Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

Kai was not really sure what he was doing. Actually, he wasn’t sure half of the things he was doing but he did them anyway. Waking up in a strange but familiar cavern with an overwhelming pressure of power around it made him a little afraid, but seeing his classmates and friends washed away that fear and decided to fight against the strange creatures that were coming after them.

He couldn’t be sure but he knew he had been inside the cavern before. Everything inside it seemed familiar, especially the orb of power at the center. It was like a distant memory buried inside his subconscious but he was sure he had seen the orb before.

“You okay?” asked Fan to the dazed prince as she blasted a few enemies with her magic.

‘Right. We’re in trouble.’ he thought.

Kais hand went to his neck for his pendant but he was baffled at not finding his magic bow on his necklace. But then he remembered dropping it somewhere after he got abducted at the entrance of the northern forest.

“Here.” he heard Luna say and he looked up. He saw his crescent moon pendant on her hand and took it.

The four of them started defending themselves against the creatures but even Kai, who was quite talented at archery and his light magic, knew they were at a disadvantage and at some point they would be overwhelmed by their enemies, especially when they don’t seem to die.

All of a sudden, the creatures stopped attacking them and were focused on Luna who was standing just under the power orb. Kai was surprised and confused at their actions. But suddenly he thought he heard a voice inside his head saying to hit the orb. Call it instinct or gut feeling, but he felt the little voice was correct.

Before he knew it, his body moved on its own, and he suddenly shot a thick arrow made if light towards the orb. It hit some sort of invisible wall and he could see cracks form from where he shot it. This made Dean Alkis and the creatures get enraged and attacked them once again.

Kai kept shooting at the orb, making more cracks at whatever was shielding it, while also defending himself from the attacks of the mutated creatures. He was very surprised when the creatures suddenly became ice statues and he unwillingly released the arrow he was holding on his bow. He watched as the arrow soar inside the cavern, hitting the invisible warrior and then boom!

Kai, Fan and Thomas were thrown backwards because of the force of the explosion. When they finally got their bearings, the first thing that crossed their minds was Luna. They watched as the smoke started to clear away but Luna was nowhere to be found.

Kai was the first one to stand up and tried to get to where Luna was a while ago, but he ended up getting dragged by Dean Alkis who started threatening him with a blade on his throat. Kai hissed as the blade made a shallow cut just beside his Adam’s apple.

“You just ruined everything!” Dean Alkis exclaimed.

“Stop this.” Kai said. “Please. This is… this is just wrong. You’ve done more damage to Praiji than you realized.”

“I am doing this because of Praiji! If only the emperor did not shut down the project! If only your mother did not leave! Everything I’ve worked for wouldn’t have been disregarded!”

‘There’s no use of talking sense into him.’ Kai thought and mentally shook his head.

All of a sudden, their attention was taken when the power orb at the center of the cavern suddenly glowed brighter. From the ruins of the equipment and bodies of the mutated creatures, a single figure slowly rose engulfed in bluish-white light.

“Luna?” Kai called.

All of them watched as Luna’s body went higher and higher until it stopped a few feet from the ground. Meanwhile, they noticed that the power orb, that was only as big as a fist, slowly came down towards Luna’s figure.

“NO!” Dean Alkis exclaimed. “It’s not supposed to be her! It’s supposed to be Prince Kai! No! Stop!”

Fan, Kai and Thomas only watched as the orb slowly entered Luna’s body, and Dean Alkis could only despair at the sight of his obsession getting further and further away from his reach.

“No.” he whispered. “Prince Kai is the chosen one. He was the only one that survived. So how-“

“What are you even talking about?” Kai asked, confused at Dean Alkis’ whispers beside him. “What do you mean chosen one?”

“These creatures are failures. They failed to control the power the orb gives them. If it did not transform them into such monstrous looks, it kills them. They were not chosen by the orb. But you Prince Kai, you survived with your form and mind intact. You are the chosen one! She… she’s stealing that’s supposed to be my glory!”

“Yours?”

***

I felt like I was being flailed alive. I heard the explosion and then felt something really hot surround me and then I passed out.

-I guess an explosion at point-blank range is too much. Am I going to die again?

But before I could even wallow at the thought of dying, I felt pain all over my body.

-Do dead people even feel pain?

I tried to open my eyes but my sight was blurry. The good thing though was, I was becoming more conscious and more aware of my surroundings. Although a little distorted, I could hear my friends and Dean Alkis talking, like I suddenly had super hearing.

And then suddenly, I felt something enter my body and a familiar warm sensation flooded my entire being. I felt something stir inside of me and I was suddenly aware that my fox core had planted itself inside of me, probably merging with the core Aunt Zaira said to be the source of my neili or internal energy.

“…She’s stealing that’s supposed to be my glory!” I heard Dean Alkis exclaim which made me scoff.

“Yours?” I retorted, suddenly fully aware that I was mid-air, coated in bluish-white light, and felt more powerful than before. “The core is not yours to begin with and you dare call it yours?”

“What do you mean core?” he asked.

That’s when I noticed that Dean Alkis had Kai on his grasp, threatening the latter with a blade on his throat.

“I just claimed what’s mine.” I growled and propelled myself towards them at a fast speed. I snapped my fingers and fire suddenly erupted behind Dean Alkis which made him drop the blade and let go of Kai. “You, what have you been doing to my core?”

I felt Thomas and Fan’s presence behind me, pulling Kai towards them.

“Your core?” I heard Fan ask.

“I’ll explain later.”

“No. This is impossible! The orb! The orb is supposed to make Praiji and its warriors powerful! How dare you-! How dare you-!”

We slowly stepped back as Dean Alkis suddenly became frantic. The orb which controlled the creatures from a while ago was suddenly thrown on the ground, breaking it.

-I have a bad feeling about this.

“We have to get out of here, now!” I yelled and dragged them towards the exit which was now open. I was very surprised to see Thomas dragging a panic-stricken Dean Alkis with him.

“We can’t leave him. He needs to explain all this.” he answered after I asked him what he was doing.

“He’s got a point.” Kai replied. “I’m pretty sure you have questions you want him to answer too.”

I just sighed and we ran out of the cavern. We abruptly stopped as men in black clothing suddenly swarmed ahead of us, stopping us from moving forward.

“What do we do?” I heard Fan ask. I was fully aware that the out of control mutated creatures were just behind us. “The enemy’s numbers are too much for us to handle.”

“We get out of here.” I told her. “If we are going to fight, at least we need to be somewhere with a bigger space.”