Chapter 3 First Meeting

• ARCADIAN (NIGHT)
• Inside the palace dining hall were King Hartley, Queen Rebeca, Prince Ranork, Princess Aris, Prince Rahde, great General Ben, Prince Ragon, priestess Mary, Alice, and General Suci seated on chairs surrounding the big dining table. They were a lot of food, meats, fish, and fruits on the table they surrounded. Some maids were standing close surrounding the royal family, and guards were also in the hall.
• As the royal family began to consume the food on the table, King Hartley said with a smile to everyone “It has been a while since we sat down together and dined like family”.
• “I could say that is your fault. You are the one who is always busy with the affairs of the kingdom. You are the one that is always having meetings every there and then” said Queen Rebeca to King Hartley.
• “You have got to be appreciating father's work. Someone has got to take care of the kingdoms and he is doing very well with his job. I am so proud of you father” said Prince Ranork to King Hartley.
• “So you just want to take after your father with everything? No wonder you always take his side” said Queen Rebeca to Prince Ranork.
• “If he doesn’t take after me or follow in my steps, who should he resemble or follow in his footsteps? He is my true son and mind you, he is the future King of this kingdom so be careful of the way you all talk to him” said King Hartley boastfully with a smile.
• “I wouldn’t be so sure about him becoming the next King of Arcadian, Father” said Princess Aris to King Hartley, and that got everyone confused.
• “Why would you say that? He is the heir to my throne no one else” said King Hartley bluntly.
• “Don’t forget I am also your daughter. I think I am gonna do better than him so I should become the King instead” said Princess Aris, and everyone laughed upon hearing her.
• “There has never been a female King in the history of the kingdoms so it is in your dream. You can never be King except for a Queen and that is if you are married off to a King” said Alice to Princess Aris, which made everyone smile except Princess Aris who frown.
• To defend herself, Princess Aris said “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. There is always a first to something just like the great sorcerer. I can also be a King. Even father knows I am better than Ranork”.
• “There is no way you can become a King, Aris, we all know that. I don't even think a prince would want you since you behave like a man instead of a lady. And why do you sound like you are envious of Ranork?” Ragon asked Princess Aris.
• “Envious of him? I can never be envious of him. I am better than him, I know that. He also knows that I am” said Princess Aris.
• “You can never be better than Ranork, Aris. You should know that. His skills are much better than yours and we all know you never had a proper master to teach you how to fight. All the skills you learn are from watching the other warriors, Ragon, and Ranork. Also, don't forget that Ranork isn't just the heir to the throne. Ranork is also the future priest. So tell me why you claim you are better than him?” General Suci asked Princess Aris, while everyone smiled.
• The words said to Princess Aris by General Suci were supposed to make Aris feel lesser to Ranork but instead of that to make Aris feel lesser, Aris says “I don't think he is ever going to become a priest. Someone who had failed to make his power manifest in him since 5 years ago. You are right that I learn my skills from watching the Warriors but that only makes me a better fighter than everyone. I bet my brother the heir to the throne could challenge me. He………”.
• Princess Aris was cut short of words as King Hartley cut in saying to her out loud “Enough, Aris. You will respect your brother and see him for who he is”.
• Hearing her father, Princess Aris couldn't dare to utter any word but then great General Ben said with a smile to Princess Aris “don't worry, Aris. If you ever want to sit on the throne just let me know, I will put you there”.
• Everyone was shocked to hear great General Ben say that to Princess Aris which made Prince Ragon say out loud to his father “Father”, except Prince Ranork and priestess Mary who knew the great General was joking while Princess Aris smiled happily.
• King Hartley who was still shocked by his brother's words to her daughter asked great General Ben “how can you say that to her?”.
• “I will also be helping you if you ever want to sit on the throne. So you have nothing to worry about ” said priestess Mary to Princess Aris, and Princess Aris laughed out loud upon hearing that while great General Ben smiled.
