gabz2000

Chapter 66 - Retribution The reaction from dad when I arrived and just appeared out of nowhere was immediate. He coughed some of his coffee out of his mouth when he saw me, taller, more toned, and longer hair. “Chris?!” Dad almost shouted, and coughed on some of his coffee as he stood from his seat and went over to me. He gave me a thorough look and gave my face and body a quite intimate inspection. “Dad...” “Damn son... it is you!, what the hell happened to you?” He asked, still trying to take it what happened to me. “What do you mean dad?, like my makeover?” I asked with a hint of mischief in my voice. “Makeover? This is not a make over Chris... this is a complete transformation, the hell... did you just gain height? And muscle?” He said as he stood against me to check my height, “yes...should be about 2 inches am I right son?” He said. “More or less... yes” I smiled at him. “Come here dad, give me a hug” I said to him. “It’s been too long, I missed you” “Ohh... Chris... I missed you too” dad replied. “No... dad, I really missed you” I paused then said. “For me, it’s been three months!” “Huh? What are you talking about?” Dad was confused when I said that. “Well... that’s how I got all of these...” I said to dad as I pointed over my body and new hairstyle. “Is this one of the and Elf things that I’d have to get used to?” Dad asked. “Well... maybe... it’s acruallly quite hard to explain” Then for the next half hour or so, I told dad about what I did in the realm, I talked to him about the Hall of Maktar and dad was, as expected, totally surprised by what elvish magic could do. “I really didn’t know that they could do that as well dad... but I’m happy that the magic could, I’m more ... uhm, I’m more stable now, I think I have a better grip of how things are, I think I’m even willing to face Victor now, maybe to just even have a clean break or good closure perhaps” I said to dad. “That’s good to hear Chris, you’ve certainly become more mature now, and I can see you’ve gained some muscle as well, I’m happy for you son, you and your surprise though, they just keep on coming” dad said them laughed a bit, then he spoke again, with a little bit of sadness in his eyes, “Speaking of Victor, the guy has basically been holding a vigil on the front lawn the entire weekend, I went out several times to say you weren’t home, but he didn’t believe me” “Don’t worry about it dad, I’ll talk to him soon” “His not outside now tho, I think he went back to his place, seems like Henry and Troy picked him up earlier as Victor has apparently not been eating or sleeping at all” When dad said that, I felt bad for Victor, I may still be angry with him, but still, we’ve been through quite a lot together, and I couldn’t discount the things we’ve been through, and the thought of him not taking care of himself or worse, sick, is something that I wouldn’t want to imagine. After having a quick breakfast dad spoke again and said to me “and ... you mister... don’t think I haven’t noticed... but you’re late this morning... you might be a prince, but you’re still my son, and you’re not missing out with your lessons, so this afternoon, I want you to finish the modules we missed out on this morning” Dad wasn’t really mad, he just wanted to keep me on track, he actually had a mischievous smile when he spoke to me, he knew very well that I was already way ahead of schedule and will finish my program months ahead. “Yes dad, I know, you know how much I love those modules” I sarcastically said to him. To which he rewarded me with a playful smack on the head. Early in the afternoon, I did as I was told, and I finished my assigned course work without supervision from dad. At around 4:30 in the afternoon, Leo entered the house, and the moment he saw me with my new hair and everything that came along with it, his face was totally indescribable, a mixture of shock, disbelief, and amusement. “Dude! What the hell happened to you?!” He went over to me and patted my body all over, and then said “what the fuck Chris, what do they feed you back there?” “Nice to see you too, Leo” I greeted my friend with a hug. The moment Leo realized he hasn’t given me a proper welcome back greeting he immediately returned my hug and said “right, sorry, welcome back” The as he pulled away from the hug, he gave me another once over, and again said “my my... I should have seriously have reconsidered my sexual preference back then when you were single” Leo said in a teasing manner. I slapped his shoulder a bit and said “Well... you got August now you doof” and winked at my friend. “Hmm... August might be okay with being a throuple with you” he said while exaggerating the lip licking and smacking movements he’s been doing. “My my... where did you learn those words and when did you become so forward? Has August been corrupting you?” I asked. Leo immediately blushed and looked away for a bit and then answered “my lips are sealed buddy” then he winked at me. Oh my, the mental image, I can’t even, I have to admit, the visuals, gave me a boner. “Hmph, I’ll let you spill soon enough” I said, winking at him, fully knowing the sexual innuendos we’ve been using. Leo and I had a good talk for the next few minutes. We both were in the living room while dad was at his study finishing some work from the university. “So how are you really doing?” Leo asked me. “What do you mean?” I asked. “Oh come on, Chris, you know what I mean, Victor... what do you plan on doing?” Leo said, and at that point I really couldn’t read his face whether or not his expecting me to reconcile with Victor or totally dump again the guy. “I think I’m gonna talk to him” “Really?” “Yeah... at least some closure would do us some good” “Hmm... maybe, maybe that’s good, and I’m not sure if it’s my place to say this, but Chris, August has been in touch with Victor and goodness, the guy is a mess” “I know” “No you don’t, he hasn’t been eating, he’s been ignoring work, Henry has pretty much taken over for now” Leo said. “Hmm... well... what was I suppose to do?, forgive his sorry ass? I basically saw him fuck someone in a video, what else was I supposed to say? Or do? Forgive him? Give him a free pass? We’re not in an open relationship Leo, I expected him to be faithful and he expected me to be as well, I thought... we were both enough for each other” “I’m not a fan of his at the moment as well, but I do agree that you both should talk about this” Leo remarked. “Yeah, that will happen soon, I think” I said that as I noticed a shift in the energy around the house, Victor was close. “Leo, he’s here... Hmm, I guess it’s time for my talk with him then” “Okay buddy, no matter what happens, I hope everything will work out for the better” Leo said as he gave me a good bye hug and went out the door, he ignored Victor as he walked pass him, but at least now he wasn’t shouting expletives on the vampire. Victor stood by the doorway, he didn’t take a step inside. His eyes were puffy, and red. His face looked pale, like ridiculously pale. He looked at me and said “Chris? Is that you? Can we please talk, please... we can fix this! Please let’s try to fix this” his voice cracking, he was on the verge of crying again. “Come in Victor, let’s talk” I calmly said to him, my voice unemotional. I felt for him, but I felt for myself too. But I didn’t want to start this conversation wherein I was the emotional one, I’ve been too emotional for too long. “Come on sit down” I ask him to sit in the couch right across me. “Thanks” he muttered, his eyes looking straight at me, pleading. “So... what do you want to talk about?” I asked. “Us...” “What about us?” “Chris... please, hear me out” “I’m listening” “It was Gustav... it’s all him” “What about him? Did he seduce you? Did he drug you?” “No...” “So... you seduced him?” “No...” “So what is it?” “I don’t know” he replies, he sounded confused, but his answer got me confused as well. “What do you mean... you don’t know?” I was getting impatient at this point, a slight edge in my voice appeared as I said that. “It’s all blank... but my gut tells me it was Gustav” “Your gut? So I’m suppose to trust your gut?” I was in disbelief at this point, it made me angry but I wanted to laugh as well. “You want me to forgive you based on your gut?” I laughed a bit. “No... I’m not asking for you to trust my gut... but yours ...” “Victor... you’re losing me here... what do you mean?” “I mean... I can’t remember what happened, it’s one big blur, actually no, it’s one big hole in my memory, I couldn’t remember a thing” “So maybe you were drunk? I don’t know... Victor... but you certainly fucked him, we’re both sure of that” “I know...” he looked on the floor as t he guilt ate into him again. “Chris, is there anyway that I can prove to you that I did not want for this to happen, Chris, I love you so much, I could have never done such a thing to you, you are my life Chris, I’d gladly throw away everything I have just to be with you” “Nonsense Victor, you’re a governor, you have people to lead” “Patrick, Lucy, and Henry can deal with that” “Well... vampire affairs don’t really interest me anymore, that’s your call anyway” I say to him. “Chris... is it really that easy for you to forget everything that we’ve been through, all the time we’ve spent together” “No... Victor, it wasn’t easy, but I’ve tried to move on, for you it’s been a weekend, but I spent some time in the realm, and with some magic, I ended up spending three months in near total solitude, I’ve had the to heal and start moving on” I said to him, still calm but with a bitter tone towards the end. When Victor heard about my 3 month stay at the Hall of Maktar, he was obviously surprised then he collected himself and smiled a bit, “so that explains the new look huh?” “You can say that” I smile a bit back at him as well. Then I grew serious again and said “Victor, you may think that Gustav was behind this, but we don’t have proof to sya otherwise, what we do have though , is the video of you fucking him” I made it a point to stress the word fucking when I talked to him. “Sorry” “Don’t apologize, it’s done” I said to him while I looked away. “If only I could convince you... show you what’s on my mind, it’s complete a blank” Victor said. Then when he said those words, it hit me,”Hmm... maybe that could work?” “Maybe what?” He was confused. “Show me what’s on your mind” “I usually can share memories but this one, is blank, nothing, I can’t, something is holding me back” he sadly replied. “Let me, I can dig through” “You can do that?” “Sure I can, you’re not the only mind reader in town anymore” “Oh... “ that information took him by surprise as well then he continued. “If you can, then yes, do whatever you have to do, I’ll open my mind to you” “Okay, let’s do this, for closure’s sake Victor, and nothing else” I sat closer to Victor, and concentrated on my mental energy, slowly expanding it and allowing it to brush against Victor’s mental shields. The moment our energies made contact, Victor slowly pulled back his shields, and his mind completely opened itself to me, at that point, memories of the both of us, drinking milkshakes together, eating burgers together, having fun at the park, roadtrips, and even the time when he first saw me and also our first kiss, flowed to my head, the rush of memories that had emotions of fondness, genuine happiness, and outpouring, overwhelming love, reached me, I had to steel myself a bit to stop myself from crying. Then slowly a chronological recollection of the events of the past days, hit me, there was him banging against the shields, him driving out Gustav from his place, him crying his heart out in front of Henry, him shouting how he can’t believe his one and only chance on true love. Then there was this blank portion on his memory, nothing... just complete black, dark, no emotional weight or whatsoever, I pieced the timing of the blank patch of memory and I figured out that was just before I arrived at his bedroom when I came back from the realm, that was the time he was having sex with Gustav. I tried to sift through, but he was right, there was nothing, no visuals, no sound, no emotions even. Then I sifted around some more and I felt like there was a heavy lid on that part of his memory, it was being actively suppressed and protected by something or someone. I touched around the dark mental barrier, and I could feel it squirm away from my probing. I then poured more energy on the mental probing, and it started to fight back stronger this time around. Victor felt the mental tug of war in his head, he visibly flinched several times as well, I could sense he was now having a bad headache, but one more push from me and the mental barrier put on him came crashing down. And what I discovered from behind the barrier, completely caught me off guard. Something that changes how we will fight the enemy that’s come between us. This discovery, will change how we fight back, and as of the moment, I didn’t have a clue to as to how we will win against this.

Hi Everyone. The next chapter will be delayed by a day. Things came up and I’m running a tad behind.

