Three hundred years ago , King Chrome XIX with help of King of East and North destroyed the man who threatened to eradicate the world when he first appeared four hundred years ago . Events ensued from betrayal and thirst for power leading up to Selvesters , Weselton and others facing each other in a long battle to capture Venefics from land of Ardania and gain more power .

CHROME ERA 416

After two days journey , Keith and Felix had managed to reach a town in Weselton called Meran . The forest surrounding the borders of Selvesters and Weselton provided a good way to cover their tracks and to sneak here .

Keith though had to admit that arriving here while avoiding forest guards placed by Weselton would have been impossible for him without Felix . For that fact, he was certainly glad that he had chosen him .

Keith's eyes widened as the town came in their sight .  It was arranged so differently , every place assigned , each structure. The town planning of Weselton sure was distinct from Selvesters. Or it could just be that this town specifically was planned this way . Keith had no idea whether policies in Weselton were uniformly implemented or it had autonomic sub states.

"Done admiring the view . Let's hurry . I am hungry." Felix's voice interrupted his thought process.

"Yes ! Just let me put on my hat ." Keith replied adjusting a hat on him to hide his red eyes to avoid attracting attention. Even in Weselton , he had heard from his elder brother Prince Milan that he hadn't seen anyone with red eyes .  Keith's plan had been set out with help of Felix.

Since they were going to set out from their kingdom which was in Central and bit of North after North kingdom's destruction, they were going to first set  out to two main towns including capital of Weselton . In the capital , they suspect that they could gain information on magic techniques used by their mages since mages are generally seen in action at capital .

One day ago

"But another objective of going there is to actually learn how to use it ourselves because I suspect that the fact that you haven't been able to use any strong magic so far is simply because we have still not discovered the right way to tap it in you . In order to do that, learning about techniques of just kingdom would be insufficient. It is already proven by the fact that even after sixteen years , you haven't been able to do so ." Felix told him as Keith nodded in understanding.

"And then after we learn the techniques we can from Weselton , we will try to apply it to you to see if it works . After we are done with our training in Weselton, we would have to find a way to get into South . It would be seriously hard even for me . Because from the map you have shown me , South kingdom has already flanked it's territory till edge of Ardania so it pretty much covers south west and south . So we would have to be very careful as to how to get in .

But we will deal with that when it comes . ..." Felix sighed taking a deep breath as Keith and him were sitting around fire in dark forest. The light basks on Keith's face glinting his red eyes into crimson as he stared at it while listening intently to Felix . Unlike him who was wearing  a light shirt and pants , Keith was sent wearing full sleeved shirt with black pants and a clothing on back attached. Honestly , Keith didn't even feel the need to light a fire in that state but he couldn't very well complain about it to him especially after Felix was so cooperative.

"I am thankful that you are helping me on my journey with these plan and all . I honestly have no clue as to how go about it ." Keith chuckled at which he twitched his eyes ." I know that already , idiot . And this is nothing more than paying you back for food you are going to have to buy for me . Pfft ."

Keith just internally smiled .

"Now ! Why do we need to go to south? Firstly because it is our mission literally to scout every place except Ardania where we can't go . So we still travel East then South east then South and then from south west , we would have to return to Selvesters's . But there is another reason here too. We have heard that magic is distributed more or less uniformly in kingdom of Weselton but hardly anyone posses magic in South. Barely few guards of  South who might be descendants of person who travelled to South in past . Even so, I think there is something lurking there . There are seven kingdoms in total in South and currently five big kingdoms are in unified front commanding army . Even so why so two kingdoms choose to stay independent like you told me ?

Look here ." Felix drew Keith's attention pointing towards map as he leaned over it .

"Idiot ! Don't shadow it that you block the light much you can't even see the map" Felix wailed .

"Fine ! Fine ! Sorry ." Keith pouted.

"Now ! Here are five kingdoms . Vexes , the biggest one lies closest to Ardania and two kingdoms are behind it .  Two kingdoms surrounding it on closest .But only one called Andonia , which is literally sandwiched between Vexes and another kingdom who is part of Union choose to remain independent. Even when there are four kingdoms around it . I can understand a small kingdom of Melina choosing to stay independent as it is on South east edge completely isolated from other five but Andonia on other hand has Vexes on west side , which has two kingdoms in its South  already,  another kingdom on East side followed by last one . So why would a kingdom choose to stay independent being surrounded by so many nations for literally no reason ?" Felix asked raising his eyes.

"Sovereignty ...goals .?" Keith suggested.

"Don't be fool idealist . Everyone is after power. Which means that Andonia has something that is superior to incentive offered for joining the five kingdom alliance . " He stated .

