Meanwhile, at Avolire Castle in Arathmel, Xenos was standing out on the balcony of his chambers, looking up at the sky, which slowly turned darker and thus more and more stars appeared. He was listening to the sounds around him. Pigeons were telling each other a tale, while blackbirds and crows laughed at their banter. Xenos couldn’t help but smile. It was quite the funny tale after all.
“There you are.”
Right on cue, Lady Ysmeina entered the balcony. She had changed her travel clothes for traditional green and golden robes of the elven priests. Xenos didn't even need to face her to know she bore a troubled expression. “Does something trouble you?” Xenos asked.
“Yes. You trouble me,” Lady Ysmeina answered, “the queen missed you at dinner. Are you alright?”
“Emis’ endorsement allows you to hear the past and the future alongside the present, right?” Xenos asked after a short silence. Lady Ysmeina nodded. “And whose endorsement did you gain, allowing you to see the future?” she asked. Xenos sighed. “I can't remember,” he said, “the past becomes a vague concept after a thousand years...and I've had this endorsement for longer.”
Without a warning, Lady Ysmeina suddenly wrapped her arms around Xenos, hugging him tightly. Ironically he did not see that coming, for she didn't act according to the future he had seen, but the one she had heard. One in which Xenos expressed the downside of being immortal, the pain and suffering of seeing all he cared about wither away over time, while he remained behind. Alone…
“You're not alone, Xenos. Even after we pass of age, we will remain with you in heart. Those who had the misfortune of leaving you too soon are also with you in heart. I can hear them…”
“Y-Ysmeina…”
“Ysa?”
Lady Ysmeina quickly detached herself from Xenos upon hearing Sir Reynaert’s voice. Five seconds later he stepped onto the balcony. He bowed his head politely at the two of them. “Lord Xenos,” he greeted. Xenos rolled his eyes. “Drop the title, Reyn.”
“Er...right. Ysa. We must discuss the mass grave in the dragon's lair. When we're going to retrieve the knights’ medallions and how. Will you join us?”
“Of course,” Lady Ysmeina said, “remember what I said, Xenos,” she added, before following Sir Reynaert. Xenos just nodded and turned back to face the sky. The Waning Crescent smiling brightly at the night sky, before she would disappear completely on the night of the New Moon. If his eyes were not deceiving him, tonight was the night. He closed his eyes and sang softly: “Thus came fury for revenge, took fair maiden to its den. Only one man absent of doubt, can save the day before time runs out…”

Back in the Kingdom of Elysium, they were already halfway through the banquet to honour and celebrate Prince Enoch’s life. Prince Emrys had lent Lucas some of his own clothes, so he’d look more presentable for dinner. Now he was wearing a similar tunic to the prince himself, although Lucas’ was lighter blue and Prince Emrys’ was greener blue. And after a debate about cutting it off or not, his hair (which had grown quite a bit out of hand over the last two seasons) was now neatly combed and tied in a ponytail. The maids who were serving them had now started addressing Prince Emrys as “prince” as he wasn’t wearing the Palace Guard uniform, and sported a silver crown.
There were dancers to entertain the attendants and court poets were reciting Prince Enoch’s successful adventures. Lucas was enjoying the food, but the empty chair next to him unnerved him. Rosemary hadn’t come after all. Prince Emrys, who was sitting on his other side, gave him a sympathetic look. “Perhaps she’s still mourning over the loss of her hometown and family,” he said, “I can see you are still, too.”
“I’m not sure,” Lucas admitted, “my mother was already dying, and I had always planned to leave the town once she did, never to return...reality is a whole lot different, though.”
“I can imagine,” Prince Emrys said, “would you like to join me on a walk? Father will be too drunk to miss me now anyway.” He gestured towards the king, who sat on his other side. He looked quite smashed indeed. Lucas nodded and got up as Prince Emrys did, and followed him outside into the Palace Gardens. It looked different after dark. All flowers had their petals closed, save for the moonflowers who had popped up above all the others and were bathing in the light of the crescent moon. Fireflies were accidentally lighting the path as they flew around, avoiding the humans that had tred the gardens at this hour. But Lucas and Prince Emrys weren’t the only ones. A few patches over, the two of them spotted a group of maidens. “Isn’t that Miss Miller?” Prince Emrys said.
“With Princess Lorelei?” Lucas added.
“The Artemis suite is quite near the Athena suite. Perhaps they ran into each other,” Prince Emrys said. Lucas shrugged.
But Rosemary and Princess Lorelei had indeed ran into each other, and soon formed a friendship over their mutual disliking towards the royals of Elysium. They hadn’t noticed Lucas and Prince Emrys yet, as Princess Lorelei was pouring her heart out to Rosemary, while two maids followed them from an appropriate distance. “It’s quite upsetting. He knows all about me, but he...he’s like a closed book which I cannot open, with a title in a language I cannot read…”
“Well,” Rosemary slowly said, “opening up is something that happens mutually. He might know a lot about you, but perhaps if you can show him something that he doesn’t know of yet, like...you’ve been quite open towards me, why can’t you be this open towards him?”
“Because he seems so...inapproachable,” Princess Lorelei sighed, “his people have put him on a pedestal, and he seems really nice, but I can just tell that’s not who he really is. He’s hiding his true face with a smile as mask.”