I asked Patri how the Hall of Maktar worked. “Come over here” he said, bringing me over to an altar carved into the wall. The altar held a large green stone that had streaks of vines of green stone connect it to the marble walls. “These green stones are called Lakasi stones, in an enclosed space like this and in a place where there’s a high density of Lakasi stone, feeding it magical energy will cause the area to form a bubble in space-time that results to anyone inside to experience time differently. “Meaning what?” I asked. “Depending on the amount of energy you feed it, a day outside can be stretched into a week or two in here, meaning 7 minutes here could just be a minute outside” “You can do that?” I asked in a surprised tone. “Yes... although the amount of energy needed is quite high, I’m sure you can sufficiently muster enough energy to stretch 2 days into a month” Patri said. “A month huh?” I mused, thinking of all the things I can do with that amount of time. “I see you’ve brought with you several books, start with the meditation book then move on to Spyora and then the book about water magic” Patri suggested. “Ahh... I see, thanks Patri” “Chris... so do you want to try this out?” “Of course Patri, this is just what I needed” I replied, thinking that things have been happening too quickly the past few months, that now I had to take a breather, and at least attempt to make sense of everything that’s happened to me so far. “Chris... don’t overdo it okay?, I’ve done this several times before, in times I needed deep reflection or a crammed training program, there’s been times I’ve stretched a day into 10 or 12 days, however it drains you of energy and can take quite awhile to recover from, especially when the time dilation ceases and you return to the normal time stream.” “Wow. 12 days?” “Yes, however the record is by the High Mage, with the help of several magical talismans he’s stretched a day to 21 days” “Okay... let’s do this” I said with a little bit of over enthusiasm on my part, but I mean, time dilation, how cool is that? “Wait for a moment Chris, I’ll have this arranged, don’t worry, it’ll take me an hour or so” “Arrange what?” “Your meals and stuff, someone has to bring you food from the outside, I’m guessing you’re planning on extending your 2 days to 30 days, that means I’ll have to organize a meal for you to be delivered here every 24 minutes from our end” “Ahh... I see” “Also...” Patri added he paused then continued “I’ll have to gather several staff members that have at least bronze skills in magic to handle the delivery of your meal” “Why is that?” “When the room is in time dilation, crossing into areas of different time streams takes a toll on the body, the feeling for the one from the outside is that there is a heaviness in the air in here that sucks the energy out of them, so we need strong servants for that, the stronger the time dilation the worse it is for outsiders crossing” “Ah, Okay I see” I paused then thought of something, “So how do I monitor the time I’ve spent here?” “Here...” Patri pointed towards two dials on the wall on our right side, “this one on the left tells you of the time you’ve spent in here, and the one on the right tells you the time that has passed outside” “Ah. Okay I see” Patri then explained further, “the door their on the far end leads to a small bedroom for yourbuse, there’s also a small kitchen, and shower for you as well” “Ah. Okay. I was starting to wonder how I’d deal with my bodily functions once I start” I chuckled at that. “Come on let’s get back to the palace, let’s have a light snack with your grandmother as I have everything else arranged.” Patri said. Over the light snack, Patri and Matra tell me that the Hall of Maktar is seldom used, mainly just by either Patri, my uncles, the High Mage, senior government ministers that are at least Gold Level in Magic and senior military officials as well. At most the Hall is used one to two times a year. After several more minutes of talking about other stuff everything under the sun except that of Victor, a servant knocked on the door and was allowed in. The male servant looked like a 16 year old, which obviously he wasn’t, he stood probably and inch shorter than me, most likely he’s 5’7, he was wearing a green vest with a darker green jacket and white pants and brown shoes. He had a beautiful face, he had dark eyes that sucked the breath out of you, long eyelashes that accentuated every facial expression, he had dark wavy hair, and had a slim yet toned body. He had Turkish features, his facial features chiseled yet not intimidatin, his skin almost as fair as mine but with a bronze undertone, from what I gathered from Yal, this elf most likely is from the Heradeya Tribe and most likely from the Eastern Province. “Your majesty, your highnesses, all preparations for the Hall of Maktar have been accomplished” the young elf said as he made a small bow towards the three of us. “Thank you, Etalos, we will be there shortly” said Patri said to the servant. The servant left us and Patri stood and asked for me to come with him. I said a short goodbye and a hug to Matra and Patri and I were off the palace corridors and made our way back to the Hall of Maktar. As we walked through the gardens, I asked Patri “how does this work?” “I’ll show you when we get there, it’s actually very straightforward” Patri replied. “Ah, okay” “I’ll have to warn you though, once you get back, it can be quite confusing, for you it’s been days if not weeks while for the rest of the people you’ve come back to, it’s just been a day or two” “Yeah, I can imagine the confusion, but I guess the rewards will be worth a day or two of being confused, hehe” “Certainly grandson, I’ve done it several times now, and I’ve always come out stronger and better” Patri remarked as we continued our walk, the aroma of the flowers and plants around the garden helped in calming down my nerves. We then both made our way inside the large cathedral like structure of Taha Hall and then down the stairwell into the Hall of Maktar. We reached the room and reached a large green stone near an altar like structure near the dials. “You pour energy into this stone, this stone is connected with all the other stones in the walls, there is a smaller dial beneath that will tell you the level of time distortion, I suggest for you Chris, anything in less than a 1 day dilated to 16 days ratio, let’s not over exert you just yet, and I don’t know what the High Mage will feel if you break his record.” “Ah, I see, sounds cool, so I just look at the dial right?” “Yes..., I’ll have to leave the room before you start, and the servants will only be able to stay in the Hall for one minute with you, two minutes maximum when they bring over your food” Patri explained. “Ah... yeah, right, okay” Patri gave me a hug before he left me alone in the Hall. Alright, this is it I thought, I really didn’t know what would become of me after this but I had a feeling I’d come out better, stronger, and more stable after this. Before I poured in my energy, I noticed that Patri also had several books and scrolls delivered into the hall as well, theres no tv or tablet or anything for me to use as entertainment though, shoot, anyway most likely this is for self introspection and self discovery, any additional technology will only distract me from my goal. I approached the stone and dials, Patri said to stop when the ratio reaches 1:15 but I thought otherwise, I wanted to stretch 2 days to 90 days and not just 30, I’ll be aiming for 1:45, that’ll surely break the High Mage’s record. I put my hands on the stone, slowly pulled from my energy pool, and I gently poured over my energy to the stone, at first there was no change, the dial barely moved at all, then I continued and the stone started to feel warm, and my body felt tingly all over, I saw the dial move from 1:2 to 1:10... then 11, 12, a few seconds later I’ve passed the High Mage’s record of 21 then I pushed forward, with a little bit of more effort, I’ve now reached 30,31... then a minute later I’ve reached 45, then I stopped. Sigh, I started to sweat a bit and become tired. But other than the slight strain, I feel fine. I decided to nap a bit as I wanted to be fully rested before I started on my meditation. I went to the room behind, and found a single bed with just enough space to move around, other than a reading lamp on top of a bedside table, there wasn’t much in here. At least the bed was comfortable. I ended up napping for more than two hours and i was already feeling better. I went to the middle of the Hall, sat on the floor and started a quiet chant of the meditation mantras I’ve read in the elven scrolls. I regulated my breathing, thought of the inner peace that I sought, and myself and myself alone, it took me several minutes to get the hang of it, this is something Yal and Patri has showed me before but it did take awhile to get used to. After 15 minutes or so, I’ve gotten my groove and found myself lost in my inner self. The room was quiet except for my slow breathing and murmured chants. I felt connected to myself and myself alone, I felt a sense of awareness of myself, feelings and thoughts, and to some extent my powers as well. I lost myself in my meditative state but later on I snapped out of it as I heard my stomach grumble in hunger. I walked to the dial and saw that it’s been 10 hours since I’ve meditated, why is it the food hasn’t arrived yet. Then I realized my error, I’ve extended my powers too much and they didn’t know, they were supposed to deliver food to me every 6-8 hours but since I’ve changed the ratio from 1:15 to 1:45, my food won’t be arriving for another 4 hours or so. “Shit” I muttered to myself as I went to the small pantry which was thankfully stocked with boxed and canned foods and some fresh bread which will go stale very soon, so I had to eat those first. I prepared myself a sandwich and thankfully there were some juice as well. I think I was more hungry than I expected coz I easily gobbled several sandwiches in a span of a few minutes. For the next few hours, I read through several scrolls on meditation and energy regulation. Then I heard the door to the Hall open and a young familiar looking elf was about step into the room. It was the beautiful male elf from earlier, Etalos. He stepped through the boundary and the reaction was almost immediate, he started to feel week and his knees almost gave way, I rushed to him and I was able to help him balance himself, good thing he didn’t drop the tray of food he was carrying. “Are you okay?” I asked him as I helped him stand straight. He was barely able to reply “Yes... your highness, I’m fine” “You seem you’re not” I say as I took the tray from his trembling hands. “It’s just that... this is so much stronger than when I served for His Majesty, the King” “Oh, shoot” I muttered. This is something I forgot about as well, the servants would be having a hard time staying in the room, shit, I had to fix this. I pulled some of my energy, and transferred them to him. “There? Better?” I ask. “Yes” the effect was almost immediate as Etalos was able to breathe normally now. “What did you do your highness?” “It’s just Chris... uhm, anyway I gave you some of my energy” “Oh, you didn’t have to, it’s my fault, I wasn’t just at full strength entering the Hall” his replied with his mellow voice. “Oh, believe me it is my fault, come on we gotta get you out of here, and ... can you help me with something?” “Anything your highness” “Can you bring some more bread next time, and some boxes of packaged food? I’m getting hungry all the time here” “Oh... okay, I’ll have that arranged” “Okay... thank you Etalos” i said to him as I escorted him to the door. “It’s a pleasure to be of service to you Your Highness” he said as he went through the door. Sigh. I gotta think things through next time, and goodness, I don’t know how much time has passed outside as Etalos stayed in the room, hopefully the rest won’t notice yet. I spent the following hours meditating again, I stopped my mediation just in time for the door to open again, this time it was a different elf servant that entered the hall and the effect was again almost immediate, I ran over to the teenage looking elf servant. “Hey are you okay?... here let me fix that” as I took the tray from him and have him some of my power. “Sorry, Your Highness, it’s just this is so different to the times before” the elf servant said. “It’s okay, it’s my fault, what’s your name by the way?” I asked as I rubbed his back for him to relax, his breathing was going back to normal. “It’s, Mikaros” “Thank you Mikaros, anyway, how’s Etalos, he gave me quite a scare earlier as well” “He hasn’t returned yet, Your Highness” “Huh?” “I entered just 8 minutes after he entered, he must have been left the Hall a few hours ago here but to us outside, he hasn’t returned yet, most likely if you’re working on a 1:15 ratio, he’ll be back in our place 15 minutes after he entered, which means I entered the hall before he has appeared back in our time stream” “Oh.o I said...” “What’s the matter Your Highness?” “Well.. just between us, I’m working on a 1:45 ratio right now” “What? Your Highness!? This means I haven’t fed you at the right time, oh my” the elf servant was panicking “I have to tell the rest to triple the rations” “It’s okay Mikaros, I’ll be fine, anyway, I’m taking your time, you must already be almost an hour behind now, come on let me escort you out” After that, I went about my meditation for several hours again and then back to helping out a distressed elf, I cycled through 18 servants, which was four and half days for me, before I was able to meet the entire servant line up and it was now back again to Etalos. “Hi, it’s finally you!” I said back to him.” “Sorry, your highness, we had to triple the contingent of your servants as your unexpected level of time dilation has all sent us way off schedule into the future, I was expected to come back after 15 minutes but I stayed here for 2 minutes that together with the higher level of time dilation, sent me back to the outside world 90 minutes late.” “Wow... that bad huh?” “It’s not bad, your highness, it’s just so impressive actually... your grandfather was heard to bellow out in laughter the moment he heard you went a little above of the ratio he suggested” “I’m feeling I’m gonna get some talking to when I get back” “From what I’ve gathered, he’s more proud than annoyed” Etalos smiled back at me. Oh my, his smile can be quite enchanting, sigh. For him it’s only been almost two hours, for me it’s been four days since I saw him” “Okay... as much as I like spending time with you, we have to get you back” I said as I ushered him to the door. “Really?” “Really what?” I asked. “You like spending time with me?” “Of course I do, you’re a nice guy” I said to him as I patted his back. He left the room smiling and slightly blushing. The days went on as I worked through my meditations, practicing of energy manipulation, water magic, and spent a lot of time exercising as well. All the 18 Elves that were part of my kitchen contingent are all very nice, but I did end up cozying up more to Etalos than the rest. It’s been a month now for me now, but barely 16 hours in the outside world, and now it was Etalos again that was serving me my meal. As he entered. I stood at the ready to give him some of my energy, something I’ve done every time a servant sends some food to me. “Thank you, your highness” “Don’t mention it Etalos, you know it’s kinda my fault as well” I smiled back at him as I got the tray of food from him. For a second or two, Etalos stood quiet in front of me. “What’s matter Etalos?” I asked. “It’s just that, looking at you now Your Highness, I see you’ve become more mature, healthier, and happier, compared to the first time I’ve seen you” “Really?” I asked. “Yes, certainly” he said. “Well.. thank you” I said as I escorted him out. After Etalos left, it got me thinking, am I really happier? Well... it’s been a week since I last cried about Victor, it still hurts and the thought of seeing him again made my stomach feel sick. But then again, at least I’ve stopped having nightmares of the images of him fucking Gustav, that’s a step in the right direction I think. Thinking of it, I think the meditation has certainly helped, and burying myself in reading and exercise and magic practice certainly took my mind off him. For the first week or so, I did try to avoid thinking about Victor, but the thought of him kept creeping back on me, was I unfair to him? Should have I allowed him to explain? Explain what though? I’ve seen the treachery right in front of me, with my very own eyes, sigh, however, I do admit that what we had was definitely something special, however was it special enough for me to dwell more on? Am I willing to get hurt again? Six weeks into my time in the Hall of Maktar, I started to long for human connection, the minute or two contact with a servant as they brought in my food was never enough. Although I longed for human contact, it wasn’t as bad as what I expected, I did miss my Dad and Leo, I’ve thought of Victor, but the disappointment and heartache just came rushing back as I recalled the way he looked at me with love and wonder before all this shit came to be. At least now, the pain was that bad anymore, maybe I could now tolerate being in the same room with him even if it were just in passing or us being on either end of a large restaurant. That’s still the same room right? As I was trying to wear a fresh pair of clothes, I noticed that it didn’t fit me anymore, I looked at myself in the mirror and I notice I’ve gained more muscle, my body and arms, and legs now more toned, more defined than before. I then heard the door open, and again I came rushing to the aid of the now nearly panting Etalos. As I took the tray from him, he stood frozen. “What’s the matter?” Etalos blushed and then looked away from me. Then I realize that I’m only wearing my underwear which barely left anything to the imagination as my boxer briefs hugged my crotch and bum very tight. “Oh, sorry bout this” I giggled at him. “No, don’t be, it’s just that... you’re really good looking Your Highness” I laughed a bit and said “oh, thanks Etalos” I winked back at him. As he made his way out of the Hall. The days went by, I’ve gotten a huge hang out of water magic, based on the texts and scrolls, my water magic abilities can now be considered High Gold level, almost platinum, now I’m able to control water without any gestures, just a small tug from my mind, I’m now able to form balls of water or ice, water barriers, and create pillars of water from the moisture around me. Spyora which apparently is about the energy of life, is something I’ve started to learn as well, basically it is related to the energy blasts and energy barriers I’ve been able to do before, but now I’ve gotten the fundamentals and basics of it and have progressed to an intermediate understanding of the craft, apparently aside from the four elements, and spell casting, Spyora is something that only less than a percent of the Elven population is able to control. The days went by, and at some points the servants came in pairs and brought more books for me from the Royal Library, they told me that these books weren’t as good as the ones from the Tower of Knowledge but these were the best that that realm could offer aside from the ones in the tower. From then on, things went by like a blur and just like that, by 90 day stay at the Hall of Haldruin has ended. Now I’m looking at myself in the shower mirror and I can barely recognize myself, well... it’s still me, but I’ve grown 2 inches, now I’m 5’10, and I’ve gained at least 15 pounds of muscle, my former six pack now bordering on an 8, I was lean and cut like never before, all the energy manipulation I’ve been doing must have affected my hair growth, coz now my platinum blonde hair has grown to about 10 inches long. I’ve been tying my hair in a man bun for a week now. I dressed myself in a light gray jacket that hugged my body, I paired it with darker gray pants and dark blue boots. I then went to the green stone, pulled back some energy from it and slowly the time dilation stopped, within seconds the dial now shows 1:1. I breathe a sigh of relief as the feeling of personal accomplishment flow into myself. I open the door to the stairwell and climb up, back in the Main Hall of The Royal Chapel, I’m greeted by an ecstatic Patri and Matra, they were both accompanied by my uncle Selvenus and Yal. Patri came rushing to hug me, and Matra wasn’t far behind her. Pulling back from our hugs, Patri says “my... my... you’ve certainly grown a lot grandson” “2 inches!” I proudly stated as I huffed my chest. “Chris, you’ve certainly outdone yourself” My uncle said as he hugged me as well. “Thanks, uncle” “Look at all that hair” Yal remarked as he walked over to me. Yal came over to me and gave me a tight hug, as he hugged me he whispered “Now... you’ve become even more of a sweetheart, you were a heartthrob back then but now... you’re making my straight mind think twice” he winked at me as he pulled back from our hug. My grandfather then said to me “The High Mage is pretty upset with you breaking his record” Patri wore a smile that told me he found the matter quite amusing, at least the record was now back in the family. “Sorry bout that Patri” “No need to be, so are you feeling okay? Are tired?” Matra asks as she fixed my hair. “I’m fine...” “Well... that’s good to hear Chris, come on dinner is ready” Matra said as we all started to walk back to the residential palace. It was now almost night time in the realm, which meant it was almost Monday sunrise back at home. Before dinner, I went to the royal hairstylist, I kept the hair on top of my head long, while I asked the stylist to closely cut the hair on the sides, it now seemed that I had an undercut, while I tied the hair on top in a semi-bun. Dinner was festive, Patri, Matra, Uncle, and Yal were very happy to see me again, well, I think I was more happy to see them, as for me it was 90 days of almost complete solitude. During dinner we had roast turkey, chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, salads, Taka Bread, and other Elvish dishes like Koshbe Slices (Meat from some sort of smaller cow from the realm) and Betaska Rolls (rolled roasted meat from a bird in the realm). It was now 8pm in the realm, should be 8am back home now. I think dad will forgive me for being late a bit, I just had to have a last stroll at the Royal Garden before going home. I hugged the people around the dinner table as I said my goodbyes to them. “I’ll be backs soon” I tell Patri. “You’re always welcome here” he replied. “I’ll just have a last quick stroll at the garden, then I’ll be off” I said. “Want us to be with you?” Yal asks. “No need, just some me time for now” I replied. “Oh, I see, enjoy then” Yal said as he gave me one last hug. I walk out of the dining hall, and walked through several corridors which I’ve now started to be more familiar with, well not all of them but I knew the way from the dining hall to the garden. I was now walking through the paths in the garden, the only thing I could hear, was the water from the fountains several feet away from me and the occasional sound from the insects around. The smell of the flowers calmed me, the moonlight together with some light from the lamp posts made the atmosphere conducive for thinking, looking back I realize that so much in my life has changed recently, a few months ago I was a homeschooled child of a single father, with only a single friend to speak of, a teen who spent most of his time either playing soccer or hanging out in a diner, now I’m a prince, had a vampire for a boyfriend, met werewolves, battled vampires, and now spending weekends on a grand palace, and to top it all off, I’m apparently a very powerful elf, I come to terms with the changes in my life, I didn’t ask for this, but do I hate this life, certainly not, does it freak me out? Hell yes! Am I gonna run away from this? Hell No! As I walked through the garden, I hear a voice, it was a beautiful voice, and it was singing... in English! It was male, and the voice was familiar. I turn a corner and see a familiar elf servant, singing a very soulful rendition of a song I’ve grown to love from a movie I’ve watched again and again during my childhood. Etalos was singing, and a stood several feet behind him, and I enjoy his beautiful singing. He sang Every night in my dreams I see you, I feel you That is how I know you go on Far across the distance And spaces between us You have come to show you go on Near, far, wherever you are I believe that the heart does go on Once more you open the door And you're here in my heart And my heart will go on and on Love can touch us one time And last for a lifetime And never let go 'til we're gone Love was when I loved you One true time I'd hold to In my life we'll always go on Near, far, wherever you are I believe that the heart does go on Once more you open the door And you're here in my heart And my heart will go on and on You're here, there's nothing I fear And I know that my heart will go on We'll stay forever this way You are safe in my heart and My heart will go on and on As he finished the song, I started to clap. Which caught him by surprise. “That was beautiful Etalos!” I said as I walked nearer to him and gave him a hug, something that surprised him as well. “Thank you, Your Highness” “No... no... thank you! That was magnificent, I didn’t know you spoke English, let alone sang in it” I said. “Well... I really loved the movie, a friend of mine gifted me a copy of the movie a few years back” he explained. “Hmm... you have a great voice, please sing more often, I’d really love to hear more from you” I said to him with a smile. “Oh, it would be a pleasure, Your Highness” “Etalos, it’s just Chris okay?” “But...” “No buts, at least when we’re alone, you can call me Chris, all this royalty thing is really something new to me, and I really can’t imagine myself getting used to it... ever!” I laughed as he laughed a little as well. “Alright, I’ll be going now” I say to him. “So soon?” He said. “Well.. I have to get back to my dad” I replied. “Oh, I see” he looked sad to see me leave. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon” I said to him as I hugged him goodbye and kissed his forehead. The teenage looking elf, stood silent and just blushed in front of me. I smiled back at him, waved goodbye and then thought of my Father, the connection was immediate and then I find myself in our kitchen. The song triggered something deep inside me, a deep seated realization, realization that what I indeed had with Victor was special, and maybe even once in a lifetime, I may not have forgiven him, but I did owe it not only him but to myself as well to find some closure with the end of our relationship, I’ll just have to talk to him, maybe ... for the last time.