Keith just looked at him as it evaluating him.

"Tell me something , Felix . How are you so good at figuring out this stuff? I get that you might be born smart and all but for you , a Venefic who used to stay in Ardania and was captured before exploring anything thirty years ago and then confined , you sure have pretty much been able to think of these things like nothing especially after a week 's worth of information that I shared with you back in palace." He tilted his head in confusion.

"What are you suggesting?" Felix folded the map without looking.

"Never mind." Keith sighed.

"Yeah ! Get some sleep . We must reach a starting town of Meran by tomorrow evening . The lesser time we waste here , more you can train better ...and I can eat more ..." He whispered the last part only but Keith heard it as he just laid down on floor after putting out fire smiling.

Now

Keith and Felix wandered around the streets searching for an inn. Meran , even though it was first town , there was no person here appointed from Selvesters because it was the town that would most likely be inspected time to time by Weselton army on suspicion of invaders . So staying here for long would be nothing more than brazen act of irrationality .

It was due to that very fact that both of them were quite eager to find an inn quickly to stay . The lesser they stay here , more the better for them . Late night inspections were certainly trouble and they wanted to avoid them at any cost as it was integral to keep their cover .

Keith was still in awe as how his elder brother Prince Milan managed to stay in Weselton all this time when he chose to go without any partner. His eyes dawned on a marker as he pulled Felix 's shirt .

"Hey ! I have found an inn. Brookes ." At which Felix just nodded as they went inside . Keith had never gone inside Inn even in Selvesters so he wasn't sure if inside was different but it certainly looked like a reception place like this place should have.

There was a old bearded guy sitting on rusty iron chair bounded by wooden column . There were two seats beside the wall across the street which had the gate from where they entered, probably for waiting .

But to Keith ,  it didn't look it was that crowded here and only the old man was sitting at counter looking at them curiously.

"A room for two ." Keith took out some change .

"We have only one with one bed ." The .an informed him at which both raised their eyes .

"Well! It is not like we have any other place to stay right now ." Keith sighed .

"You folks from around here . Haven't seen a hat like that before?" The old man questionned as he checked his registry .

"Yeah ." Keith replied firmly .

"We had come to visit an old friend here but found out he had gone to different town so currently we have no place to stay ." Felix improvise on Keith's reply at which the latter just blinked at him.

"Ah ! That is why there are letters , you fool ." The old man chuckled. Both of the teens looked at each other in confusion wondering what he meant as they got the room number and made their way inside .

"Letters ? I mean sure , I certainly know the concept but doesn't that take pretty much same time as sending someone to meet them and then waiting for them to come back . So wouldn't it be just better to visit the friend themselves in that time ?" Keith tilted his head .

"I think it is quite different in way he was implying . Maybe , letters have different meaning here . We still have no clue as to what is what here so we should probably not probe into matters openly. Asking that man would have been dangerous since we are going to stay here and if he suspects that we are not aware of Weselton's tradition, then our proximity to him would put us in jeopardy only ." Felix held his chin as Keith nodded in agreement.

"But right now , we have something more important to settle ." He continued.

"We do?" Keith wondered as they opened the door which moved creakily.

"Who is going to sleep on bed and who is going to sleep on floor ?" Felix stared at Keith who stared back.

After long intense staring contest, Felix managed to secure bed as Keith laid down sighing.

"Tomorrow we are going to secure magic items from this place . Remember right?" Felix reminded Keith .

"Yeah ! As for money ,  we would have to rely on what we have until we reach the capital city. So we would need to get materials from forest in order to fetch income from market. I know. I might come out as nothing in front of your intelligence, but I can remember at least that ." Keith informed him at which Felix stood up from his bed looking at young prince who had already fallen asleep

"Of course ! You are not nothing or I won't follow you ." As there was a small smile on his face .

Somewhere in Weselton

"You know !  I have been thinking of this for a while now . But hasn't it been sixteen years ?"  A man wearing grey robes said.

"True . It is not like we have forgotten what happened one year ago. So what do you propose then ?" A deep voice belonging to someone answered .

"Well ! Why not impose standard blood procedure then ? " The man suggested .

"It might cause chaos ." A woman's face come into view half shrouded by darkness . Even though she says this, her expression remain same.

"So be it . But if this happens again , then the king would be on our necks ." He gritted his teeth .

"True! We must do everything to get back in limelight again. Two years ago , that damned Prince entered our territory and just walked around like it was nothing and even had the nerve to threaten me when he left this place finally . That was none other than Selvester's first Prince I later found out .

