Just as I promised, a DC chapter later today! :D

Also, I feel like this book is really random, like everything here doesn't seemed planned, but it is planned.

Also go to my Tips, Tricks, and Art Stuff if you wish to learn how to pronounce the kingdoms. It is in a page titled The Realm of Ethereal. I'm sure plenty of you would like to know if you pronounced things correctly all this time. X3

~~~~~

Destiny Calls

Chapter 8

"Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations"

-Day XII-

"You know," Red spoke with a mouthful of food in his mouth, "with all the stuff that happened last night, we never got to hear what you found in the library, Ross."

"Yeah, why were you in the library, anyways?" Max asked him.

"I was trying to learn more about what the black and purple stone was from your riddle. All we knew was to go to Duhita to find this lady, and that her home is inside black and purple stone."

"Soooos? Whats did yous find?"

"Uh... well... you see, the thing is, my research wasn't very clear..." Ross cleared his throat, "Keuta has a fairly large library, but that information is obviously mainly about Keuta and Emedo. Although Keuta is very diverse and has still quite a lot of information on the other kingdoms, it was barely enough to find anything."

"But, I was able to find something of use, just very vague. Apparently, there is this old children's story told of a fiery world inhabited by a commonly believed in god, Herobrine. This being often known as the god of death is said to ferry the souls of the dead to and from his realm. Now the story goes that misbehaving children of Duhita would be dragged away to that fiery realm and well like all children stories that seem innocent at first, they have awful endings. Basically these children would never be seen from again...." Ross deadpanned the ending.

"Well sh*t, isn't that great, but what does this have to do with anything?"

"Jezz Max, when were you so irritable?" Red asked.

"Oh, I don't know, getting punched in the face kind of does that to you..."

"Thats was last nights though."

"MOVING on, how this relates is that part of the story is that the children are dragged off to this fiery world. It took a little digging, but what I discovered is that the method to that world from this world is supposedly through a portal...a portal that happens to be made of a black and purple colored 'stone' like blocks."

"So you're saying that the part of the riddle that states 'inside black and purple stone' is really saying that the woman who spoke to Max, her kingdom lies in a fiery world only accessible by going inside this black and purple portal?" Red asked after taking another bite of his breakfast.

"Pretty much," Ross answered.

"And where do we find this portal to this burning world of pain?" Max asked Ross.

"Well here is the sucky part. There was no clear information, only a map that I could find. In the northeastern part of Duhita lies an area marked gateway--"

"Ohs! Ohs! Gateways alsos can means portal!!" Barney interrupted giddily.

"Right! So maybe checking there we will find what we've been searching for, but we should head into a town or the capital first so I can gather a little more info."

Red smiled and Barney cheered, Ross looked a little sheepish with the encouraging cheers they gave him. The constants 'good jobs' and 'we did it' made Ross blush, Max smiled.

Suddenly, while the celebrations ensued, Max felt himself have a flashing headache. A voice. He heard a voice. But not the same voice of that woman whose face he could hardly remember

"S-So, you never forgot...forgot about me?"

"Of course not, 10 years doesn't erase you from the memories of the living, we all remember."

That's where it ended. Max had no clue what it meant, but he felt queasy. It took him a few moments to recognize his name being called, because in that moment of relapse, he didn't feel like he was Max, he felt detached from that name.

"Ye-yes?" Max looked up.

"Are you ok? You look a little pale."

"I'm fine, let's get going to get our horses so we can hurry to Duhita." Max stood up and hurriedly threw his belongings in a bag and started to leave the burnt rubble. Which, it was easier to see. This place seemed like a home fit for a king, he wondered why such an important looking place was burnt down, and what happened to its inhabitants.

~~~~~

After a quiet walk back into the busy and bustling streets of Keuta they only got lost once before finding their way to the stable they left their horses for the night.

"So it'll take two days for us to arrive in Duhita--"

"Hey! Hey!" Max recognized the voice and glared at the cloaked figure of Tom, "Quit glaring like that! I mean you have good reason to, but I'm not here for trouble. Actually to apologize, cept instead I'll give you useful information because I apologize for no one!"

Max snorted, "Where are your other pals?"

"Getting our horses. Anyways, I know you are all heading to Duhita, and we just came from near there. If you plan to go there, I should warn you that it may be tough. You'll have to cross striaght through Emedo's military territory, an area called Hyrrka, and don't let them know that you are going to Duhita. There is strong tension between the kingdoms and war may arise soon. At least that is what the talk is."

"Thanks." Max turned away.

"Also, be careful of the other guy, the one who did this to us. I may have been quick to judge and assumed you were like him, but since now I know you're not, you should be careful. The other guy is completely obsessed with something about being forgotten, I don't really know..."

Max perked up and looked at Tom surprised, and he was going to thank him properly this time, but Tom had already rushed away to his friends who were already on horses. Max watched them in surprise and then Tom yelled to them, "Last thing! I may have lied about the horse's bit, and we kind of stole three of your horses, but we did so because you have enough supplies for the four day walk to Duhita, and we only have enough food for horse travel to Eflido. Good luck!"

Tom waved and Max's jaw hung open, "F*cking h*ll!"

"Did they just steal our horses!" Red shouted before running into the stables to check.

"Well only three out of four, so we can atleast have the fourth carry some of our supplies..." Ross said

"I don't thinks that helps ours situations..." Max groaned after Barney answered Ross.