For the next hour or so, I chatted with Patri, Matra, and Yal. Matra is a sweet lady, she still couldn’t contain her excitement in getting to see her only grandson who she only saw as a baby. The four of us, talked about plans for my Ascension and my future training in the Kashis of the elements or High Academies, we decided to follow my training in order of my proficiency. Water, first, then Fire, then Air, and finally Earth. As I have spell casting abilities as well, I’ll be attending the High Mage Academy as well after the Kashis. While we were talking a servant served us some tea and Taka Bread, my favorite Elven food so far. “Hmm... yum, best bread ever” I said as I savored the bread. At that point Matra got teary eyed again. I noticed her starting to cry again and asked “What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?” Matra tried to stop her sniffling and said “No... no... it’s just that... Taka Bread is ARasil’s favorite as well” “Ohh...” I said , realizing that there are some things that I might subconsciously do that might remind my grandparents and uncles of my mom. Matra and Patri gave me a smile and Patri said “You’re really just like here you know, driven, and so passionate about stuff” Matra then had a far away look and said “Hmm... yeah” she wiped a tear away and added “It’s too bad we really haven’t given her a proper goodbye” I took a moment for myself and then thought about it and said “well... she’s buried in the local cemetery at Greensburg, you both can visit her, it’d be nice to have you visit us too” I suggested as I smiled at the both of them. Patri then gave my Matra a hug and looked close into her eyes, he caressed her face and brushed her hair a bit with his right hand and said “how about it?” “Hmm... ZoHal, yeah, we should, we both haven’t been in the human world for several years now, I think we should return, and this time for ARasil” Matra said. We all then decided that my grandparents will be visiting my town after all the stuff with the Ascension is finished, so most likely my grandparents will be visiting mid january or early February. I then looked at Yal and I thought crossed my mind. “Yal, how long have I been here?” “Oh” he looked at his wristwatch and said “almost 8 hours now” “Oh... no” I said, remembering I slept a little late, it must be just past 9am at home now. “Why Chris? Dinner will be served here soon, why don’t you join us” Matra said. “Oh, I can’t Matra, sorry, I’d love to but it’s mid morning now at home, Dad and Victor must be going crazy, I forgot to leave a note that I’m going here” “Oh... honey, okay, come join us for dinner next time okay?” Matra said with an expectant smile. “Of course Matra” I said as I hugged her goodbye. I then hugged Patri and Yal as well. “Bye everyone, I’ll see you all soon, and hopefully I don’t barge in an office” we all laughed at that and then I thought of my anchor to the human world, my beloved Victor. The connection was a little bit off now, like there’s an additional barrier between us, it seems that he was asleep or his aura as more muted, it was a little bit uncomfortable but with enough concentration I got the right connection and with a sigh a faded away back into my world. As I opened my eyes, I was greeted by a naked Victor that was fast asleep on his bed. A bed I’m very familiar with. I look out the window and it was mid morning indeed, the bedside clock confirmed it showing 9:34. I enjoy the sight of my naked boyfriend whose bare torso was right in front of me, his chest slowing rising and sinking as he enjoyed his slumber, he must have been tired I thought. I was about to touch Victor when I heard his door to the shower open. And what greeted me when I turned around was something I might never forget, Gustav, freshly showered and in ... my bathrobe! Gustav greeted me with an evil smile, as if he’s won or something and said “Hi Chris, didn’t expect you here” My face must have looked totally devastated or confused or angry at that point, and the way I felt could not have been far from those words as well. “What’s the meaning of this?” My breathing now was heavy, my knees getting weak, tears welling in my eyes. “Oh... you mean this?” Gustav mockingly said as he waved his hand to the robe he was wearing and then waving at my naked boyfriend or should I say former boyfriend? “What’s happening?” My voiced cracked as tears began to flow from my eyes. I was devastated, beyond angry actually. My control of my energy faltered a bit and my energy brushed on Gustav’s thoughts and memories, what I saw in those brief moments broke even more my already broken heart, what I saw was Victor and Gustav torridly kissing each other, hands all over each other’s naked bodies. “Seems, the governor decided to give me a reward for a job well done, I finished sweeping out the rogue hideouts early” he proudly stated. “Maybe you should do something to help him out, you might just earn a reward or two” he gave me a teasing wink. Then there was a shift in the bed, Victor was waking up. He then opened his eyes, it took him a second or two to take in the sight in front of him, me crying and Gustav being in a robe freshly showered. “What’s happening?” Victor asked in a groggy voice as he rubbed his eyes. I looked at him, hate filling my eyes as I glared into him. “How dare you do this to me?!” I shouted. My raged burned and I swear the room got hotter as well. The room now filled with tingling energy vibrating from me. If Gustav noticed the shift in energy he didn’t let on as his smile was still plastered on his face. “Chris...” Victor said as he tried to get his wits around what was happening. I stop him and say “You fucking bastard! We’re done!” Me saying that hurt me but this was too much, how could I have easily fallen for his excuses?! Dumb old me I guess. Victor started to get up and say “Chris chris... I don’t know...” Gustav then interrupted Victor and said “Victor... I really appreciated your token of appreciation” he then went over to the tv and added “why don’t we show your boyfriend or should I say ex boyfriend how you reward loyal servants of the community?” With a few buttons pressed, the tv turned on and a video that I will curse to the ends of the earth showed itself, it was a video of Gustav and Victor having sex, Victor’s cock deep inside Gustav, with Victor’s eyes clearly glazed in lust and passion as Gustav moaned as he was consumed by their passionate fucking. “What the fuck?!” Victor shouted. “Chris... I ...” At that point, I lost control for a moment and zapped the entire room with an energy pulse. Both Gustav and Victor fell on the ground, knocked unconscious. I was too far gone to be concerned of their well-being, well they’re both vampires they should be fine. I dash outside the room, I ran to the ground floor and came across Henry. “Oh... Chris! It’s a welcome surprise to see you here” he warmly greeted me. He saw the look of anger and sadness in my face and with concern he said “what’s the matter?” “Why don’t you check in your boss’ room, when he wakes tell him he can go fuck himself and never talk to me again, if he shows his sour face to me again, I’ll do so much more than zap him” “Huh?” Henry asked in confusion. I left Henry standing there as I ran out of the house, crying. The walk... rather run home was very quick. I didn’t care if people saw my Elvish speed, fuck them all, the world can just go fuck itself. I arrive home, dad was in the kitchen area, he looked at me, at first not noticing my state of mind and said “I had a feeling you were in the realm, but please don’t forget to leave a note” he said smiling, then he noticed my red eyes and streaks of tears on my face. “Oh... Chris! What happened? Are you alright?” “I don’t know dad, emotionally... never been worse” I then spent the next hour or so, telling dad what I saw, I was sobbing hard, I swore so many times but dad didn’t care of the expletive tirade I’ve been launching, he knew I was in pain. “Chris, do you want me to quit my job in the state? I can’t work with him knowing this.” Dad said, he was angry too. I was after all his little boy, no matter what. “No, no need to dad, this will pass, but I can’t face him now, maybe never will, but you just be civil with him, this is between us, I appreciate the effort though” I then excused myself to my bedroom. “I’m gonna go cry some more, and then maybe sleep” I said to dad. Dad gave me a tight hug, and with a pat on the shoulder and a kiss on the cheek he said “You’ll get through this, I know you will, you’ll be stronger after this, I just know it” I hugged my dad back and went to my room and cried myself to sleep, I skipped lunch and ended up waking at 4pm. I went to the kitchen for a late lunch or an early dinner, whatever. Dad walked in on me and said “he visited earlier and he’s a mess, I didn’t let him take a step inside, he’s still there waiting outside” “He can go to fucking hell” I said. And with my new found anger, came a surge of new powers and energy as well. I felt my powers bursting through, I felt Victor’s presence in the front lawn, and like a knife slicing through warm butter, I invaded his mental shields and shouted in his mind “Get lost!” I felt his body jolt a bit with the shock of my voice in his head. Mentally he started pleading “Chris... Chris... is that you?” His voice pleading. “Chris... let me explain, it’s Gustav... he did something!” “I know you both fucking did something!, get the hell out of here!” As I left his mind, I gave him a zap, from outside dad and I heard a loud shout as I zapped Victor just almost enough to knock him unconscious. “What was that?” Dad said. “I just zapped him, come on I’m hungry, I’ll just binge eat myself to death” “Chris...” dad said in a warning tone. “Just blowing off some steam dad, but I’ll get over this, he’s just a boy right?” I said. Though I’m pretty sure he’s not just a boy, he was the boy, my boy! Deep inside I yearned for Victor but this, this is something I could not accept. Leo visited my house at 6pm, walking into the living room he asks “what’s Victor doing outside crying?, he begged me to tell you to let him in, what’s with that” Leo was confused with what was happening. “I broke up with him” I said matter of factly with obvious bitterness in my voice. My red and puffy eyes showing that I’ve done my fair share of crying. “Why? Why would you do that?” Leo asked confused. “You guys are perfect for each other” “Well... I guess he broke up with me when he shoved his cock up Gustav” “What?!” Leo said. I then spent the next 15 or 20 minutes explaining everything. “That fucking bastard” Leo said. He then opened the door, and shouted at the still waiting Victor “Get lost! Asshole!” Then slammed the door shut before Victor could get a word in. “August will be here tomorrow, I’ll make sure he knows about this and he never talks to Victor again” Leo said. “Oh, Leo, don't, we’re not kids anymore, though I appreciate the thought, but let’s not kid ourselves, August and Victor are senior officials, in one way or another, they’ll need to talk to each other, it’s up to you if you want to talk or not to Victor, I appreciate the gesture, but this is just between the both of us” I said as my voice started to crack as the idea of this being really over started sinking in. “Fine... but I’m never talking to that cheating bastard again” Leo said as me mumbled expletives against Victor. I then spent the next hour venting my feelings with Leo. And my ever dependable best friend stuck by my side, and gave the pat on the shoulder, hug, or words of encouragement just at the right time whenever I needed them. Leo left just before 9pm, I heard him cussing out on Victor as he walked pass by him as he left. Victor then ran toward the front window, he started banging on the window pane, I heard him shout “It was Gustav! Please let’s sort this out! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Please let’s talk about this, I’ll do anything!” He cried out as he banged on the window, I’m surprised he hasn’t broken it yet. “It’s over Victor! It fucking hurts! But it’s also fucking over!” I shout at him from the other side of the window. And with my anger, I create a shield around me, that I slowly expand around the house, a veil of almost perfectly transparent bubble spread from me, engulfing the room then slowly the entire house, as the bubble reached Victor, his eyes grew wide as he realized he was slowly being pushed away. I don’t know how I did it but I’m very sure the barrier has been designed for him to never get through. After a few more seconds, Victor was back where he started and was now a several feet away, banging against the barrier on the front lawn. He must have looked crazy out there banging against something that most people and even supernaturals will never notice. As I kept up the barrier, I felt it slowly drain energy from me, but my refill rate was faster than the drain, I can jeep this barrier up forever if I wanted to. Dad and I had another good talk before going to bed. Dad’s support and love for me never ceases to amaze me, he’s been with me all the way, I think in his eyes I’m the perfect child but in my eyes he’s the perfect dad, someone that’s loving, supportive, and nurturing, someone who’d stand by you and keep you in the right direction to achieve your full potential, Hmm, this is just a bump in the road I thought, dad’s right, I’ll get through the, I’ll be stronger in the end. That night, I decided to delay my return to the realm, I didn’t want to pour all my emotions out just yet to anyone there, I had a feeling I needed to be in the tower, fading out I realize I’m in the tower not as a projection, but as myself, I crossed the barrier without anchoring on either Patri or Yal. I found myself in the 18th level of the tower, it’s my first time in this level. The layout was the same with most of the levels aside from the several special ones that had slightly a different approach to things just like the artifacts section in the 17th floor. The books were in the shelves, all chained to the shelves with a thin golden chain. However as I was drawn to a book, the moment I touched the book, the gold chain vanished and I was free to take with me the book that was bound in red leather, with silver inscriptions all over it, it’s title calling it Spyora, No direct translation with English again. I was also drawn to two other books, one was about meditation and another about water magic theory. I poured over the books over the next few hours, this time I took notice of the time, and realizing I couldn’t use Victor as an anchor as at this moment and I think for the rest of my life, I’d rather be as far away from him a possible. I then scanned for other energy signatures, I thought of August but he was too far away from Greensburg, he was scheduled to arrive from Baltimore late in the afternoon. It took me awhile but amongst the ocean of energy signatures, I found my dad’s, it had to be his, it had a familiar feeling to it, I then grab the books with me, trying to consciously bring items with me this time, I took the last step and connected our energy signatures and in almost a blink of an eye, I found myself in the kitchen, dad in front of me drinking his coffee, my sudden appearance jolted him in surprise, he nearly let go of his mug, good thing he didn’t. “Goodness Chris! You scared me!” Dad said. “I’m not late for school am I?” I smiled back at him. “Sorry dad, I really couldn’t use Victor’s signature to get back, I had to use yours” “You found mine?” “Yeah, took me a bit of time but here I am.” I smiled back at him. “What are those with you?” he asked as he noticed the books with me. “Hmm, just some light reading materials from the tower” Dad had a suspicious look on his face and said “I bet that’s something you weren’t suppose to do, am I right?” I giggled a bit and said “Don’t worry about it, They’ll never know these went missing, I’ll return it, and it’s not as if they can do an inventory of the tower, I’m the only one that’s been freely able to enter he for quite some time” Dad raised his eyebrows and said “just make sure you return those” “Sure thing pops, so what’s for breakfast?” I said. “Hmm... someone’s feeling better” dad said as he noticed me being more cheerful compared to my sobbing self of yesterday. However it’s all a front, as the heartache I felt during that time was even worse than the day before. “Hmm. Just gonna bury myself in these light reading materials, and there’s your tutorial too, and Hmm, Victor can’t go near the house anymore” I offhandedly said. “What do you mean? He’s still out there you know” dad said. “Hmm” The thought of Victor staying out overnight waiting for me kinda pinched my heart but I’m not giving in, I’ve forgiven him too soon for ignoring me in front of Gustav the other day, and where did that lead to? “I mean dad, there’s a barrier now around the house, don’t worry though, I think I designed it so that it only affects Victor” “You can do that?” Dad asked in surprise. “Apparently I can” I said shrugging my shoulders as I ate some toast. That Friday morning, dad and I discussed my lessons for the day, I obviously skipped lessons yesterday as I was distraught and very much mentally unavailable to flip a page. However, today I decided to be more functional. The ache in my heart continues to stab through my chest though. When I felt a slight tug that told me Victor has left the property, the ache actually hurt a bit more, knowing that this might be really the end of it all. For lunch dad and I had food delivered, I wasn’t keen on cooking and neither was dad. I spent most of the early afternoon, in my room, not being with Victor for the afternoon was different, I’ve always been so used to spending my afternoons with him, this time, I’m alone in my room, still crying quietly every now and then. Late afternoon, there was a knock on my door. A voice from the other side, told me it was my best fiend Leo and his boyfriend. “Can we come in?” Leo asked. “Sure” I replied. Leo opened the door and he and his hulk of a boyfriend entered my room. The room wasn’t small by any chance but August certainly stood out. “How are you doing buddy?” Leo asked as he hugged me. “Getting better” I replied. Then I nodded towards August and said “Nice to see you, big guy” August smiled towards me and gave me a hug as well, this time I really didn’t feel horny, rather I just felt calm and comforted, I guess I’ve lost my sexual appetite now. “What Victor did was wrong Chris, we’re on your side” August said. “There are no sides August, it’s just a breakup, of course I’m fucking angry at him, but you guys don’t need to be, well... I kindda expect Leo to be, but just do your thing with him, as long as I don’t see him, I’m fine, I don’t think I can bare to be in the same room with him again” “Hmm... Just so you know Chris, this thing with Gustav is so unexpected” August remarked “Victor was never this type of guy” “Well... apparently he is, or he’s become this type of guy” I said with and edge in my voice. “Anyway, I have to tell you guys something” “What is it Chris?” Leo asked. “I’ll be out over the weekend” “Huh? What do you mean?” “I’ll be spending the weekend in the elven realm, I can’t stand being here, it’s suffocating” I said. “Chris, really? Are you sure about that?” Leo asked. “Yeah... I’ll just tell dad, I’ll be spending the weekend with my grandparents, I’m sure he’ll be fine with it” “Why don’t you join us both for the weekend instead?” August offered. “Nah, I’ll pass, thanks for the offer guys, but I think I’ll just put a damper on your plans, so just enjoy, I’ll be fine... I swear” I forced a smile on them. Leo and August joined dad and I for dinner, we had food from Martin’s delivered, the food never failed to satisfy our cravings. Over dinner I also asked dad that I’ll be spending the weekend with my grandparents, to which, as I predicted he consented on, with a little bit of hesitation on his part but he’s allowed me to go on weekend getaways before, and these are my grandparents, of course I can spend time with them. August and Leo went out for dessert at a local ice cream place just before 8pm, both guys gave me a hug as they left. “See yah on Monday afternoon?” Leo said. “Yeah... see yah!” Before going to sleep or more like before going to the realm, I hugged my dad goodbye and took the books from the tower with me to my room, as I prepared a duffel bag for my short weekend getaway, it’s not as if I’d be needing stuff, as I really didn’t have any clothes that would satisfy the elvish fashion of the current times. After I double checked my stuff, I thought of Patri, as maybe Yal would have been back at the Ministry. With near instantaneous connection between our energy signatures, I found myself in Patri’s study. Patri was sitting behind his desk, looking over some paper work. With a slight tingle in the air that signaled my arrival, Patri looked up and greeted me with a smile. “You seem to be getting better at that Chris” Patri proudly remarked. I smile and said “improving by the day” Patri then noticed my stuff and asked “you brought stuff with you?” “Yeah, apparently I can bring stuff over” I paused the brought out the books and said “I might have borrowed a few books from the tower last night as well, and this other stuff... is for uhm” “Yes?” “Can I spend the weekend there?” I said, then remembering the ache, a tear escaped from my left eye. “Oh Chris, of course you can! We’d love for you to be here!” Patri said as he approached me and gave me a hug. As he tightened his hold around me he said “I sense there’s more to this” “Yes...” I said, now I started to sniffle and more tears were escaping from me. Patri called Matra to come over so they both could talk to me. For the next hour or so, I told them about what happened and how devastated I am. Patri and Matra were both very sad for me and both very furious against Victor. My crying died down a bit after I was able to vent most of my pent up frustrations and also after discussing my insecurities and doubts over my relationship and standing in society. We three had a light snack of Taka bread and some tea as well. For a moment or two, Patri and Matra exchanged looks with each other and both whispered with other as well, both had their shields on so I couldn’t eavesdrop without visible effort from my end. After a few more nods, Patri then stood, and said to me, “Chris, follow me” “Huh, what is this about?” I asked. “Just walk with me grandson” Patri insisted. I looked over to my grandmother and she just nodded in approval. I followed Patri along several corridors and then found ourselves in royal garden, which had beautiful manicured landscaping, hedges, beds of flowers, numerous intricate multi tiered fountains and the occasional statues and lamp posts for night time visits. It was mid afternoon in the realm, as I realized there was a 12 hour difference between the day and night cycle between the realm and Greensburg. “Where are we going Patri?” I asked we both walked along the footpath. “Taha Hall” he succinctly replied. “The royal chapel?” “Yes...” “I’m not exactly the religious type” I said. “Doesn’t matter, we’re going there for a different thing” After a few more minutes of enjoying our walk we approached the far end of the garden and what stood in front of me was a large Gothic structure. The building’s two towers on each side stood easily at least 200 feet. The building’s facade was of light orange bricks, there were two stained glass windows on The front side of the towers that faced us, there was also a very large rosette wall on top of the large wooden double doors that stop atop the 30 steps we had to take to get to the entrance. Each side of the door had a 12 foot tall statue of a praying elf, standing with hands together near their chests. The door easily stood 20 feet in height. Which also had an intricately designed tympanum on top of it, the decorations that adorned the door and the columns were laced in gold and silver. Entering the chapel, well chapel was an understatement, it was large inside, more of a cathedral, it’s ceiling rose more than 100 feet atop the hall, ribbed faulted ceilings supported by columns that were intricately decorated with carvings of vines and plants. Each column had a 15-18 foot statue of a warrior elf that either had a sword or a staff. Yal was right, this place could seat thousands. The floor was of well polished granite slabs. The walls on the side had large stained glass that showed various events in Elvish lore, ancient battles, and such. In front of us, at the back wall of the chapel was a very large main stained glass window that showed the realm’s creation moment, I felt so small inside, the atmosphere wasn’t overly intimidating but it certainly made me doubt my position in life. “Beautiful...” I muttered “Yes, indeed” Patri agreed then he said “but we’re not here for this” “Huh?” “Come on, follow me” We both end up in a door on the left side of the main hall. The door led to a stairwell that ran downwards, after more than 20 steps down, the stairwell that thankfully was well lit by lights on the side walls lead to another door. Patri opened the door, and I was greeted by a brightly lit room. The room was of white marble all over which had streaks of bright green stones embedded in it, all smoother over in the flat surface. The arrangement of the green stones that sized from pea to basketball size. The room or rather this small hall wasn’t small but it wasn’t big as well, more like 100 feet in length, and 50 feet in width, and the ceiling probably was 14 feet in height. “What’s this place?” I asked Patri. “Welcome to the Hall of Maktar” “Hmm... it’s beautiful, but what are we doing in here?” “Yes it is beautiful, but it’s more than just that” “What’s with this place Patri?” “This place will give you what you seek” “What is that Patri?” I asked now more curious than ever. “Time...” “Huh?” I asked. “With our long lives, we elves take time for granted, we all mature at our own pace, have decades to study and hone our own crafts at our own pace, have families either when we’re 70 or 150, doesn’t matter, but there are times when we need to hasten time if not for others but for ourselves, when we’re in a rush for progress and self improvement, and when time isn’t exactly on our side...” He paused then continued. “These green stones, if fed with enough energy can distort time, by feeding it your energy, 1 day can be stretched into a several weeks, you can use it to meditate or hone your skills, think if you must, pray, cry, it’s all up to you” “Time? Huh?” “Yes... time, time for you to reflect, improve yourself, deal with emotional turmoil, mental difficulties or physical issues, high ranking elves, and members of the Royal Family have used this hall in times of personal distress or emotional turmoil, we all have had moments where we’ve questioned our direction and the choices we’ve made in life, and being high ranking elves, being in turmoil or in a state of depression or distress for months if not years will have serious consequences for the people we govern, and you my grandson, being as powerful as you are, we’re concerned that if we don’t deal with the feelings you’re having right now... you might start to lose your control over your powers and they might consume you, and we certainly can’t have that” I knew what Patri was driving at, I should use this room to rein in my feelings, get a grip of some sort, and maybe learn a thing or two about my powers as well, and Patri’s right, as much as I’ve tried to move on, my heart and emotions we’re starting to unravel, it was as if I was dying from the heartbreak deep inside. “How does it work?” I ask Patri as I look forward to some time for myself.