Now Prince Keith is the one who has just turned sixteen just like that brat so Selvesters would be sending him on same quest again .  Moreover ,my spies tell me that he has been travelling with a Venefic .

So they are definitely in Meran , my town right now , just resting , thinking they could fool us again like damned Milan did . But I  will soon capture them and then after my present to King, I am sure he will recognise me as worthy of much more than this measly town . Feel free to do what you want but capture them you must ." She told him.

"Of course ! My lady." The man bowed his head as he took his leave .

Unaware of all this,  Felix and Keith continue to slumber.

Andonia

Ruhainian seemed close to losing her consciousness. She knew she couldn't hold him off on her own but even so , she knew she couldn't just give up and let herself be killed . As if her mind latched on to faint glimmer of need of survival, she quickly starter to think and then an idea flashed in her mind .

In few moments , the assailant gripping her felt her losing life as her head lolled over to side. He retracted his fingers as he withdrew from bed .

"Looks like I am done here ." He streched his arms groaning but he was quickly hit in face by someone , none other than Ruhainian herself elbowing him to ground.

"But how can that be ? I know for fact that your pulse stopped..."The man exclaimed in shock.

"I am Queen of this country. Do you really think likes of you could ever kill me ?" She punched him in face as her hair flaunted her face . The door of the room , abruptly opened to reveal the Venefic who had sworn to her earlier. He raises his eyes at sight before him.

"Forgive me , your Majesty. I failed to ensure your safety." The Venefic said to her as he held the man after Ruhainian loosened her grip.

"Hmph! Save your excuses. Quickly have him thrown in cell ." She looked at him sternly.

"Of course! As you command." He bowed taking the man away . As the Venefic was about to leave , she gestured him to halt .

"Do You need something? Your grace" He asked .

"Tell my servants to bring me Erthylaus"

"Erthylaus?"

"Yes! Just tell them that ." She crossed her arms as he nodded leaving. She had managed to survive but barely .  Ever since she was a child , she had a strange trait. She could fall asleep and her heart beating and her pulse would seem like it wasn't even there. When she was checked by royal doctors, then nothing more could be found . But the matter was kept secret as it would have been too eerie for others .

Later on , she found out that she could wilfully fall asleep even for few seconds and then wake up instead of long naps or sleep . It wasn't anything special . But it certainly seemed to be useful to fool the man into thinking she was dead . The only drawback of taking such a short sleep though was she was switching too fast from consciousness to unconsciousness and fro .

So even in past when she had done that, she had gotten severe headache and that kind of headache could only be numbed by eating a flower grown in royal garden called Erthylaus. The Venefic's surprise was natural as not many people knew about that flower .

Even the royal family have no clue as to when it actually started to grow. All Ruhainian knew that she had that trait and when she uses it ,then she needs to eat Erthylaus or suffer from headache for quite a while and she was certainly not conflicted about what choice she wanted to go for.

But the most important question to her right now was

"How did that man managed to get inside ? Get by pass my security guards and everyone . Even Venefic couldn't detect him. If he really was that powerful, then how did I manage to hit him and pummel him? " She wondered

Just what was going on?"

Somewhere else

"Finally we have managed to reach the gate . " Zelda panted as they arrived at palace while guards stationed there gave her a look .

"You know what this means , don't you ?" Dylan looked at her .

"Yes! The fact that we are already here without catching up to him means he is already inside the palace but if he truly is and the guards weren't in state of alarm means the attack on princess must have either failed or the news hadn't reached them .

"Let's hurry in case ." Zelda decided as Dylan nodded in agreement moving ahead with her . They were surprised to see that the man was already taken by someone in royal armour .

"Wait ! Isn't that Jonthan ?" Dylan exclaimed .

"Who is Jonthan?" Zelda looked at him as the Jonthan passed them without saying anything.

"He is another one of the Venefic who came here three hundred years ago ." He told her .

"Oh ! So he is like you . Cool! I should probably check on Princess." She arched her back . As she was about to leave, Dylan held her back.

"What is the idea ? You are certainly very touchy after refusing to talk all the way we came here." She scrunched her eyebrows demanding an explanation.

"Did you see that man 's face ?"

"Huh! Didn't it look like it got punched or something ? What about it ?" She tilted her head .

"So you can't see." He muttered.

"Something on your mind !" She shook him.

"No ! I am probably feeling the effects of exhaustion." He replied . She blinked and chuckled "I didn't know Venefics could get exhausted . Well ! Be sure to take rest then . "

As she departed , he sighed to himself . He hadn't expected this . Especially not with someone of her standing . Out of all people to be that , why was Princess Ruhainian the one born with that damned connection ?

"Just what will these beignings lead to in future ?" He wondered.