“He did seem very rigid. Only lost his composure when you refused his gift earlier today,” Rosemary said. Princess Lorelei looked down at her silver necklace, with a pendant in the shape of a sword, wrapped in a serpentine dragon. It was very finely crafted, and on the hilt, where the guard and the grip crossed, had been placed a beautiful pink gemstone. Rosemary saw the way she looked at it. “You didn’t refuse his gift,” she said.
“Shush,” Princess Lorelei said as she looked up. Rosemary put her hands on her hips. “I beg your pardon?”
“Silence,” Princess Lorelei said, “I hear something.” She looked up, at the darkened sky...wait. Where did the stars go? Rosemary also looked up, whilst the flowers bent under the pressure of the wind, the clap of two enormous wings taking them off guard as something huge and terrifying landed right before them, the air displacement throwing them off their feet. Lucas and Prince Emrys watched, frozen in shock, as a creature of their nightmares descended onto the flower fields. “Thanatos,” Prince Emrys said under his breath.
“Impossible, “ Lucas added. A terrifying scream pulled them out of their shocked state. “Lorelei!” Prince Emrys yelled, running to his princess’ aid. Lucas couldn’t believe it, but he did the same. Not because Rosemary was there too, no. She’d be fine. But because Prince Emrys missed the tail with razor-sharp spikes flying towards him at lethal speed. So he tackled the prince, causing the tail to miss them by an arm – Lucas’ arm. He rolled off the prince, heaving as the pain spread through his arm. Prince Emrys sat up and wildly looked around, locking eyes with Thanatos, who gave him an evil glare before unleashing its destructive inferno towards the castle with a deafening, mighty roar. The flag of Elysium that stood proudly on the tallest tower caught on fire...along with half of the castle Olympus. Then the beast turned towards the prince, as if to show him what it was holding in its clawed hand...or whom it was holding.
“Lorelei!” Prince Emrys yelled, “NO!” He ran towards the beast, with no weapon or wit prepared. Not that it would matter anyway, as the dragon took off, taking the elven princess with it. Leaving behind only her crown, which had been destroyed. He picked up the remains of her crown, and stared at the castle as it went up in flames. This was no time to dawdle, for the danger hadn’t passed yet. He turned to the maids that had accompanied Lorelei and Rosemary. They were shaken, but unharmed. “Run into town and gather every man and bucket of water you can find. We need to douse the fire!” he ordered. The maids bowed and ran off, lifting up their skirts. Rosemary had gone over to Lucas, trying to convince him his wound wasn’t as bad as it looked, ripping off a part of her underskirt and using it as a bandage, before helping him to his feet and following Prince Emrys, who had already ran off to the castle to save as many people inside as he could, along with the rest of the Palace Guard. Soon a whole stream of men from the city carried in large buckets of water to douse the fire, burning drapes and drapes that could catch on fire eventually were tossed outside, several priceless paintings were carried outside, the most important one already half-burnt.
“Oh Lisanor,” King Arthurus groaned when they carried out the last portrait of his late wife. Her beautiful face burned half off. He gently stroked the canvas, but that only caused it to crumble more, so he quickly pulled his hand back.
They spent the entire night trying to get the fire under control, losing three men in the process, and after the fire had finally been extinguished, they discovered the bodies of three more. “What have I done wrong to call such a tragedy upon us?” King Arthurus said, clearly in shock.
“You sent an army trying to slay a beast that cannot be slain by mortal weapons! You evoked its rage by acting without thinking!” Rosemary said, starting a ruckus among the council, whose members were already there for last night’s banquet, and stuck around after the fire for an emergency meeting. “Oh what does a woman know?” one of them said.
“Not just a woman, but a peasant girl!” someone else added.
“Why are they here at a council meeting anyway? Someone remove them, please.”
“No.”
The king’s voice echoed through the throne room, one of the few rooms which had been spared from the fire. The council members fell silent. The king sighed deeply before speaking. “These youngsters are witnesses of the Princess Lorelei’s kidnapping. They have survived an attack from Thanatos twice now, and they are my guests in this castle. They have as much right to be at this meeting as you have...perhaps even more.”
He glared at the members that had protested, who now quickly bowed their heads and set a step back. The king sat upright in his chair as he came to a decision. “Someone call for the ambassador of Queen Eurydice. We have to inform the elves about what happened to their princess.”
“No, father, if this goes through the ambassador it’ll take too much time for the news to reach the queen,” Prince Emrys interrupted, “it’ll be quicker if I ride to Arathmel and personally tell her. We can use the opportunity to coordinate a rescue operation immediately.”
“Emrys, I will not let you ride to Arathmel on your own,” King Arthurus simply said.
“I didn’t say I’d be riding on my own,” Prince Emrys retorted.
“I cannot send anyone with you. We need all hands on deck here!”
“And you will have all hands on deck,” Prince Emrys calmly said, before turning to Lucas and Rosemary, “would you two be so kind as to accompany me to Arathmel?”
Rosemary put her hands on her hips, glancing at Lucas. “Do we have a choice?”
Lucas tried to remember if the story he heard years ago mentioned anything about this. He vaguely remembered something about an elven queen, so he nodded. Yeah they should definitely go with him. Prince Emrys nodded gratefully. “Then we must prepare. It’ll be a two-day ride if we take the main road. We’ll leave in an hour, and we’ll stop for nothing.”
“Oh goodness,” Rosemary sighed.