Had to.., someone warned me bout Father Time... Heard also Stratos and other people that had my energy signature looking for me 😂

His mom brought Chris to the elf kingdom once when he was still a baby.

Yal and I walked through the empty corridor, it was eerily quiet all I could hear were our footsteps echoing throughout the empty hall. “Yal?” “Yes?” “Why is it so quiet here?” I asked. “Oh. We’re in a secure area, we’re in a level 7 security zone. Tech and Knowledge acquisition is highly regulated by the realm” Yal replied. “Oh... I see” “Don’t worry, there’s more people once we clear this area. Remember, let me do the talking okay? We can’t let the public know you’re already in here, if anyone asks what you’re doing here, tell them you’re a Ratashi” “A what?” I asked. “Ratashi... someone who is at least a Silver Level Scholar, that would explain why you’re with me and why you’re in here” Yal said then he winked at me. “Ah... okay” I replied. As we neared the end of the corridor, we faced an opaque glass door, on the right side of door, there was a square glass panel on the wall, barely large enough for a hand, which I discovered was actually for a hand. “Chris, put your right hand on the panel” Yal said to me. I followed Yal’s instruction and the panel lit green then the door slid open. As we left the corridor, the space opened up to an atrium, the place had a modern feel to it, white marble floors, glass railings, impressive floor to ceiling height, approximately 16 feet (5 meters) per floor, I discover that we were on the third floor of the building, looking up to the atrium, I see a glass dome serving as the roof of the atrium, allowing a lot of natural light into the building, the dome must have spanned at least 100 feet across. There were several elves walking about, all were wearing either blue or green pastel vests with darker colored jackets that matched the color of their vests. The men wore pants while the women skirts. A lot were either on their phones talking to someone or bringing folders. One thing I did notice though was that most were barely audible when they were talking as if they were whispering, and none were in a hurry, everyone seemed to be calm and taking their time, no one was rushing or seemed to be catching a deadline. Something curious I thought. As we walked in the area, there were several nods directed towards Yal, which he all recognized with a slight nod as well, however none dared to approach us and none seemed to make a big deal of me being there, okay, so far so good, cover has not yet been blown I thought. We approached the elevator thay we were going to take to get to the basement level where Yal’s car was parked. We were waiting for the elevator when Yal whispered to me as we saw a woman approach the elevator. “Not a single word” Yal said. “Huh?” I asked but wasn’t able to continue as Yal and the lady that was approaching started to lock eyes on each other. The lady was wearing a white dress that hugged her petite body, the dress had blue trimmings on the edges and had blue designs of flowers and vines and leaves throughout her white dress, the designs were intricate and only highlighted her figure. The lady looked to be somewhat in her late twenties or early thirties. She had a very corporate look to her, her blonde hair was cleanly tied in a bun, she had thin black rimmed glasses, and approximately stood at 5 foot 5 inches that’s including the 3 inch stilettos she was wearing. “Hi Master Yalekin, it’s so good to see you” the women said to Yal with a smile which I honestly believe was more of a formality rather than a genuine smile, something about her told me that she was up to something. “Hi, Retasa, what brings you to our office?” Yal replied to her, his voice taking a more official tone. “I had a meeting with Deputy Minister Dedaros, you’re office has continuously rejected our requests for access to Setalus Incident” Yal then looked around and whispered to Retasa, “Let’s not talk about this here” Yal was being careful that no one could overhear us, which I’m sure no one did, as the nearest person was about 30 feet away. Retasa’s forced smile never left her face “I understand Master Yalekin, however this is not the end of it, we will get the information we want” Then the elevator singer telling us our elevator has arrived, we three entered the elevator and Retasa then put her attention on me. With a smile and inspecting eyes she said “And who might you be? So do you work for Master Yalekin here?” I was about to open my mouth and Yal cut in, “He’s a Ratashi” Yal said calmly yet forcefully as well, as if trying to say this conversation will never happen. “Ah, a Ratashi? How magnificent, Well... thank you for your service young man” she smiled at me and I’m very sure she took her time scanning me from head to toe. Then the elevator pinged to tell us we were on the ground level. “Ah, this is my stop, I’ll be seeing you Master Yalekin” then she looked my way and said “I think I’ll be seeing more of you as well” she said, and as she turned around I swear I could see her smile widen a bit and her eyes twinkle as if she found something. The elevator doors closed and Yal breathed a sigh of relief. “Who is she?” I asked. “She’s the lead anchor of Channel 5” Yal said as he grunted. “And what’s her deal?” I asked again. “She’s into breaking new stories in her program, she’s a good journalist, too good actually, she keeps on finding ways about getting information from either businesses, local governments and even major government operations” Yal said with frustration. “Ohh” I replied, didn’t really know what to make of it. “And I’m sure she’s onto you” Yal said. “Huh?, what did I do?” “Nothing... but I swear Retasa has very good instincts, any slip up on our part would mean you on the headlines within the hour” The elevator door dinged and we exited to the basement parking level which contained several black, gray, or white sedans, all seemed to be very sleek and had a sports sedan vibe to it. We approached a black car that looked like a BMW G30, just without the logo. Yal unlocked the doors and he went for the driver’s seat while I took the seat beside him, the interior of the car was modern and had the best kind of leather used on the seats and other sidings. The windows were fully transparent and not tinted in any way. “Nice car” I said to him. “Thanks, it’s brand new” Yal chuckled. Yal pressed a button and the car queitly hummed to life, the engine was very quiet. Yal then took control of the car and we were off the basement ramp and found ourselves on the streets of the Capital. From the outside, Yal’s office stood tall, it was a large building, with 5 floors and a glass dome on top, the facade was painted white, it had a very classical vibe to it, columns reminiscent of Greek and Roman temples rose front he ground to the roof. I then notice that all the other buildings along the road also stood five stories high, however the other buildings were more gothic looking rather than Yal’s office that had a different architectural style. The sidewalks were wide, probably 15-18 feet on each side, the road had 4 lanes, 2 on each direction, the street was lined with trees about 8-12 feet tall on each side, one thing I noticed though was that the leaves were different in color, some had lavender, others pink, while some orange, while there were the occasional normal green ones from back home. Where there were no trees, there were hedges 3 feet high that separated the sidewalk from the road. There were also equally spaced out street lamps that stood approximately 12 feet high, what was curious about the street lamps was that they were designed to seem as staffs of the 15 feet tall statues that held them. The statues were of various men and women, all elves that were dressed in regal robes of some sort, engravings and etchings on the statues were lifelike and highly detailed. “Who are these people?” I asked Yal, pointing to the statues that held the street lamps. “They are either High Mages from olden times or military officers, some were high priests and priestesses as well” “Oh... that’s interesting” “Hmm... more than interesting, if you look below, on the pedestals where the statues stand, there’s a brief description of the person, their life story and their contributions to the realm” There were few cars in the road, all other cars had a similar design to that of Yal’s the colors were mainly the same as well, all were either Black, White, or Gray. There were a lot of people on the sidewalks, not crowded but certainly a lot of foot traffic. The people were all mostly wearing White, Gray, Yellow shirts, or dresses. Some had paired their clothes with jackets of a darker color to their pastel hued clothing. Driving through the city, it seemed like I was in an old town in europe with a modern twist to it. Then I noticed that most people were Northern European looking, mostly blonde and had fairer skin, compared to Yal’s Mediterranean features. “Uhm... Yal?” “Yes... what is it? Enjoying the Capital? It’s the finest city there is in the realm” he smiled at me. “Yes... it’s beautiful... but” “But what?” “Why is it that most people here look like Germans or Scandinavians?” I then paused for Yal to take the hint and explain why. “Ohh...” his eyes filled with amusement as he said that. “Are you asking why me and Hashana look different?” “Uhm... yes, is it offensive here or anything? I’m a missing something?” I asked. “Not offensive at all, goodness, sorry, we must have forgotten to explain to you that there are four elven tribes” “Four tribes?” My eyes showed surprise as I said that, why is it nobody has told me of this. Of course it should have occurred to me that Elves weren’t homogenous jusr like humans. “Yes, there’s the Elurdeya...” Yal said as he waved his hand around pointing out the people in the crowd. Then he continued “The Elurdeya are from Northern Europe, then there’s the Sokodeya” Yal said as he pointed to himself “We’re from Southern Europe” then he continued. “Heradeya, from the Near East, hmm, think of Turkey and Eastern Mediterranean, then there’s the Hegodeya, from North Africa” ”Oh I see” I replied. Then I asked another question, “So... just mainly the Elurdeya in the Capital?” “Hmm... yeah mostly, the Elurdeya are based in the Capital and Northern Province, the Sokodeya in the South, the Heradeya in the East, and Hegodeya in the West.” “So I’m Elurdeya?” “Hmm... yes, House of Haldruin is Elurdeya.” “Ahh... Hmm.. okay” Was my only reply, I had to find out more about this thing. Then I thought back to something that Retasa mentioned earlier. “Yal?” “Yes...” “Retasa, uhm, she mentioned something earlier, uhm, what’s the Setalus Incident?” For a second or two Yal seemed to lose his composed and clam demeanor while still being able to look at the road ahead, it was as if for a second or two he froze on his spot, as he recovered he said to me but not even looking at me during that time, “Why don’t we talk about that on another time?” “Ah, I see, sure no worries, just askin’” As we moved along the road, the crowd started to change, now more people were wearing Red, Blue, Green clothes some had their base colors matched with White or Gold trimmings, and now their clothes had flower and plant designs as well, similar to that of Retasa’s. Hmm, curious. The buildings now also stood taller, from five stories in Yal’s office area earlier, now the buildings were 7 stories tall, the lamp posts and their partner statues also gained a foot or two in height as well. We then turned a corner and then straight ahead I see a very grand palace at the end of the road. The building stood far from the road as it was behind a large garden from the main road. The palace reminded me of the Palace of Versailles but I’m very sure this one is better! The palace complex surely at least twice if not thrice the size of the Palace of Versailles. With barely any traffic, we reached a gate on the right side of the palace complex. Two palace guards in blue uniforms approached the car, Yal lowered the windows on both our sides. The guards then brought glass tablets to each of us and Yal and I reached over and put our hands over the tablets, both lit green and we were cleared to enter. The drive to the main building was quite long as the front lawn/garden whatever you want to call it was larger than how it looked from afar, the drive from the gate to the building took several minutes at least, but Yal did slow down a bit for me to enjoy the beautiful garden, it’s hedges, and landscaping in general is amazing. Yal lowered the window a bit and the floral scent washed over the interior of the car, it was intense, not nauseating, instead, the aroma lulled me into a state of calm and quiet confidence. We approached an entry way on the side of the right wing of the building. “This is the Roshena Wing, it’s the right wing of the Front Building, the main residential palace building is behind” Yal explained. “Ah... I see, lead the way” At the side entrance we were greeted by an elf, who immediately took over Yal’s car and whisked it away. We entered the building, the corridor was big but not as big as the ones I’ve passed through when I first arrived in the palace. We walked passed several elves in t he corridor, some nodded towards Yal some just went about with their usual business. Most were either palace servants or some administration or government officer that had some business to do in the palace. “The Front Building, also known as the Celestial Palace, is where the administrative and governing aspects are done from, the Royal residential area or building , the Antalus Palace, is behind, then the three smaller buildings of Taha Hall - the Royal Chapel, Haska Hall - the ceremonial and entertainment hall, and the Kesga Hall - the servant’s and staff quarters are further behind, with the Royal Garden in the middle.” Yal explained, then further back, is the Elven Garden” “The one in front wasn’t the Royal Garden?” “No, that was just the front lawn” Yal smiled mischievously at me. “The Elven Garden is even bigger than the Royal Garden” he winked. “Uhm, ... okay, wow, how big is this place?” I asked, still surprised with the scale of things in here. “Hmm, let me recall” Yal said as he rubbed his forehead as he seriously tried to remember the details, as the Master Scholar, he should remember quickly, “Hmm, the Celestial Palace is roughly 200,000 square meters (2,152,800 square feet) in floor area, all across its 5 levels, the Antalus Palace, 40,000 square meters across its 3 above ground levels and 2 underground levels, Kesga Hall is 30,000 square meters, Taha Hall which can sit 5,000 chapel visitors is 40,000 square meters, while Haska, which can accommodate 3,000 guests is 30,000 square meters” Yal then paused a bit as if to think of more details then continued “The front garden is 25 hectares (62 acres), the Royal Garden is 75 hectares, and the Elven Garden is 130 hectares” Yal said. “Wow, too much information Yal, I can’t remember all of that” Yal chuckled a bit and said “well... you did ask for it, don’t worry though, you won’t need to remember, you’ll see all the areas for yourself, as a member of the Royal Household, you’re entitled to access all areas, thus your Level 10 clearance, I myself, even had only a Level 9” “Ohh... I see, speaking of the Royal Household, is Patri here?” I asked. “Yes, he is, that’s why we drove over, let’s give him a surprise shall we?” Yal suggested. “Uhm. I don’t know about that, isn’t he suppose to be working or something?” I asked. “Your highness...” Yal said in an almost exasperated tone. I cut him off saying “It’s just Chris” “Right..., anyway, I’ve already told the King that you’re here and he wants to see you” “Huh? When did you talk to him?” I asked. “While you were busy addressing the elves in the Ministry of External Scholarship, I sent him a message” “Ohh... okay” Yal and I continued to walk along several corridors, there were many statues standing between 6-9 feet most inside niches, in the walls, the statues were made of white marble, some had gold or silver in their clothes or accessories, some had crowns of gold or belts of silver or swords of silver or some parts of their clothing in the said metals as well. The statues were incredibly life like and their gazes calling for attention, each statue a work of art and would each deserving of much appreciation. The ceilings were on vaulted arches, with murals of nature or elven people in various activities. The colors of the murals burst into the surroundings, once you set your gaze on them, it’s certainly hard to take your attention away. As we walked, I asked Yal, “So... I noticed people call you Master around here, so that’s your title right? As a Master Scholar?” “Hmm, kind of...” Yal mused. “What do you mean?” “Master Scholar is the title of the Minister of External Scholarship” Yal smiled back at me. I took me a second or two to let that sink in. “Uhm, wait... uhm, what? Wait ... wait... you’re a Minister? Like Cabinet Minister?!” My voice raised a bit. “Chris. Calm down, what’s the matter?” Yal calmly asked me. “All this time I had a minister with me? Gosh, I must have taken so much time from you, darn” “Chris... don’t worry, I have Deputy Ministers to take over for me, and in case you’ve forgotten, you’re a prince, being with a Minister shouldn’t be a surprise to you, finding you, was one of our top priorities, so, sending the Minister to personally look for you was a good decision for the King to make, and more time in your world for me gave me more insight about the daily human life as well” “Hmm... I don’t like you guys hiding stuff from me” “Well... we really haven’t the fact just never came up” he smiled at me. “Hmm... you and your word gymnastics” I grinned back at Yal. We then exited one of the corridors which opened up towards a small garden, after a 2 minute walk, we reached the residential palace which was actually very big, it had baroque architecture with white marble as a facade, and a dark red roof it looked like a slightly larger version of the Vaux-Le-Vicomte in Maincy, France. “Welcome to the residence” Yal said to me as we walked up the steps to the main entrance. The entrance was guarded by 4 guards, 2 on each side. The guards noticed us and recognize Yal but not me. However being with Yal made it seem I had the clearance to enter the residences, which obviously unbeknownst to them I did! We were both allowed to enter with no issues. We entered a large room, high ceilings as expected, there was a large staircase that led to the upper levels. Above the staircase was a large chandelier. After climbing up the stairs, we entered a hallway, there were several servants we passed through a long the way, all just busked themselves with their tasks. We approached a large wooden door with gold decorations of flowers and plants. Yal knocked a bit and after three seconds Yal just opened the door himself. Yal looked at me, and said “you’re grandfather allows me to open it by myself but I knock out of courtesy” We entered the room, it looked like a large living room, cozy couches around, a fire place on one end. Sitting on one of the couches were two people, one was Patri, and the other one was a woman who looked to be in her late forties, light brown hair, beautiful face, wavy hair that just flowed slightly below her shoulders. Both were wearing Red & Gold robes, which I later find out was the color of royalty in the realm. The woman stood, followed by Patri, my grandfather greeted me with a smile, he came over to me and gave me a hug, while the woman who was probably 5’4 stood still in her place, with tears flowing through her eyes, her hands on her mouth as if trying to stifle a groan or a cry. Patri says to me as he pulls back from the hug “Chris... it’s my pleasure to introduce you to your grandmother, your Matra, Queen Kalsa” Patri gestured towards the nearly sobbing lady. I approached her, she stood frozen, there was a tug from me towards her, I initiated the contact and gave her a tight hug as she burred her head on my shoulders “Matra...” I whispered into her ears as I hugged her. She began crying even harder and in between sobs she says “Grandson... finally, I get to see you again, it’s been too long, I thank the powers above for bringing you to us”

