's definitely not because of anything or someone else. He's just satisfied from a physician's point of view that Earth is now sleeping much better and has regained all the strength he lost before Mix had come to Bangna. Mix berates himself for smiling at the thought of saying the prince's name instead of his title, it's only because they were perhaps as close they could get to being friends he thought, that's why he's happy and also because Earth wasn't being an insufferable menace anymore. He still likes to tease him but Mix now knows that it doesn't come from a place of belittlement but from camaraderie. Mix doesn't take what Earth tells him lightly, he knows it's hard for him to trust people considering his position of power, but Mix is grateful that Earth still keeps him close, he can protect him better in this way even though nothing had occurred these past two weeks. Mix knows not to fall into a false sense of security even though at the moment things were calm, he still checks that his medicines weren't tempered with when he gives them to Earth, his magic feels when something isn't right usually alerting him by making him feel uneasy, but it hasn't acted up even once yet. Mix's grateful, at least he can finally get some decent rest now.

Nammon sends him off to deliver some medicines down to the kitchen as one of the cooks had fallen severely ill a day ago. The kitchens were almost located underground, Mix didn't think having a lot of stairs to go up was practical for carrying heavy dishes filled with food, but he knows better than to argue with Bangna residents, they loved their city too much to mock anything. The main cook was fierce and very protective of her work, no one dared to argue with her about her choice of menu but for some reason, she liked Mix and always let him off with an extra treat whenever he visited on an errand, this time no different as she winked at him aggressively and patted him on his back roughly to send him on his way. Mix was definitely scared of her, so he always accepted anything she gave to him no matter if he didn't like that specific food or not, climbing the stairs quickly lest she decided to call him down again for something. Safely back on the lower storey corridors, Mix sighed having avoided a potential disaster making his way back to the physician's quarters as he wanted to write some letters to his mother to send. He wasn't sure about this part of the castle as he didn't have any reason to explore these corridors and arched doorways, but without a doubt, in the stillness, he was sure he heard his name being called. It was only a whisper but Mix definitely didn't feel like he imagined it, stopping in his tracks trying to listen for more. It comes again, this time much louder the syllables of his name stretched out and transmitted across the corridor. Following the echo of his name Mix makes his way towards an arched doorway to his left, the door was locked but he was sure the voices were coming from there. Looking side to side to make sure no one was looking at him, Mix's eyes glowed and unlocked the door entering it. He expected a lot of things but definitely not a staircase encased in the darkness leading downwards. There wasn't a single torch nearby causing Mix to will a globe of light into existence, it's light bright and white, the signature of his magic. The globe of light floated in front of him lighting the way downwards as he progressed further on. It must have taken more than a few minutes for Mix to reach the bottom, the place he arrived at looking like an underground cave that was dug through. It was still too dark without his guiding light and even when he used his magic to see past the path in front of him, he couldn't see any source of light. Nevertheless, he marched on forwards always on the alert for anything that might come at him, as he draws nearer he hears his name again, getting louder and clearer as he continues forward. He sees it then a lake, its calmness almost otherworldly not a ripple to be seen, the colour of it so blue it almost glowed. Mix was starting to feel a bit insane now, but he was sure that the calling of his name was coming from this lake, even though there wasn't any movement near it. Finally arriving just beside it, Mix didn't need the light he conjured up anymore, the glow of the lake enough to make him see even though what he was seeing was definitely strange. The lake up close was like a mirror, its surface completely clear allowing the images of figures to be seen. Mix could see the image of six figures all donning navy blue cloaks, standing next to each other, their facial features clear as they looked directly at Mix. He was trying very hard to not let out a scream at the sight, this was definitely weird causing him to remain speechless as he looked on at the figure's faces unable to move. The man standing in the middle moved in front of the others on the lake's surface, he was the shortest among those present with short brown hair and a child-like face, but Mix could see the wisdom behind this doe eyes, the man's appearance completely betraying the aged look in his eyes.