• Everyone was confused to hear that except great General Ben and Prince Ranork. Princess Aris continued to laugh but Queen Rebeca shut her up and then Queen Rebeca said to great General Ben and priestess Mary “what are you both doing?”.
• “Nothing. We only talked” said priestess Mary.
• “What did you mean by nothing? What you both said can be accounted as treason. How can you both also give courage to Aris and make her feel special right in front of Ranork? Or are you both planning to make Aris the King of Arcadian by committing treason?” King Hartley angrily asked General Ben and priestess Mary.
• Seeing King Hartly's reaction, General Ben and priestess Mary thought he had taken them seriously. General Ben said with a smile to King Hartley “Wow, brother. You always take things too seriously. I and Mary were just joking. Even if we do want that to happen, the other kingdoms wouldn't sit back and let that happen. And you should stop seeing Aris lesser. She is your child just like Ranork and Rahde”.
• “And do I say I need a reminder about that? You and Mary had spoken of treason tonight and I would not let it just go” said King Hartley with an angry face, and that got everyone scared except Prince Ranork who knew his father so well.
• “Your royal majesty, I don't think………” said Prince Ragon to King Hartley.
• Prince Ragon was cut short of words as King Hartley cut in saying “And here is my command. Mary………”, and everyone was still scared except Prince Ranork.
• King Hartley was cut short of words as General Ben cut in saying to King Hartley “You are already taking this too far, your royal majesty”.
• “They said they were just joking, your royal majesty. Please let it go” Queen Rebeca pleaded to King Hartley.
• “You will all listen to my command” said King Hartley, and they all remained scared except Prince Ranork.
• King Hartley said “for your words of treason, I hereby…….”, and then paused looking at everyone's face which tells they are all scared as they await his command except for Prince Ranork. Suddenly, King Hartley burst into laughter and they all became confused as to why he was laughing.
• Prince Ranork said to everyone “It is such a surprise that after all this while you all still don't know Father. I was hoping Uncle Ben and Mother would see through his joke but you all just fall for it”, as they all wondered why the King was laughing.
• Everyone was surprised to hear Prince Ranork say that while King Hartley laughed and then General Suci asked Prince Ranork “so you mean his royal majesty was joking and was never serious?”.
• “He was joking. The funniest thing is that he learned how to joke from me and I still wasn't able to see through his joke” said General Ben with a smile.
• King Hartley stopped laughing and said to General Ben “I got you, bro”, while everyone still wondered if it was true that the head King was joking.
• “Don't worry it has begun” said General Ben to King Hartley, and they all realize the head King was truly joking.
• “You are all funny. What kind of judgment do you think I was gonna give? You are all my family. I will always love and protect you all, nothing else apart from that” said King Hartley, and then realized while everyone had stopped eating when they were talking, Prince Rahde continued devouring all the things on the table.
• Seeing Prince Rahde, King Hartley burst into laughter again pointing at Prince Rahde and they all looked at Prince Rahde, and then burst into laughter too.
• The next day in the afternoon was a great day for Prince Ranork and Prince Ragon because their Father had promised to bring them to the Kings’ and councils' meetings. Prince Ragon and Prince Ranork had always wondered why the council hall was so big but upon entering the council hall with their father, they realized why it was so big and full with a lot of chairs.
• For the first time in their life, Prince Ranork and Prince Ragon were excited that they would be officially meeting the King of Kynite named Kung Lim, the King of Bravmus named Duran, the King of Vraklin named Zuch, the King of Ophum named Rahim, the King of Warc named Jeff, the King of Navaner named Neur, and two members of the each other Kingdom council.
• As King Hartley and General Ben walked to their seat with their son, Prince Ragon and Prince Ranork saw all the Kings, the council members of each Kingdom and that of the Arcadian kingdom stood up on the chairs they were seated on and bowed their heads to show their respect to head King and the great general.
• Prince Ranork was made to sit next to King Hartley who was seated on his throne and Prince Ranork sat down next to great General Ben who was seated on his seat. The other Kings and all the council members greeted the head King and the great General before the head King ordered them to be seated. Before the meeting commenced, Prince Ragon and Prince Ranork were introduced to the other Kings and other kingdom council members, and they all bowed to show their respect to them.