Sure am glad you aren’t Victor’s bf... he’s gonna get it

I did not go to the realm that night, my emotions were all over the place to concentrate, couldn’t risk accidentally finding myself in a place I’m not familiar with. I had to rationalize everything, I thought of various possibilities and reasons as to why or how. Maybe Victor didn’t even realize that I looked like Gustav until he saw him again? Right? Or maybe I do look a little like Gustav but Victor’s with me now right? That’s really what matters right? Yeah, maybe that’s it, Victor’s just being friendly with Gustav, that’s all, but why is it that Victor has never mentioned Gustav with me? Should he have mentioned that I look just like his ex? Is that what’s bothering me? But he is his ex right? Key word ‘ex’ I’m the current boyfriend, but Gustav did say that they were in an on and off again relationship. Am I just someone Victor’s decided he’d play with until he’ll return to the original? Am I a past time for Victor? Just a toy for him? The questions running through my head are certainly taking an emotional and mental toll on me, my pillows and blankets are now soaked in tears,I’ve been crying for the past 3 hours now, I’d have episodes of loud crying where I’d be screaming into my pillow, and I’d then have these quiet moments where I just sniffle, let the tears flow and stare blankly into the dark room. I love Victor so much and the thought of him just ‘fooling around’ with me breaks my heart. There has to be a reason, and I aim to find out! If Victor’s just playing with my heart, I had to know, I’m not going to make a fool out of myself, I’ve already done that with my first boyfriend, not again this time. I barely slept that night, and before my alarm I was already in the bathroom, washing my face, looking at myself, my eyes were red and puffy, I had to splash water on my face several times to make me look more decent, my eyes were certainly still red but it wasn’t as bad compared to when I got out of the bed. As I walked into the kitchen, I’m surprised to find Dad and Victor both already had a cup of coffee on their hands and were in deep conversation. “Good morning, son” Dad says as he sees me walk in. “Good morning Chris” Victor said as he walked over to me and gave me a hug. He looked quite sullen as he approached me. As he hugged me he whispered in my ear “we have to talk” “Yeah, I think we do” I looked back straight into his eyes. “Chris, are you alright?, your eyes are a little red” dad said to me as I walked pass him. “Oh, I’m fine, just some allergies” I said, my eyes laid at Victor. We three sat and ate our breakfast, it was mainly quiet and I wasn’t really in the mood for a good conversation. Dad and Victor made small talk over breakfast but it did seem that Victor was thinking deeply as well. After breakfast, dad and I were off to the study for my worksheets. Dad’s supervision was already minimal at this point as by now was just a few more modules away from finishing the entire program. I should be ready for the matriculation exam by mid January at the earliest. Every now and then my thoughts would drift off towards Victor and Gustav, at several moments i thought I’d start to cry but I was able to brush them off and work on my worksheets. Dad didn’t have lunch with us as he had a lunch meeting at the university. Lunch with Victor was quiet and I barely even looked at him. After lunch, Victor and I sat quietly in the living room and he said “Chris, is everything okay?” “What do you mean?” “You’re clearly being distant with me, did I do something wrong?, and you left the house yesterday, you didn’t even say goodbye, are you mad with me?, this isn’t like you” “Oh... I did say goodbye, you just didn’t notice” I said bitterly. “Really?” He asked rather surprised at that. “Yes... really” I said flatly, I was certainly on edge right now and I had a feeling I’d start to cry or scream at any moment. “I’m sorry bout that Chris, maybe we were just really deep into the planning, you know, work and stuff, sometimes I can get really caught up with it” Victor reasoned out. “Victor... that’s an excuse you give to HR, this is not a job interview” I said to him, trying to keep a hold of my emotions was becoming more and more difficult by the second. “Chris... why are upset? It’s obvious that you are, Chris... I don’t like this” Victor’s voice clearly showed signs of sadness. “You didn’t answer my calls last night” “Hmm... so have you ever thought of telling me that Gustav is your ex?” I asked him with a straight face but with a single tear running down from my left eye. Victor’s eyes grew wide when I said that. “Wait... what? Who told you that?” “Does it matter? Just answer me” I said to him. “Chris... is that it?, you think I’m still going back to Gustav?” There was a slight shaking in his voice. “So you do indeed plan to go back to him?” I asked with raised eye brows, and another single tear slipped from me. “No... hell no! I’m with you Chris!, Did Gustav tell you this? Did he tell you that he’s my ex?” “Does it really matter?” I ask. “Yeah... coz me and Gustav were never a thing, yes, I do admit we’ve fooled around before, we’ve travelled before but then for me we were mainly friends with benefits, Gustav was never the type of guy to commit, we were really just some sort of fuck buddies, hell... Gustav barely knows Patrick, Lucy, and Henry...he knows so little about my extended family, he’s not like you” “So you did intend to commit with him then?” I asked. “No... certainly no, Chris, please... believe me, you’re the only one” Victor got up from his spot and went over to me and hugged me tight. He whispered into my ear “you’re the only one, I swear, Gustav... Gustav’s just a friend” “Hmm... that’s curious, didn’t you call me as just your ‘friend’ yesterday?” I said remembering the label used on me. “Chris... I’m so sorry, I just didn’t want to ‘out’ you with Gustav and his associate, I wanted you to decide for yourself who you want to know” Victor said, he was now sniffling on the crook of my neck. “Victor... just tell me if you like him, I’d rather know now than later, it will hurt for sure, but...but” my voice now cracking, “but... I’ll get by, I’ll try to move on if you want, just be honest with me, I can’t stand to get hurt again” I was crying at this point and so was Victor. “Chris... please believe me, it’s only you, you’re the only one, I swear, I can’t imagine life without you Chris! Please believe me, please...” Victor has this look of fear in his face, it was as if he really thought he was losing me. His hands were now on my shoulders, gripping them as if to hold me steady as he looked into my eyes. “He does look quite like me, I can’t help but think that I’m just a substitute Victor” “The resemblance is uncanny, I know... that’s also one of the reasons I never brought him up with you, I had a feeling you’ll feel that way, but please believe me, yeah the looks are the same but your heart, your soul, those things are way more beautiful than Gustav’s, I’ve fallen for you not because of how you look but because you’re you... you’re my Chris... please ... please don’t break up with me... I can’t handle that pain, Chris... please, believe me” Victor cupped my face as he said that, he kissed my forehead and said “please stay with me, what do I have to do to show you that you’re the only one” I could stand seeing Victor be so miserable, he was a mess in front of me. At that point, my jealousy faded, the doubts in our relationship slipped away, “just be with me” I said to him as I hugged my boyfriend. “Yes, I’ll be with you, always” he said as we kissed. For the next 15 minutes or so, Victor and I cuddled with each other as we just enjoyed each other’s warmth. “So what now?” I ask Victor as I laid my head on his chest. “Now... we tell Gustav and his associate that we’re together, and that we’ll always be together” Victor said with a grin. “I like the sound of that” I said with a grin as well and gave my boyfriend a very passionate kiss. As we drove back to Victor’s place, I asked. “So how are the missions going?” “Oh... Gustav, Nicolas and 3 other of my agents will be hitting a rogue hideout in a suburb of Richmond early this evening, then they’ll be hitting another one just a few miles off Norfolk before dawn” “Can’t believe there’s quite a number of rogue hideouts in the area” “Yeah, caught us all by surprise when we found out, when the threat became clear, we quadrupled our intelligence operations and then we found out that there’s quite a number in the district and in other districts as well, within District 4 alone, we have 4 here in Virginia, 2 in North Carolina, 3 in South Carolina, and 6 in Georgia.” “6 in Georgia?!” I asked in surprise. “Yeah... it’s worse in other districts though, Gustav will team up with Patrick once he gets to Georgia, I trust Patrick and his agents will be enough” “Are you sure about that?” I asked. “Patrick’s strong Chris, you may be stronger but Patrick and his men will be more than enough for the rogues, especially with Gustav and Nicolas helping us” “Are Gustav and Nicolas really that strong?” I ask. “Well... they’re with Stratos, that should mean something, I just know they’re really skilled” Victor replied. “You’ve been with Gustav...” Victor gave me a look when I said that. I paused then continued “wait... that’s not what I meant, I mean... since you’ve gotten to know him, how strong is he anyway? Was there any clue that he was Stratos material before?” “Hmm... he’s always been faster and stronger than me, and he has a special skill too, he’s a recoverer” “Recoverer?” “Yeah, vampires that have fast healing and recovery abilities, Gustav heals and regains his energy twice as fast as a normal vampire” “Wow...” “Yeah... vampires like Gustav can fight long drawn out battles, they nearly never tire” “That’s scary” “Hmm... you’re scarier though, I’m sure you can beat him easily” “Hehe, you want us both to fight over you?” I teased Victor. My boyfriend froze at that statement, and I poked him on the side and said “just teasing... don’t be too tense” I smiled at him to which Victor only replied with a sigh of relief. When we arrived at Victor’s place, Gustav and Nicolas were already in the study room together with Henry as the went over the palms for tonight. Victor cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Good afternoon, everyone...” Victor said then he paused an continued “Gustav... Nicolas, I believe I haven’t properly introduced Chris to both of you yesterday, Chris... is more than a friend... he’s my boyfriend” Victor proudly said as his left arm found itself around my waist. “Boyfriend?” Gustav said with surprise as he eyed Victor and me. “Yes... boyfriend, and I do love him so much” Victor said as he gave my right cheek a peck. “Hmm... I see” Gustav said the he looked at me straight in the eye and said “happy for the both of you” I sensed a hint of disappointment and maybe even resentment when he said that. While Gustav, Nicolas, and Victor welcomed the three agents that were joining them for the mission, Henry and I found ourselves in the kitchen. “Everything alright?” Henry asked me. “Yeah... all’s fine” I smiled. “Trouble in paradise averted eh?” “Averted indeed” I smiled back at him. “Don’t worry about Gustav, he’s got nothing on you” Henry smiled back as he said that. “So... I’ve been told” I gave him a wink. I didn’t need to worry about Gustav. I’ll trust Victor on this. Just shortly before 4pm, Gustav, Nicolas, and the three agents left Victor’s place for their first attack. “By the time they return in the morning, there will be two less hideouts” Henry remarked. “How long will this sweeping operation last?” I asked. “Stratos is doing it three districts at a time, most likely they’ll finish all the known hideouts by mid January” “Don’t you expect the Blood Army to take notice and be more aggressive?” I said. “If it comes to that, Gustav told me they already have three more Stratos agents ready to join in” Victor replied. “A total of six Stratos agents?” Henry said in surprise. “Yes, Six...” Henry whistled in amazement and left Victor and myself alone. “Everything alright?” Victor asked as he hugged me from behind and kissed my neck. “Yeah...” “Don’t be jealous anymore okay?, believe me... it’s just you” Victor said just above a whisper. “I know... thanks, I love you Victor” I said as I grabbed his hands that were already around my chest, I gave his hands a squeeze or two to let him know what I feel. “Love you so much, Chris” For dinner, Victor and I went to the diner. “Hi Sally!” I said as we entered the diner. “Hello boys” she warmly greeted as back. “It’s good to be back here” Victor said as he took a sip from his milkshake. “Yeah... this is the place where I first laid my eyes on you” I replied. “Yeah... and I remember what I saw in your head when you saw me and Henry then” Victor replied with a mischievous smile. I blushed several shades pinker when I realized what Victor was hinting on, I remember myself imagining giving Henry and Victor blowjobs under the table then, oh how embarrassing, perks of having a mind reader as boyfriend? “I wouldn’t mind blowing Henry though” I quipped. Victor’s eyes grew wide, he bent over the table and leaned into me, he cupped his hands around right ear, he gave it a couple of licks and whispered “no... just me” I had to stifle a moan or two then. I replied almost in a daze “yeah... just you” god... I love my boyfriend. — When I got home, dad greeted me “So... you sorted everything out with Victor?” “Huh? You knew” “Chris ... you’re my son, I know you... and those red and puffy eyes of yours couldn’t have been due to allergies, you don’t even have an allergy” dad laughed. I giggled a bit and said “yeah, we’ve sorted it out” “Hmm... good to hear that.” Dad said as he patted my back. Just before I went to sleep, I checked my email and saw an email from Stoker University. Stoker University Admissions Dear Mr. Rogers, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Stoker University for the Fall Semester on 2020... After reading the entire email which also had attachments regarding confirmation of acceptance and the enrollment process, I ended up with a shit eating grin, ‘Stoker U it is” I thought. When I went to bed, I thought of going back to the palace, but instead of Patri, I thought it Yal, I used my energy to feel out the magical signature of Yal, there was a faint gap between us, must be the barrier, with a little more of energy from me, I connected our signatures, and with a gentle nudge, I started to tingle all over and then I faded out. “Shit” I muttered as I realize a teleported myself into some sort of office, but wait... this wasn’t a human office, there were several elves in cubicles, sitting in front of desktops, each cubicle had an elf worker in it, with two large flat screen monitors in front of them, on the screens of some elves were maps of some sort, others had blueprints and diagrams on them. Goodness elves and tech, something that I’d have to get used to, I must have watched too much Tolkien stuff, this is gonna need some getting used to. The elves were wearing some sort of military style uniform, all wearing pastel blue jackets, white pants, and boots. All were sort of typing stuff and were all very much concentrating on the stuff on their screen monitors. Clicking sounds were heard as the elves typed away. A female elf looked behind her and saw me, she slowly stood up and said “What are you doing here? This is a secure area, do you have a security clearance to be here?” Her voice was clear, and her demeanor was calm yet serious. The other elves then turned around and saw me as well. Another elf stood and went closer to me and said “How did you get here? Who are you?” This elf was male and towered above me, he must have been at least 6’3, his piercing gray eyes bored into me and his demeanor though not aggressive was highly intimidating. A door then opened from behind and said “Good morning everyone!” Then there was a pause “everything fine here?” I couldn’t see who speaking from behind but it was very familiar. “Yal... A little bit of help here” I said. The elves then looked at me with a set of confused expressions. I heard Yal walk towards me, I still couldn’t see him as he was behind the two elves in front of me. “Master Yalekin...” the tall elf started to speak. “Geharos, it’s fine” Yal said as the two elves gave way to Yal who immediately went over to me and gave me a hug. “Welcome back”, he said “Hi... sorry, didn’t mean to intrude, I think, I popped into the wrong place” I giggled a bit. “Don’t worry about it” Yal smiled. “Master...” the elf called Geharos started to speak again. “Yes... Geharos?” Yal said as he faced Geharos. “As Head of Office Security... I have to ask if he ...” Geharos paused and then pointed at me “ if he ... has the security clearance to be here” Yal only gave him a smile and said “yes... Level 10” “Level 10 sir?” The elf had to pause to gulp. “Yes... level 10” Yal smiled at me and winked. “Chris... will you please put your right hand there” Yal said as he pointed towards a small cylindrical table that stood almost up to my waist, it was made single slab of shiny gray stone. On top of it was an opaque piece of circular glass that was at least an inch thick. “There...?” I said as I pointed at the table. “Yes... your right hand would do just fine, just press it on top” he said as he smiled. I approached the table and with a confused expression written all over my face, I put my right hand on the glass, half a second later, the rim of the glass lit up in green, on the glass elvish letters started to appear. The letters read: Christopher Stewart Rogers beyn Haldruin Age: 18 Height: 173cm Weight: 70kg Blood type: B+ Magical energy Level: classified Element Category: classified Affiliation: Royal Family Security Level Clearance: 10 I looked at it and said to Yal “How'd you get all this information?” “Welcome to the realm’s Ministry of External Scholarship” “You mean spy base?” I laughed a bit. Yal chuckled and said “Hmm... that will do” Geharos looked over at the screen, the moment he read it all, he looked at me and nervously said “apologies... Prince...” I cut him off and say “don’t mention it, you were just doing your job and it’s kinda my fault anyway for popping in unannounced” I smiled back at him, my smile set the now nervous elf at ease. Yal then cleared his throat, gathered all the other elves’ attention and said “everyone, this is Prince Chris, the grandson of His Majesty King ZoHal” Silence consumed the room, you can hear a pin drop. I didn’t know if t he silence is a good thing. I looked at Yal for help and he whispered “Say something” “Oh...” I said, then I composed myself and continued “Hello everyone, well... I’m not really used to this royalty stuff, so please, just call me Chris, I’m so sorry for bothering all of you, please continue with your work” I smiled and Yal just nodded my way. Yal and I then left the office area and walked through an empty corridor, the walls were painted white, it had a very sanitized feeling to it, almost like a hospital, except the entire place smelled of roses and lavender. “Sorry for popping in like that” I said to Yal. “Don’t worry about it Chris, so I’m guessing you honed in on me instead of the King?” “Yeah... thought I should mix it up a bit” I replied. “Definitely one way to mix things up” he smiled back at me. Then he added “don’t worry about the staff, they went let a single word about this slip to the media” “That’s good to hear” I replied. Then I thought of something and asked “what were they working on anyway?... you know those people over there” “Oh...” Yal giggled a bit, and then said “Just processing some paperwork, and blueprints and diagrams... from” He paused. “From... the US, EU, Chinese, and Japanese patent offices” he gave me a mischievous smile. “Am sorry what?!” I said a little bit shocked. “For the sake of scholarship” Yal winked at me. Yal then waved his right hand over me and now I ended up dressed in a military style jacket that was pastel red, now with white pants, and boots as well, I then felt my ears and they were now pointy as well. “Ready for your first drive around the capital?” Yal asked. “Huh?” This office is on the eastern district of the city, we’re 4 kilometers from the palace. “Drive around the Capital?... sure!” I said almost jumping in excitement.