"I was right to say this is only getting harder..." Max mumbled to himself.

~~~~~

-Day XV-

"I'm...so...sweaty..." Red whined.

"Oh ly lar, comes on Reds, haves a little more gusto! This is nothings a littles dirt power can'ts handle!"

"Barney... I can't tell if it is because you're a purple dinosaur now and you seem weirder because of the transformation... Or,"

"Or the transformation only makes you seem weirder and you're actually just being the normal you..." Ross finished Red's tired phrase.

"Nos, this is normal!" Barney smiled and added a little hop to his step like it was an accomplishment.

Max rolled his eyes, they'd already been out of Keuta's hot desert for 2 days now. They were just inside the Emedo border that neighbored Keuta, so they still had 2 more days before they reached Duhita.

With what they were told, they needed to be careful in Emedo. The quickest way to Duhita would be straight through the army's territory. And with the way things were going for them, that spelled trouble.

"Hey you!" Well, looks like he called it.

~~~~~

"Uh, sir, I think there has been a huge misunderstanding. We weren't doing anything wro--Ow," Red hissed as one of the soldiers roughly yanked him around.

"Shut it!" The soldier growled.

"No, really, we were just heading to Duhita--"

"And why is that, eh? Don't you know that Duhita is in some hot water, heh..."

"We've only heard, we are from Eflido."

"Eflidens eh," The soldiers leading them back eventually put the four them inside a tent and two of them stood outside the tent watching.

"So, uhs, when can wes leaves?" Barney.

"Well we're quite busy right now, so it'll be awhile, a week or so. You know, army stuff."

"What! But we don't have that long, come on, we really need to get to Duhita. It's important! "Red complained. Max was worried. What if they were stuck here, the longer he waited, the sooner this 'game' would end. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to be trapped in a world filled with nothing but darkness. He didn't want to be alone again.

"Sir!" Max heard the soldiers that just spoke to them shout and salute another person.

"What are you two doing, quit talking to them and do your job!"

"Sir yes sir!" They saluted and stood stiff outside the tent.

"That's general to you!" The stern eyed man with the angry wrinkled face hissed. The soldiers jumped but stayed in position until he had disappeared from view. Then they sighed and slumped their soldiers.

"Man, only a month and a half and we still can't catch a break with this guy... I miss the old gener--" One soldier started to say, then had a hand was slapped over his mouth.

"Shh, don't let anyone hear you say that!" he silenced the other soldier but he pulled his friend's hands off his mouth and said.

"But everyone is thinking it! General Adam was way cooler!"

"Yeah, yeah I know, but shhh!"

"Who is General Adam?" Ross asked. Max was lost in his own world.

"You said you came from Eflido right?" Red nodded, "I suppose you wouldn't know much, it wouldn't hurt to tell them, right Rick"

He sighed, "Fine, quietly and quickly."

"Right! Long story short, the General left on a quest a couple months back with a sorcerer and word later reached us that the general who was also the 2nd prince of Emedo had betrayed the kingdom. His whereabouts along with that sorcerer's are unknown."

"We've heard of that! Well not the part where the prince was also a general, but we've heard of that while traveling. Duhita's prince sided with your general, right?" Red asked them

"Prince? No you mean the king. Don't you know, the prince returned to his kingdom and has been declared the king, well, will soon be king--Rick, isn't the coronation today?"

"Yes it is."

"Thank you for telling us, but we still must get to Duhita within the next few days." Red said.

"Please?" Ross added.

"No can do, right now we're extremely busy, and just won't have anytime right now to decide if you're criminals or not," Rick said.

"Yeah, sorry."

"We aren't criminals, we just want to help our friends here. Ross and Barney want to return home, but the boat fee was too much!" Max noticed Red result to lying. Considering that Ross and Barney were technically morvics right now, it would make sense for them to be heading to Duhita.

"Hmmm, well, I can understand your reason, however something like that isn't cheap--"

"I can pay." Red interrupted. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out something Max did not know Red had.

Red had pulled out a small golden statue with a slight dent in it, it looked partially melted.

The two soldiers' jaw dropped and they looked at Red incredulously, "Where on Ethereal did you get that! And is that pure gold!" One of them whispered furtively.

"Yahs Reds, wheres you gets that?"

"In the burnt mansion in Keuta, and I'm pretty sure it is pure gold. If I give this to you, you have to let us out," Red said to them. Both soldiers looked like they were contemplating it and wanted to resist, but it was obvious they both wanted it. It may be gold, Max thought, but it looked like it was in poor condition.

"Ooooo! Come on Rick, you know whose statue that is, with that we'll be rich! Let's just let them go, please, that right there is like one of the rarest things ever now!"

"Gah! We can't though. Eric, if we do this, the general will for sure know we goofed and let them escape or something."

"Not if we let them out tonight. While everyone is preparing for that attack they can slip out!"

"Shhhh! That's confidential you idiot!"

"S-sorry, but please~. That's the Queen's Statue!"

Rick was biting his lip and glancing at the statue. Red held it out to them, but Max was heard them say the Queen of Keuta. Somehow it felt foreboding. This queen would have to be connected to that sorcerer that Red had told them about. That sorcerer would have to be the one that was with this army's general. It seemed like a puzzle.

Everything was lined up nicely and fit together like one big jigsaw of life.

"Fine! We'll let you four go, at night though. And you give us that statue!"

"Deal!" Red grinned.

~~~~~

"They're all running late!" someone hissed from the treetops of Duhita. They looked out over the river that stretched and curled in from the ocean to the shade of the forests. A black sword was gripped in their hands.

This certainly did not spell good fortune for Max.

~~~End of Part 1~~~

Heeeeey! Whooo, also if you ever forget where places are in this realm don't forget to look back at the map! Titled: The Realm of Ethereal. I made that page just so you guys could see where things are and refer to it as you read.

Destiny Calls is so fast paced, sometimes I'm not even able to keep up, like the entire story takes place in 19 days. Like wow. And this is on Day 15 of Max's adventure :P

One week in the realm is 8 days, not 7 like ours. So Max's story here is less than 3 weeks.