• Even though it was their first time attending the Kings/councils meeting, Prince Ranork and Prince Ragon enjoyed the meeting and were excited throughout the meeting. It was a joy to them that they were able to attend a meeting even Queens could not attend.
• After the meeting was done, Prince Ranork and Prince Ragon were told to leave the hall by King Hartley telling them they are other matters that needed to be attended to. Prince Ranork and Prince Ragon left the hall happily and on their way to the city in disguise which is where they decided to go next, they talked about the meeting.
• Prince Ranork and Prince Ragon spent their whole afternoon in the city having fun before they decided to go visit the royal training ground in the palace in the evening, which is where all the generals of the Arcadian kingdom always trained. Upon getting to the royal training ground, Prince Ranork and Prince Ragon saw a gathering and tried to find out what was happening that they were a gathering.
• Prince Ranork and Prince Ragon find out that the cause of the gathering was because Princess Aris was challenging everyone to a sword fight and those who accept the challenge had been defeated by her. Prince Ranork and Prince Ragon also saw General Suci seated at one side watching what was going on without interfering.
• When Prince Ranork and Prince Ragon got to the gathering, Princess Aris had just defeated a general and was asking who would like to fight her but no one wanted to. While asking who was ready to fight her again, Princess Aris saw Prince Ranork and Prince Ragon, and then she asked Prince Ranork to fight her but Prince Ranork didn’t answer and turned to leave.
• Just as Prince Ranork took a step forward to leave, Princess Aris said to him “are you going to be a coward in the presence of the generals?”, and that made Prince Ranork stop upon hearing her.
• Prince Ragon was annoyed by Princess Aris's words and said to prince Ranork “let me deal with her”.
• “If you can’t fight me you can as well send Ragon to. I can even handle both of you” said Princess Aris with a smile to the two princes.
• There was no response from Prince Ranork and then Princess Aris said another annoying word again which got Prince Ragon pissed off and wanted to go fight Princess Aris but then Prince Ranork stopped Prince Ragon and said to him “I will take care of her myself. I will show her I am way above her”.
• All the generals cheered courageously upon seeing Prince Ranork take up a sword and agreed to fight Princess Aris, knowing he was a better fight and he could defeat his younger sister. Prince Ranork had never seen her sister fight before or know anything about her swordsmanship skill but he knew her skills could never be better than that of Uncle Ben so he was going to take things easy with her.
• Princess Aris and Prince Ranork were about to begin their fight when King Hartley and head General Ben arrived at the royal training ground to see General Suci but their presence was unaware to everyone. King Hartley wanted to stop the fight realizing what was going on but head General Ben told him to let them fight so prince Ranork could make Princess Aris realize that he is older than her and way better than her.
• Just as Prince Ranork and Princess Aris ran toward each other to attack each other, the emergency kingdom bell rang once. Hearing the bell, Prince Ranork and Princess Aris stopped raising the swords in their hand down while General Suci quickly stood up worriedly and saw the head King and the great General. While everyone wondered what was going on that made the bell ring, General Suci walked to King Hartley and head General Ben who was looking worriedly. Upon getting to the head King and head General Ben, General Suci bowed to them to show his respect, and then head General Ben said to General Suci “gather the army right now”.
• “Are they back?” General Suci asked King Hartley and head General Ben.
• “That is the only reason why the bell was made” said King Hartley to General Suci.
• General Suci left the head King and the great General and then called the other generals to him while Prince Ragon walked to Princess Aris and Prince Ranork who were looking as the other generals walked to assistant General Suci. Upon getting to them, Princess Aris asked prince Ragon and prince Ranork what was going on but there was no response from the both of them, then prince Ragon said to prince Ranork “you remember the bell or don’t you?”.
• “The Arkians are back” said Ranork worriedly, and then the emergency bell began to ring continuously.