“I’m sorry what did you just say?” My dad said as his eyes grew wide and his facial expression telling me he was shocked with just what I’ve said to him. “Chris... How is this possible?” My boyfriend asked me, he was standing beside my father, and we three were still in the kitchen. Moments ago I just told them that I’ve physically gone to the Elvish Realm, and that I’ve lost track of time while I was training and chatting with Patri, my uncle, and Yal. “Uhm... I really don’t know the specifics of it, but Patri said, I have enough magic to tear through the barrier between our world and theirs” I said, still having an apologetic expression plastered all over me. “Is this suppose to be normal? Like are elves suppose to do that?” My father asked me, his expression of surprise now being replaced by a more curious look. I was caught off guard with that question, should I tell them that I’m an exception to the rule? Like everything else that’s been recently thrown at me? With a sigh and a defeated look, I look at my boyfriend and my dad and say “not really...” I paused a bit, collected my thoughts and with another sigh, I continue “Patri said... that with the Pillars of a Portal two elves can get through, without a portal, at least six gold level elves...” “So...? What does this mean?” Victor asked. He was now playing with his hands as he talked. I think already had an idea of what I was about to say. “Well... Patri and Yal and evening Uncle Selvenus... say that they’ve never seen such power before” “Selvenus?” Victor asked. “Yeah... he’s my uncle, mom’s brother” I replied. “Wait... you’ve met other people there?” Dad said. “Actually, yes, but I’ve mainly stuck around with Yal, Uncle, and Patri, I haven’t even stepped a single foot outside the palace” “Does this mean you can go to the realm anytime you want?” Dad continued with his queries. “I think so, but I haven’t tried doing it again, Patri thinks I just have to hone in on the energy signature of someone from the other realm for me to get there, I accidentally did it with Patri last night, and for me to get back I had to concentrate with Victor’s” “Chris, you have to be careful with this, you could have gotten yourself into big trouble if you accidentally went to a dangerous area or have gotten lost” Victor said. He was looking a bit concerned and I do understand where he was coming from, especially with everything else that’s been happening around us. “Yes, I know Victor, but I’m starting to learn more control, soon I’ll be able to control it, I hope” I said, but actually deep inside I was doubting my ability to control my so called powers, but I had to make it appear that I was in control. “Son, if you’re off to the realm, please let us know, you gave us one hell of a fright today” Dad said. “I know dad, I’m sorry” I said as I went over to him and gave him a hug. Victor then hugged me afterwards and gave me a peck on the lips. As he pulled away from our kiss, his eyes bored into mine and he said “don’t you scare us like that ever again” “Yeah, I know, sorry” “Don’t be, just be more careful okay?” His face filled with a sense of longing and love. “Yes, I will” An hour after the kitchen ordeal, The three of us were having lunch together, we decided to have food delivered instead as dad and Victor were still emotionally drained from the scare they had in the morning. “So how was the realm?” Victor asked me as we ate. “I haven’t really seen much, but from what I’ve seen, well, the place and people look very similar to us, except with the pointy ears, but the palace... oh wow” I said remembering the opulence and grandeur of the palace. “The palace was amazing, it was grand! Like big and had very intricate designs carved into its pillars and ceiling, every carving was a piece of art in of itself” I explained with a hint of wonder in my voice. “Will this change the schedule and manner we go to the realm? Since you’re now able to go through the barrier easily” dad asked. “Hmm... I don’t know about that yet, I haven’t tried bringing people along with me, but I’m sure there’s a way, also, regarding the ascension, it seems we’re sticking with the original plan” “Ah... I see, it’s getting closer and closer to the actual trip, and it’s making me nervous” dad replied. “I’m really excited to introduce you both to everyone” I said to dad and Victor. “Sigh. That’s just making me more nervous” my dad grumbled. “Don’t worry about it dad, Patri and Uncle Selvenus are eager to meet you!” I reassured my dad. “And you too, Victor!” I smiled at my boyfriend. “Won’t we stand out when we get there?” Victor asked. “You know... with us having round ears and such?” “Hmm... they can change that, when I got to the palace, there were several stares but uncle fixed it, also explaining my new outfit, they have quite the taste in fashion there, very much into pastel and leans mainly into conservative and slightly classy looks.” I said. “Oh... so they’ll give us pointy ears?” Victor asked with a hint of curiosity and maybe even excitement. “Yeah..., looking forward to seeing you both with pointy ears” I giggled a bit. “Hmm... I don’t know about that, I like my round ears” dad replied with a giggle as well. “Oh, come on! It will be fun! I encouraged them both. Dad decided we skip lessons for today, but I insisted I can work on them on my own while he’s at the college. Victor will be keeping me company as I study. “So are you gonna tell me about Stoker?” I asked Victor as I went through my math worksheet. “What are you talking about?” “Stop playing with me, do you know my results?” I gave him a very pointed look. “Chris, I may be governor, but I am not privy to stuff like that” he seriously said. “Yeah, right, so are you gonna make me wait?” “Probably” Victor said with a smile. “Ugh, whatever” I said. Then I looked back at my boyfriend and with a smile I said “Hmm... if I don’t get into Stoker, I may just have to go to UCLA or NYU or some college... hundreds of miles away” Victor had a worried look on his face, his lips parted a bit as if to say something, then he calmed himself and said “you can’t blackmail me into telling you the results” “So you do know the results!” I said back at him. Victor was calm but he might have fidgeted a bit “I will not say anything to you” “Hmm... I’ll make Leo ask August instead, maybe August will spill” “No he won’t” “I won’t be too sure about that” I smiled at Victor. I loved teasing my boyfriend, I know he wouldn’t spill but seeing him squirm a bit is kind of fun. “Chris, just wait a bit, the results will come tomorrow okay?” Victor said with a huff. “Thanks! That’s all I needed to know” Victor, now with a devilish smile approached me, and whispered to my left ear and said “Thank God you’re my boyfriend or I would have spanked you” after saying that Victor licked and nibbled on my ears making me moan a bit. “Playtime’s over, go back to studying” he said as he went back to his seat. I grunted as I went back to working on several problems. After finishing early with my worksheets, Victor and I decided to hang out at his place. As we walked towards Victor’s car, my boyfriend received a message on his phone. “Seriously? Goodness...” he muttered as he read the message. “What’s the matter?” I asked him. “Vampire business... damn, and they just had to throw this at me and just out of nowhere” Victor said, his expression was hard to read. “Why? What’s happening?” I asked. “The High Council just notified me that I’ll be hosting an agent and his associate” “Agent?” “A Stratos agent” he answered back. “What? They’re already here?” I asked. “The three Stratos agents flew into the US last night, one agent and its associate will be working from here for the next few days or so” “This is good right? At last, some reinforcements right?” I said to him. “Yeah... yeah, this is good, it’s just that it’s Stratos we’re talking about, these are the elite henchmen of the Vampire Government, I just didn’t expect that one will be working directly with us” Victor said. I knew that the Stratos were a big thing in the vampire world, but with Victor’s reaction, I had a feeling that these people are really quite an intimidating bunch. However, it’s good to hear that we’re finally getting some help from the High Council. Victor spent a minute or two on the phone with Henry, discussing the arrival of a Stratos agent and it’s associate. After their call I asked Victor “do you still want me to come with you?” “Oh honey, of course” he said to me, trying to reassure me that my presence was still welcome. “It’s just that I don’t want to be a bother or something” I said. “Nope, you won’t be, trust me on this okay?, you’ll never be a bother especially to me, you’re my prince too you know?” He smiled at me and with a quick peck on the lips we were off to his car. The drive to Victor’s place was quick. We immediately went to his study as we waited for the Stratos members to arrive. Henry walked in on us and said “Boss, everything’s already set, two guest rooms for the agent and his associate. We’ve also prepared the updated briefing memo they’ve requested.” “That’s good Henry.” Victor said. “Any clue as to who it will be?” Henry asked. “I don’t know Henry, we haven’t really had the chance to meet a Stratos member before, I’ve asked Luca of who the High Council decided to send but he just told me that the vote was unanimous for Stratos deployment, however as to who were sent, the High Council didn’t know as well, as the assignment of missions were all left to the Chief of Stratos to decide.” Victor explained. “Oh, I see, it’s just that this is making me nervous” Henry said. “Don’t worry Henry, just think of it as help from the higher ups, and isn’t it also an opportunity for us to see a Stratos agent work first hand?, maybe we can learn a thing or two” Victor said, trying to brush off the nervousness he had earlier as well. Troy then knocked on the door to which he was invited in almost immediately. “Boss? Any idea on when the agents will be arriving? I’m preparing a snack for them” he said. “I’m not exactly sure Troy, but maybe within an hour or so” Victor replied. “Okay... I’ll have some sandwiches and juice prepared then” “Thanks Troy” Victor said to his butler. The three of us moved to the living room and talked some more, I’ve also shared with Henry the news of my overnight escapade to the elven realm. This left Henry asking tons of questions as his curiosity of the realm only grew. A few minutes later, Troy came into the living room and said “Boss, they’re here, I’ve checked their identification as well, just like you taught me and all is clear” just after that Troy looked at me again and his face wrinkled a bit, he looked confused and then looked away, that was weird, I thought. “Good, let them come here Victor said. “Of course” Troy replied still looking weirdly at me. Moments later, two guys in dark jackets and jeans and boots walked into the living room. Both guys had a mysterious yet very powerful aura around them. It wasn’t aggressive or anything but it surely was unnerving to say the least. As I let my gaze set upon them, I was drawn to one of the guys, it wasn’t his outfit or anything but the face! Goodness, it was as if I was looking at the mirror, same light blonde hair, light blue eyes, fair skin, Northern European features, his body was almost the same as me as well, the build of a soccer player, the only difference was he was just slightly taller than me maybe about 5’9 and he just looked slightly older than me, he was like my college version maybe early twenties or so. ‘Fuck’ I thought to myself, we could be easily be mistaken as brothers if not twins. Victor and Henry rose from their sears and I followed a second later. “Gustav?” Victor said to the blonde guy just above a whisper. Victor was clearly surprised seeing this guy, but it highly seemed that he knew the guy. “Hey Victor, don’t be a stranger, come here and give me a hug” the blonde guy said. He then approached Victor and hugged him like an old friend, Victor at that point was at a lost for words, his thoughts were clearly not in this room. Henry stood silent as well, his face clearly showed recognition of the blonde guy and his face showed surprise as well. The Hispanic guy behind this guy called Gustav kept quiet, choosing to remain as an observant for now. The quiet hispanic guy looked to be late twenties, he had light brown eyes, stood at 6’ or so and had an athletic build as well, he had a nicely trimmed beard which highlighted his sharp features. The hug between Gustav and Victor lasted longer than what would have been expected, and just as Gustav pulled away from the hug, he gave Victor a quick peck on the lips, what the fuck was that all about? But anyway he must be an old friend or something, so I let it pass. “Gustav?” Victor stammered a bit. “Yes, it’s been a long time hasn’t it?” Gustav replied with a smile. Gosh he had a good smile, I started to think of my smile is just as good as his. “Yeah... 50 years, I guess” “Yeah, I remember, 1968 in Paris right?” What were these guys talking about? Hmm, seems like they knew each other from a long time ago. Must be really an old friend then. Gustav then looked around and noticed me, he then said to Victor “I already know Henry, I’ve met him several times before” he nodded to Henry and Henry nodded back. “Mind introducing me to this cutie?” Gustav said nodding towards me. “Oh yeah, this is Chris, he’s a friend” Victor said. ‘Friend?’ Where did that come from? I thought, Victor never just labeled me as a ‘friend’ before. “Hmm... Hi Chris, you’re quite the looker aren’t you” he smiled at me. “Hi, nice to meet you” I said not entirely sure about how to act around Gustav, this guy was like a better looking version of me, and his aura kind of intimidated me, just looking at him unnerves me. “Nice to meet you as well, this guy behind me is my associate, Nicolas” The Hispanic looking guys nodded towards us and said “Nice to meet you all, I’m the associate of Agent Gustav, I’m looking forward to working with all of you” Nicolas formally responded. “Welcome to Virginia” Victor said to both guys. Then he looked at Gustav, and said “So you’re in Stratos now?” “Yeah, been with them for almost 20 years now, though I’ve only been promoted to an agent 6 years ago” “Wow... I’m happy for you Gustav, I know you’ve always wanted to join them, it’s been so long, so much has changed” Victor said. “You still remember that eh?” Gustav warmly smiled at Victor. “Of course I do, we’ve had long chats about it” Victor’s attention was now fully on Gustav. They were talking like really old friends now, their body language were too familiar with each other for my liking. Am I jealous? I thought. Then their conversation settled into their time traveling around Europe in the 1950s, it was as if the remaining three people in the room weren’t even there. Nothing in their discussion made it seem that they had anything more than a friendship or could they be censoring their conversation for the benefit of the rest? I was slowly slipping into jealousy, this is so weird, I’ve never felt this jealous before, is there something that I should know?, I gave Henry a questioning glance as if to ask for an explanation about what was transpiring in front of me. Henry’s gaze however tried to avoid me. He seemed like he felt awkward. It was as if he didn’t want to discuss this with me. Then the conversation between Victor and Gustav became more official. “So you’re assigned here with us?” Victor asked. “Yeah, your intelligence briefing says you’re monitoring at least 4 cells of the Blood Army within your district, your intel memo was the most comprehensive amongst the other districts so we thought we should start from here, sweep the district clear then move on to the next” “Oh I see, We’re glad to be having your help in here, these rogues have become quite a bother” Gustav then looked at Victor then at me, as if to ask if it’s okay to discuss such matters in front of me. At that point, it was as if Victor suddenly just remembered of my presence, he collected himself and said to Gustav “don’t worry about Chris, he’s fine, he knows” Gustav was a little bit confused at that but just said “oh, I see, okay... let’s discuss some more then” “So what’s the plan? The High Council just notified me of your arrival a few hours ago” “Well, sorry about that, Stratos keeps the information about the missions highly guarded, I didn’t even know I was going to be assigned to your district up until a few hours before we landed at New York last night.” “Ah... I see, no worries, just didn’t expect to be working with an agent so soon” “Congratulations about the promotion anyway, hmm... District Governor eh? Not bad” Gustav said to Victor. “I’ve been Governor for quite awhile now... but thanks anyway, congrats on making it to Stratos as well” Victor said. “It’s been so long hasn’t it?” Gustav was now becoming for familiar with Victor again. Gustav’s gaze on Victor were longer than necessary, it was as if he was enjoying this moment with Victor, as if it’s something he’s been looking forward to. “Yeah... been quite long, you’re right” Victor said a little more pensive now. Mark then walked in on us with a tray of sandwiches. He greeted us all with a smile, he said to Victor “Troy has prepared these for you” then he took a sweeping gaze of everyone in the room and he took a double take with me and Gustav, he clearly was confused with which one was which. I then helped Mark out and said “I’m Chris” “Oh... sorry about that” Mark said. “No worries, but the resemblance is uncanny isn’t it?” Gustav said. “I’ve forgotten how close they look alike, I haven’t seen Gustav for so long but seeing him today just reminded me why Chris looked so familiar the day we first saw him” Henry said not talking to anyone in particular more of talking to himself out loud. “What’s that Henry?” I asked. “Nothing, just that yeah, you do look alike” I laughed a bit and just said “no shit, it’s like I’m looking at the mirror” I said to which Gustav laughed and agreed. While Gustav and I were laughing, Victor and Henry both just seemed uncomfortable. “Are you okay Victor?” I asked. “Huh? Yeah I’m fine” Victor replied. “Okay... but don’t you find it quite amusing that we look so much alike!” I said to Victor. “Yeah... I suppose so” Victor said, avoiding Gustav’s gaze and mine. “Chill out Victor, it’s just one very weird coincidence.” Gustav said to Victor. “Yeah... it sure is” Victor replied with a smile that I thought was slightly forced. Something weird was clearly happening here, but I just couldn’t point out what it was. They interacted like good old friends but there’s some sort of tension between this as well, Ugh, this is seriously confusing. Then the conversation went back to Vampire affairs. “So do you think you can sweep the District clean?” Victor asked. “We’ll deal with the ones in Virginia first then the one over the border in North Carolina, just lend me a few of your agents and we’ll sweep them all in 4 days” “That’s fast” Henry commented. “Henry... are you forgetting that you’re dealing with Stratos now?” Gustav smiled at Henry. “Oh, sorry bout that, it’s just that it’s impressive” “Well lots of things have changed since we last saw each other, I’m with Stratos now, and Victor here is a Governor, but I think some things will never change” Gustav looked at Victor when he said the last few words. A few minutes later, I excused myself to the kitchen, the pitcher had ran out of juice and I volunteered to refill it, I was also starting to feel out of place with their conversation so I decided to make myself scarce for a bit. I then walked into the kitchen bringing with me the empty pitcher, Troy and Mark were there talking with each other. Troy saw me first, he paused for a bit and then asked “Chris?” “Yeah, of course it’s me” I smiled at him. “Just has to ask, you and that agent look so much alike, it’s ridiculous” Troy said. “I know, it’s actually very weird being with him in a room, it’s as if I’m looking at myself from the outside” “No shit” Mark chimed in. “Anyway, can you help me refill this pitcher?” I asked Troy. “Just leave the used one here, there’s a fresh batch in the refrigerator” Troy said. “Oh, okay thanks!” While I was getting the already filled pitcher in the refrigerator, Gustav walked in on me while my butt was on display as I was bent over to get the pitcher. “Hmm... even the ass is the same” he giggled at that. “Huh?” “We even have the same ass” he laughed. “Oh really?” I said as I laid the pitcher on the table and then rubbed my ass. Gustav laughed as I did that. Then he said “so you and Victor know each other long?” “Just since September when he moved here” “Ah I see, it’s rare for Victor to make friends so easily with humans, you must be special eh?” He said. “Ah, I don’t know about that, but Victor’s a good guy” “You’ve been taking this vampire thing pretty well, I would have been freaked out if I was human” Gustav replied. “Ah, it was surprising for sure, but it is what it is, and Victor’s pretty cool, and nice” I didn’t want to bring up that Victor and I were intimate, maybe that’s for Victor to say. Then I added “So ... you and Victor are quite close eh?” “Yeah, we’ve known each other for almost a hundred years now” “Wow. That’s a long time” I said. Quite weird thought that Victor has never mentioned Gustav to me. “Yeah, we’ve both traveled together quite a bit, I haven’t really gotten to know Henry or the rest of his progeny that well, mainly it was just me and Victor traveling before, I do think I’ve met Patrick once in London in 1930 something and Lucy twice in 1936 and 1941, and oh my... the places we’ve been together, Ah... the good old days” Gustav said as he reminisced his times together with Victor. “Sounds like you both were pretty close” I said. “More than close” Gustav said to me with a wink. “Huh?” “Victor’s my ex, we’ve been in and on and off again relationship since the 1920s, though our last break up was in 1968, this is the longest we’ve been away from each other, but he always does come back you know” Gustav said as he giggled with that remark. As Gustav said that, it was as if my heart stopped beating, is this why Victor is dating me? Because I reminded him of an old lover? Who was clearly better looking than me, and someone who seemed very sure of himself, and someone who actually knows Victor and has spent decades with him. How do I compete with that? I could feel tears welling in my eyes, but I had to collect myself and not show my feelings, now wasn’t the time to cry, I can do that all night later. “Are you okay Chris?” Gustav asked as he noticed me go quiet all of the sudden. “Huh?” I looked back at him. “Yeah, I’m fine, come on let’s bring this pitcher back” “Yeah sure, but let me get some water too, almost forgot that’s the reason I’m here” Gustav and I walked back to the living room, Victor and Henry were in deep conversation with Nicolas, it seems they were discussing their first operation against the Blood Army. As the four of them talked some more about the operation, I started to lose myself deep in thought. And the longer I spent deep in thought, the closer I approached a total breakdown. I had to get out of here I thought. I texted my dad “dad are you back home?” A few seconds later, “yes, what’s the matter kiddo?” “Can you pick me up at Victor’s?” “Yeah, sure, what’s the matter? Can’t he drive you home?” “Nah, he’s just busy with this Vampire stuff, it’s boring me” “Ok, I’ll be there in a few” “Okay, I’ll be waiting just outside” I replied. A few minutes later I said my goodbyes to them, but the four of them were all deep in conversation that no one even heard me, so much for a goodbye I thought. I walked out, and was deep in thought and on the verge of crying when my dad pulled in on the curb. “Everything okay son?” My dad said as he noticed my facial expression. “Yeah, I’m fine, just tired, and bored” I huffed. “Ah, okay, let’s grab some dinner and then you can go to bed early” I was quiet during the entire drive back home, during dinner I mainly just played with my food, dad had to stir me out of my deep thoughts several times to remind me to eat and finish my food. After dinner, I excused myself immediately to my bedroom. I locked the door as I went into my room, it’s something I rarely do, and mostly only when I’m upset. I collapsed into my bed, the tears immediately flowed from my eyes onto the sheets and pillows. I had to stifle my cries as I didn’t want to risk the off chance that dad could hear me, with me acting weird, I’m sure he’d be trying to listen in from the hallway. I willed myself to sleep but my body and mind just wanted to cry some more. At 10:43 a text came from Victor “Chris? Where are you?” Wow, more than four hours before he started looking for me. I didn’t reply. 10:44 “Chris?” 10:45 “Chris? Did you leave?” 10:46 - 1 missed call 10:48 - 2 missed calls 10:52 - 3 missed calls 10:54 - “Chris, where are you?” 10:56 - 4 missed calls 10:58 - 5 missed calls 11:03, my dad knocks on my door. “Chris? Are you alright?” With a fake drowsy voice, I replied “huh? Why? Yeah... I’m fine” “Ah, just checking, Victor called me and asked me to check on you” “Oh, I’m fine, just sleeping” “He’s on the phone with me right now, want to talk to him?” My dad asked. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow, I’m too sleepy now” “Okay. I’ll let him know then” “Okay. I’m going back to sleep now, good night dad” “Good night, son” 11:05, I turn off my phone.

Oh I see 🧐😉

Are you referring to Chris being so randy with other guys? Or some other thing?

At this point, I’m just thinking that they don’t want to draw too much attention on Chris, I get that they want a grand parade for him but he arrived ahead of schedule! 😂like if news of a human in the palace leaks to the press... can you imagine the media frenzy? Hehe 😂

The four of us walked through several more large and long corridors, we met several servants, guards, and palace administrators and some junior ministers along the way. The people mainly wore outfits in pastel color, Hmm, really interesting fashion sense, I thought. The people we came across bowed as they saw the King and my uncle but none dared to start a conversation, I kind of stood out being someone who was wearing my bedtime clothes and being someone with no pointy ears. “Here... let me fix you up” My uncle said after I was a victim of several more long lasting stares. After a wave of his hand, my outfit changed into a long red jacket together with black pants and black boots. My red jacket was accented by golden threads and lines. “There... all better” he said after casting the spell. I touched my ears and checked out my new clothes. “Wow...” I said. “Nice eh? Now you look the part, all you need now is your crown” My uncle teased me. “Uh please, stop it” I shyly replied. “Hmm... don’t worry you’ll get your crown by the end of the month” my grandfather said. “Where are we headed anyway?” I asked. “We want to start higher level fire magic training with you” Patri said. “Huh? But I’ve barely mastered Water...” I answered. “Oh come on, it’s nothing you can’t handle based on what I’ve heard so far.” Uncle Selvenus remarked. “Yeah... he’s amazing, don’t be too surprised Prince Selvenus, the young prince over here is quick to learn” Yal said. “I’m looking forward to it” My uncle grinned back at me. After a few more minutes of walking, we reached a large metal door that lead to a downward staircase. The staircase led to another corridor underground which opened into a large hall of some sort. The entire hall was covered in gray stone. “What’s this place?” I asked. “It’s the fire training hall... for private use of the royal family of course” Uncle said. “Whoa... this place is huge” “Yes it is, element training requires large spaces.” Patri said. Patri and Yal took their spot almost 40 feet away from me and my uncle. “Father... can you turn on the shields?” Uncle said to my Patri. Patri then raised his right rand hand just in front of his chest with a clenched fist, then after a few seconds his fist grew bright, when the light from his fists dissipated, I could see the walls, ceiling, and floor have a light glow almost a faint shimmer to the best of my description. “What happened?” I asked. “Father... activated the shields for the room, Hmm... “ my uncle paused. “Element training can be quite destructive, we can’t destroy this room all the time can we?” My uncle smiled at me. “Oh... I suppose so” “Okay,now, I’ve been told that you’re basically silver level now” My uncle said. “I was told that” I shrugged when i replied. I didn’t actually completely understand the power levels, all I knew was that my potential was large but my current ability was that of a silver but how large the gap between a silver and a gold, I don’t know. I then asked “you’re a platinum badge general right?” “Yes... yes I am, but my platinum badge is my rank in the army, but my magic skill is at gold level, official rank and magic levels need not be the same” my uncle explained. “Ah... I see” “Okay... now ready to learn how to use fire?” “Yeah... I suppose so” “Okay, I’ve been told you can now use rudimentary fire magic... let’s try on improving that now shall we?” “Okay, sure” My uncle came closer to me, and put his hands on my shoulders. “Okay... the first thing you need to understand is that fire is inherently volatile, concentration is key, when using fire, make sure that you’re emotions and thoughts are under control” He then paused and asked “you can feel the energy inside you?” “Yes... yes I can” “Okay... good, now... pull from that energy... and imagine the heat coming from it” “I’ll try...” “Okay, I’m moving away now okay?” “Sure” “Can you raise your right hand with open palms” There was a short pause from my uncle and he said “try to imagine the energy pooled in your hand and make it combust, imagine that your body is a conduit for the heat all around you” Within a second or two there is was, a decent sized fire ball. “Amazing... you’ve die well and done it on your first try” my uncle proudly nodded towards me. “Now... can you make the fire ball bigger?” Easily, the fire ball grew twice in size. “Great! Wow... Father and Yal weren’t lying when the said you learn quick, damn... it took me months to learn this” my uncle giggled in disbelief. “What now?” I asked as I continued to hold the fire ball on my right hand. “Try to throw the ball towards me” “Huh?” “You heard me... throw it” “Okay...” I replied as I threw the ball towards my uncle. My throw was fast and my uncle immediately caught the ball with a single hand. “Wow... amazing, the ball didn’t even decrease in size” my uncle commented. “Is it suppose to decrease in size?” “Usually fire loses energy the moment it gets disconnected from its wielder, however yours seem to have enough energy inside them to not shrink in the middle of a throw, this is good, especially for your first try” My uncle then gave me a mischievous grin, the fire ball in his hand split into two balls and in a fraction of a second he said “catch!” “What the...” I shouted as two fire balls were thrown at me. With two open hands, I was successfully able to catch both fire balls. “Now... defend yourself from my fire balls” my uncle said as he jumped in the air and threw fire ball after fire ball towards me. “Huh?” I was barely able to say that word as the first fire ball landed just a foot on my left. The moment it hit the ground it burst and the faint glow on floor shined a little bit brighter as it deflected the fire energy. Three more fire balls landed near me, good thing I was able to dodge them all. The fire balls continued to keep coming at me, I then threw the balls in my hand against my uncle and that caught his attention for a moment and with that distraction, I was able to compose my self and catch my breath. “Okay you want to play Huh?” I said. As I stood straighter and changed my form towards a more agreed I’ve stance. I remembered a fire stance from one of the scrolls I’ve read. I stood straight, and raised my right arm above me, with my index finger pointing up towards the ceiling. “Chris? What are you doing?” My uncle asked he had a slightly confused facial expression. “Payback!” I said as I gave him my best smug look. At the tip of my finger, a bright orange orb barely larger than a pebble formed, But I can feel the heat coming from it, the heat flowed from it like a constant stream of warmth. My uncle stood in anticipation of what I was about to do. Within seconds, a single rope of fire started to extend itself from the small orb. The rope of fire then slowly coiled itself around me, as if forming a spiral of flames around me, the spiral of flames grew wider from the tip to the floor, it was as if I was covered by a spiraling dome of flames. “Where’d you learn that?” My uncle asked in complete surprise. “Hmm... just read it somewhere” I replied with a grin. This was indeed something I’ve read from several scrolls, this technique is the product of three scrolls I think. Had to quickly think of piecing this method together myself. “Father? care to explain?” My uncle asked Patri. “Selvenus, you seem to forget that we’ve told you that he’s full of surprises, your nephew may be young, but he’s a very quick learner” “Ah... this won’t intimidate me, I think I can handle this” my uncle replied as he pointed his right hand with open palms towards me, it was so sudden and in half a second a concentrated jet of flames fired towards me. I knew my coils of fire couldn’t handle it so i had to think of something else. As the jet of fire neared me, I tapped into its energy, I inserted my magic into the jet of fire, and with my magic being able to hijack the jet of fire, I was able to redirect it around my coils, from someone watching, it appeared as if the jet of fire was hugging my coils, it approached on my left side, then it made a turn behind me, and then the jet of flames were now being redirected back to my uncle. “How are you able to do that?!” My uncle shouted as he realized that the fire was now shooting toward him. The jets of fire hit the back wall as my uncle dodged the attack. You can hear the crackling sounds as the jets of flame hit the barrier on the wall, the shielding that’s been activated by Patri is doing its best to absorb and diffuse the energy from the fire. My uncle then dusted himself off, and looked at me with a new found respect. “Hmm... you’re good!” He smiled at me. “Didn’t expect that coming from you” My uncle then put both his hands in front of him, with his fingers touching each other the space between the hands had a space the shape of a ball, the empty space suddenly grew bright and almost instantly a very hot swirling ball of fire formed itself. My uncle raised his right hand carrying the ball, and threw it against me. I knew this ball was stronger than the previous attacks, I redirected all my fire energy towards my hands, I opened my hands in order to catch the mass of flame headed towards me. “Gonna try to catch it? Good luck with that” Upon contact with the ball, I immediately felt the energy from it, I was heavy! As I tried to catch the ball, my footing started to give way and slowly I was being pushed back inch by inch as the fire ball continued to roar in my hands. I tried to will the fire ball into submission. But it just kept on going. ‘Shit’ I thought. The ball was too strong for me to hijack. I then decided to redirect its direction instead. I then pulled more energy from my body and surrounded the ball with it, it’s direction was now more manageable, after a few more seconds of struggling, I decided to throw the ball into the wall on my right. The throw was fast and in almost an instant we all heard a loud bang in the wall as the ball of fire burst in contact. Uncle Selvenus whistled with that display of power. Yal and Patri started clapping their hands. “Wow... Chris. That was amazing” Yal said. “That was clearly an awesome display of raw talent and power!, well done!” Yal continued to congratulate me. My uncle then started to approach me and said, “that was certainly impressive and a nice first session, you’re more than impressive, I know you’ll do great things, I’m certainly excited to train more with you” “thanks?” I said. “Don’t underestimate yourself Chris, what you just did is unheard of for a someone so early into training” For the next hour or so, Patri and my Uncle spent time teaching me fire magic theory. The basics of magic theory between fire and water were very similar but as you went into more intricate details, both elemental magic started to differ more and more. We four then left the training area and after a few more minutes walking through corridors, we ended up in a small sitting room, well, small according to my uncle but the room was more than twice the size of our living room, two servants came in a minute later and walked in with a food cart filled with various pastries and drinks as well. “Here try this” Patri said to me as he handed me a piece of some sort of bread. “What’s this?” I asked. “Chris, you certainly will not regret this, just try it, trust me” he smiled. “Chris, I promise to you, just do as father says, try it!” My uncle enthusiastically said from behind Patri. “Fine fine” I said as I grabbed the bread. I took a bite and then “wow! Oh wow!” I would have shouted if it weren’t for my full mouth. The bread bursts in waves of sweetness in my mouth, it had a fruity taste to it but the aftertaste lingered, making your mouth water some more. “What is this?! It’s delicious!” “It’s Taka Bread, it’s bread with Taka filling” Yal answered. “Taka?” I asked. “Some sort of berry, that only grows within the realm” My uncle said. “Oh I see, I have to have more of these” I grinned back to the three elves. “Certainly” Patri said smiling back at me. While we were eating our food and enjoying the drinks, I asked “so when do I get to see the city?” Patri and Selvenus looked at each other. Patri paused for a moment and then said “we’ll need to have that arranged, the media have stationed themselves outside the palace for a glimpse of you ever since we’ve announced your Ascension” “Did you really have to announce?” I asked. “Yes, Chris, you’re a prince, the people deserve to know, Royal matters are state matters, we’ll make sure that your privacy is protected, however the basic facts of your existence can’t be hidden, they’ll find out anyway one wya or another” Patri said. “But no live coverage of the ceremony okay? You promised” I sternly warned my grandfather, reminding him of our agreement. My uncle gave my Patri a questioning look as I said that. “Yes, of course, no cameras in the Hall of Haldruin.” Patri answered. “The Hall of Haldruin?!” Uncle Selvenus remarked in shock, his face had this look of surprise and disbelief. “Do you have a problem with that Selvenus?” Patri gave my uncle a warning look. “Of course not father” my uncle meekly replied. “What’s with the Hall of Haldruin?” I asked Patri. “Nothing, don’t worry about it” Patri brushed off my question while Yal had to stifle a laugh. They all seemed weird. Sigh. After things started to settle down, I asked the question that’s been in my head. “Uhm guys, how do I return home?” “Oh... we were hoping you’ve forgotten about that” Yal said as if I were to ever forget about going home, nice try though. “The portal is 200kilometers away, with the train, we can get you there in an hour or so... or...” Patri said. “Or what, Patri?” I asked. “You came here alone right?” “Yeah” my voice trailed off. “Then let’s try having you return without a portal” “How do I do that?” “Well, It’s never been done before, but the theory is the same” Patri said. Yal went beside me and said “when you cross worlds, you have to create a temporary hole in the barrier... the risk of not using a portal is that you’ll end up in a location that you did not intend to go to” “How do I focus on where I go then?” “What do you remember doing before coming here?” Patri asked. “Well, I thought of seeing you” I answered. “Hmm... interesting, it seems like you honed into my energy signature and brought yourself here” “What do you suggest your highness?” Yal asked. “Hmm... I’m thinking, do you have someone in the other world that has a strong energy signature as well? Someone whose energy you can hone into, following that energy link across the barrier might help you get to the location of that person” “Victor” I answered. “Ahh... right! Yes yes... he’s perfect” Patri answered. “What do I do now?” I asked. “Hm... the portal works the same way, concentrate your energy... around yourself, and imagine a link with the other world, the portals serve as a link with each other, in theory what you’ll be doing is make yourself a node that’s linked towards another energy signature on the other side, with the amount of your magic, it won’t be a problem for you to tear through the barrier, usually two elves will need the pillars of the portal to gather enough energy to get through” “Are you sure about this father?” My uncle was quite skeptical. “Yes... he did come by himself here right? And Yal and I have confirmed that his energy is more than enough, The theory is the same for all cross realm travel, with enough energy no portal is necessary” Patri then paused and look at me, “before we go through this, Chris, promise me you’ll be back again? Okay?! sooner than the royal ascension, we should take advantage of this new found skill of yours, we won’t have to meet in the tower all the time” “Okay... of course, I’ll try” I answered. “Now, surround yourself with your energy” “Done...” “Good! now... can you think of your boyfriend and his energy?, you’re familiar with it right?” “More than familiar” I answered slightly blushing when I thought of how familiar I was of Victor, energy and all. Yal snickered a bit at that. “Okay continue and then connect yourself with his energy” “Uhm... okay... wait a bit... uhm... okay... there” “Good! Now can you feel that slight gap between you and him?” “Yes... “ “Good, that’s the barrier... how does the barrier feel like?” “Like some sort of thin paper just barely separating me and Victor” “Thin paper?” Yal commented with mild surprise in his voice. “Hmm... interesting” Patri said. “What? why? What did I do?” “Hmm nothing, it’s just that to normal elves the barrier feels like a thick wall they’d have to break through” “Oh. Okay. I see” “Don’t worry about it” My uncle said. “Okay... now with your energy, try to connect yourself to that of your boyfriend through the gap” “Done” “Good. Now you just have to add more energy into the link and that will bring you to your boyfriend or at least near him” Patri said. “Ah... I see, so? See you guys again eh?” Yal, Patri, and my uncle hugged me as we said our goodbyes. After the goodbyes I sent a surge of energy to the now formed link between me and Victor. Almost in an instant I faded and felt tingles ran through my body. As I opened my eyes I find myself in my room. I sigh in relief, the thought of finding myself hundreds of miles away from home would not have been ideal. I then run downstairs towards the kitchen. As I entered the kitchen, I see my dad and Victor both in deep conversation and both looking very worried. “good morning” I said walking into the kitchen. Both dad and Victor’s eyes grew wide and both ran towards me giving me a very tight hug. Victor was crying on the crook of my neck. “Uhm what’s wrong?” I asked. “Chris, where the hell did you go? You got us both worried sick... we’ve already called the cops to check where you’ve been, I’ve also mobilized my agents to look for you!” Victor exclaimed. “Huh?” “Chris! you were late for breakfast and I went to your room to check on you and you weren’t inside your room, I looked around the house and you were gone and you didn’t leave a note, what was I suppose to think?!” Dad said. “Ohh...” I then looked at my watch and it said 9:57. “Shit... I’m sorry, I didn’t keep track of the time” “Chris... where did you go? And what are you wearing?” Dad asked. I then looked at my outfit and I was still wearing the red jacket my uncle gave me.” I then felt my ears and at least they were back to human form. With a sheepish expression, I then looked at my dad and Victor and replied “Uhm... about that...”

After dropping of Leo, Victor accompanied me into the house. “Hi Victor!” Dad greeted us as we walked into the living room. “Hi William...” Victor greeted my dad. Dad could tell something happened based on the look on our faces. “What’s the matter?” He asked. “Something happened” Victor tersely replied. “What’s happened? Are you both alright?” “Yeah... we’re fine... our attackers aren’t though” I giggled. “Attackers? Again?” Dad said surprised. “Yeah... seven vampires attacked us in the park, we were with Leo, Martin, and Matteo then” Victor replied. “How’s everybody else?” “We’re all fine... Chris dealt with the vampires all by himself” Victor said to my dad with a slight hint of pride in his voice. “All by himself?” Dad looked at me and Victor as if to seek confirmation that what Victor said was true. “Yeah... all by himself... it was all over in minutes” Victor explained. “You should have seen it, well... maybe not, Chris can be quite scary you know?” Victor teasingly warned my dad. “How?” Dad asked. “Well... I can’t exactly explain how I did it, but somehow I burnt them all to ashes, burst of energy, and then poof, they’re all up in smoke” I said matter of factly. “Ashes?” Dad said. “Yeah... ashes... they threatened you so I couldn’t let them go, so yeah, ashes” I smiled back at my dad. “No one who threatens you will live to see another day, dad” “He seriously burnt them all” Victor said as he hugged me from behind and gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek. Dad got a worried look on his face “Chris... you have to be careful okay?” “Yes, dad, I know... don’t worry, and Victor will be adding more agents to watch over us... especially you, it seems like the Blood Army already know of our connection with Victor, seems like it wouldn’t be far off for them to discover Leo’s as well, so we’ll be assigning some agents to the Nicholsons as well” I explained. “Hmm... this is getting serious” dad remarked as he rubbed his forehead in thought. “Yes, it is... the Vampire High Council has already deployed three Stratos agents here to the United States to snuff out the senior leadership of the Blood Army.” “Do you really think the Stratos will be of any help?” I asked Victor. “Well, they’re the Council’s last line of defense, the deployment of the Stratos should help us in the fight against the Blood Army” Victor answered. “I hope they deal with these rogues soon” “Yes, hopefully yes” Victor agreed. Victor had dinner with us as we just called for fast food delivery for dinner. We spent an hour or so watching shows on tv and then Victor said his goodbye to dad and myself. We then went to bed a few minutes after Victor left. As I dozed off to sleep, I thought of my grandfather, before sleeping, I then felt a tingle consume my body. And before I knew it I was off to dreamland. As I opened my eyes, I didn’t expect to find myself in in a large hall of some sort. And by large I mean large! The place was huge! The ceiling must have been at least 80 feet (24 meters) from the floor, and the chandeliers hanging above really stood out, the three chandeliers were evenly spaced out, the arches in the ceiling gave way to three mini domes in the hall that housed the chandeliers, The high ceiling was supported by white marble pillars, the pillars had ornate carvings of leaves and vines and trees, each leaf being gold while the stems and branches in silver. End to end lengthwise the it must have been more than a three hundred feet or so, and width wise it must have been at least a hundred feet. The walls were of white marble as well. The floor made of shiny white stone. It was as if the entire floor was made of a single slab of stone! I certainly wasn’t in the tower now!? ‘Shit where am I’ I thought. There were two large wooden doors at both ends of the hall, and from afar, the doors looked like they had carvings as well. The doors, aside from the chandeliers really stood out, each door must have been at least 50 feet in height! I was alone in the nearly all white hall. I looked around and aside from the carvings on the walls and pillars, there wasn’t anything in the room. As I looked around, I heard the door behind me open. I heard footsteps and I turned around and saw four men walk towards me, and almost immediately when they saw me they all pointed their long black staffs on me. The guys looked surprised and on edge as they saw me. The guys were in some sort of military style uniform, they wore white jackets light green buttons that hugged their bodies and pastel green pants together with boots. As the guys stopped on their tracks, a familiar voice came from behind them. “What’s the matter?” The voiced called out. “Your highness, we have an intruder!” One of the guys replied. “Intruder? In here?” The voice hidden behind the men said. Then it hit me, that familiar voice. “Patri?” I called out. “Chris?!” The voice said as Patri recognized my voice, he pushed the guys to get through and see me. “Your highness! He could be dangerous!” A soldier called out. “Nonsense!” Patri said as the soldiers gave way to the king. Patri then saw me as the soldiers let him through. He had a huge smile on this face, and then said “Chris!!! Oh my! How did you get here?!” I ran off to my grandfather and hugged him. As I was buried in his neck, I replied “I don’t know how I got here” “Chris... you’re here... like you’re here here!” Patri said. “I know...” “No... No I mean you’re not a projection, you’re here! I can feel it, your body is actually here!” “What?!” I said looking back at my grandfather. “Yes. You crossed the barrier on your own” he smiled back at me. “Really?” I asked. How was this possible? “Yes... I don’t know how but you just did!” Patri proudly stated. He then looked at the confused guards around us and said “This is my grandson... Prince... uhm” then Patri looked at me and said “we’ll have to find you and Elvish name soon” then he looked at the guards and said “Prince Chris will do for now...” “Elvish name?” I asked him. “Yes... Chris doesn’t really roll of the tongue in here” “Oh... I see” I replied, still a little bit confused at that. Patri and I then started to walk to the other end of the hall and the guards kept their distance behind us. We opened the large wooden door, which with Elvish magic seemed to be not that heavy after all, and we then made our way to a corridor, one side had windows that were nearly floor to ceiling, the views of the outside showed a well manicured garden, hedges, trees, and various flowers in full bloom decorated the garden. The other side of the hall were of white marble with sculptures of various men and women at least 20 feet tall, lined the inner wall equally spaced from end to end. “This place is huge” I remarked as we walked through the long corridor. “Welcome to the royal palace” he smiled at me. “The royal what?!” I jerked back at that. “Yes... welcome to realm, welcome to your second home” Patri smiled back at me. “The hell...” I whispered to myself. Patri chuckled a bit and said “far from it, welcome to our paradise” I giggled and said “yeah... it looks like one” “Come on, I would like you to meet someone” Patri said to me. “Grandmother?” I asked. “Sorry... no, she’s out of town now, but someone nearly as close” Patri said. “Where’s Yal by the way?” “Somewhere here in the palace complex I assume” Patri replied. “Oh... I see” “Don’t worry, we’ll call for him as well” Patri winked at me. The guards behind us kept silent throughout our walk but they were clearly confused with the whole situation. They certainly did not expect me to be here. “I’m sorry to catch you by surprise” I apologetically said to Patri. ”What are you talking about Chris?” ”I think you have more important places to go to” ”nonsense, this time of the day, has always been reserved for you” ”really?” ”yes, of course, ever since we’ve met at the tower, I’ve blocked off 4 hours of my day around usually this time, so don’t worry about it” ”Ah, sorry about that” ”no need to apologize chris, you’re my grandson, there’s always time for you” Patri and I walked to the end of the corridor and we entered another corridor that was equally ornate and equally empty with the one before. We entered then entered large room, which seemed to be a large study of some sort. There were various books and shelves around, all neatly arranged, paintings of nature adorned the walls. Couches were on the side and a large table on the end with a chair behind it and two chairs in front of it as well. Behind the large table was a large window which have sweeping views of the garden outside. The guards remained outside as we walked in. We both sat in a couch and Patri pulled out his phone. God, I almost forgot he had a phone. “Selvenus, will you please come to my study please” Patri said. “Selvenus? You mean my uncle?” I asked. “Yes... your other uncle, the crown prince, Rehanmir, is out of town like your grandmother but at least you’ll get to meet another relative now” Patri smiled. “Oh... okay” I smiled a little in reply. Patri then called with his phone again and said “Yal, you’re in the palace right? Come to my study, I have a surprise for you” Patri winked at me when he said that. I had to stop myself from laughing. “I can’t believe you tore into the realm that easily” Patri said in disbelief. He shook his head several times when he said that. “Is that a bad thing?” I asked. “No... but it’s rather highly irregular, I mean, you got into the realm, alone! With the use of the portals, two elves can do that, without the aid of the portals, at least six gold level elves need to do that” “What? Really?” I didn’t get the total implication of Patri’s statement but it sounded big. “Yes... Chris, you’re impressive and you don’t seem to realize it yet” “Hmm... I do feel stronger, speaking of which, I kind of burned seven vampires into ash earlier” “Huh?” “Remember the blood army? They attacked again earlier, I kind of lost my temper and I might have lost control a little bit and they end up in smoke, like total dust and all” I said. “You mean you totally burned seven vampires at the same time?” “Yeah... “ I said just above a whisper, not knowing how Patri will react. “Hmm... impressive” Patri looked up as if to think it over. “That’s certainly a clear demonstration of your growing strength” Just after that, we heard a knock on the door. “Come in” Patri said. The door opened and came in a man that just looked like us, damn our genes were very good, the guy had light blonde hair that were tied in a man-bun, light blue eyes, defined facial features, had a smooth clean shaven face, looked to be in his mid-twenties, surely not his real age though, the guy wore a light gray vest, with a white long sleeved shirt underneath and gray pants. The man had an athletic build and stood at 6’1. “Dad... you called for me?” He asked Patri, not noticing me first. Patri stood and I stood as well. This time the man saw me and with immediate recognition he said “it can’t be... is he?” He asked Patri. “Yes... he is, Chris, this is your uncle Selvenus, Selvenus... your nephew, ARasil’s son, Chris” Patri introduced us to each other. My uncle immediately ran towards me and hugged me and lifted me in the air. “Nice to finally meet you, little one” he said as he continued to hug me. I laughed a bit, and said “Hmm.. nice to meet your too uncle” damn did he smell good, oh my, am I seriously lusting over my uncle?! I’ll to do my research on Elvish opinion regarding incest, oh my, ‘slut!’ I thought to myself. My uncle brought be back down on my feet and he cupped my face as if to inspect it, “Hmm... interesting, aside from the ears, well... yeah, you look just like all of us” “Well... I’m your nephew after all, or so I’ve been told” I laughed. “Funny... just can’t believe you’re actually here, Patri and Yal have been talking nonstop about you” My uncle then paused and then said “aren’t you suppose to be coming at the end of the month?” “Yeah... about that” I said, then looked at my Patri for help in explaining. “Well... it seems like our young prince has found a way to get through the barrier” “Alone?” My uncle asked in surprise. “Yes... alone” Patri said. “That’s... unheard of” my uncle gave me a questioning look. “I know... he’s full of surprises, and I believe there are more surprises to come, sigh, it’s gonna be a rollercoaster with you around” Patri laughed a bit with that remark. We then heard another knock in the door and Patri just called the person in as well. And in came, Yal. Yal then noticed the two royals in front of me while I was hidden behind. “Your highnesses” he said. “None of that Yal, we’re all alone now” Patri said. “Oh yeah, sorry bout that” Yal then paused and said “You called for me?” “Well... I said I have a surprise for you... and here he is” “He... what?... who? ” Yal asked clearly confused. The confusion then gave way to complete surprise as my uncle and Patri moved aside to give Yal a full view of me. “No... fucking way” he muttered. “Hi... Yal, how have you been?” I asked with a teasing smile. “Is it really you?” Yal asked in disbelief. He clearly did not expect this. “Uhm... I think so” I smiled back at him. “How... did you get here?” He said running towards me and then touching my head and shoulders as if to check if I was real. “He’s real, and not even a projection” Patri said. “What? Who brought him here?” “He did, apparently all by himself” my uncle said. “No... way... that’s ... that’s impossible” “Not impossible, highly improbable though” Patri said. “In theory it is possible, however no one else has done it alone before” “This is great Chris, if you can do this all the time, you won’t have to go to the portal locations in earth to visit us!” Yal exclaimed. “Yeah... you’re right!” I said, realizing a bit the implications of what I have just achieved. “This is good right?” I asked. “Now... we just have to teach you how to open your own portal” Patri said. “I can do that?” ”you just did, now we just have to teach you how” Patri said. “seems like you’ll be having more lessons from now on” Uncle Selvenus said to me. ”Huh? Do I really have to?” ”Yes, Chris, you’ve got so much potential and your magic is only getting stronger by the day” Yal said. ”Getting stronger?” ”Yes, the air just feels different with you every time, it’s hard to notice but the king and I have been meeting with you almost every night and it’s enough for us to notice subtle differences in magical energy leaking from you every time we meet” ”magic leaking?” ”yeah... you have so much magic that it actually leaks out from you” Patri added. “Okay... time for your lessons, young one” My uncle said to me as he ruffled my hair. “First... Fire! Then portals, okay?” My uncle said with an excited voice. Hmm... lessons with my uncle, hmm, is he gonna be shirtless then? Sigh, oh my, it’s a good thing Victor isn’t here or else I’ll be getting some spanking, well, not that I mind getting spanked, oops. Oh my when did I become such a pervert?!