C13 End of hunt

Around him snow started melting at an alarming pace and the water moved beneath his feet rising up like small vines and wrapping around the big bird pinning it down with a loud screech. The other were still dealing with the other birds which were quickly going down with the help of the wind elemental.

He looked up at the mountain top they had not reached and suddenly felt tired. The ground started shaking and the mist began clearing, the others looked up and saw water coming down the mountain and everything in its was being swept up, they instinctively tried to hold their breath and run but they soon realized that if they run and the water caught up to them they would die painfully.

As they stood in despair the wind user jumped up and flew again and looked at them with gloating eyes.

“You were about to refuse to help me, now look at you, beg me nicely, maybe I will help you,” he said and they ignored him.

“Hey,” Circe suddenly called, “When did the king say the competition could end.

“Why are asking this now is it cause we are dying?” Asnir asked he was on the ground and his foot was twisted the wrong way.

“The completion ends, when you the time ends, when you finish the mission or when you finish the hunt,” Rode said.

“So this does count as the hunt right? It’s still alive,”

That’s when they noticed the huge bird behind him held to the edge by ice surrounding it like snakes.

“Yes it seems okay to me, so what should we do, yell,call or?” Asnir asked.

After the question, they felt it naturally, they were immediately teleported back to the palace city square where they met with others, they were fewer than they began which was an obvious thing that would happen. Some were probably dead and others had not returned yet.

The bird wasn’t with them.

The injured were taken to be healed and naturally Asnir was carried with them. Frankly it had been a very shitty few days. He needed a bath and rest.

As he was thinking of it, a carriage stopped beside him and the door opened revealing a lavishly dressed duke. They all immediately wanted to bow down to him but he raised his hand to stop them.

“Circe,” the duke called and he looked up and saw him beaconing for him.

He walked forward and was immediately led into the carriage. He waved to Elor and Rode who nodded back.

As he sat down he felt something rub at his feet, he looked down and noticed the fire foxes he had picked the other day. It was only two days and they looked a lot healthier. He them up placing them on his lap and looked at the man who was staring at him.

“Is there a problem?” Circe asked

He chuckled.

“Only you would break Eternal frost to finish the hunt faster,”

“Well, its done, now I can rest,”

“Don’t forget why you are here, the real consort is going to the academy soon, you have to prepare and avoid any mistake all eight of you must sync well so that it seems that you are really competing. We can’t have another mistake,”

The carriage stopped in front of the familiar royal palace, Circe came out after the duke and was helped out by a servant. He stood beside the duke and looked at him curiously wondering why they were there but the duke just looked forward and started walking.

The servants around bowed down immediately they saw them , they kept walking till they reached the castle entrance where an elderly woman stood. She was dressed like the servants he had seen outside from her demeanor he could tell she had higher power and had been in the palace longer than them.

“Your highness, Consort.” she greeted with a bow which was reciprocated with a nod that caused her to stand.

“Get him cleaned up. He should be versed with the all palace rules before leaving for the academy, make sure of it,” the duke told the woman.

“Yes your highness,” she said as she gesture for Circe to follow her.

She led him to a large room filled with water.

“Please remove your clothes,” although still weird at least she asked unlike the ones in the village.

He slowly removed his clothes with no psychological barrier and with out being told to he slowly got into the water and relaxed closing his eyes.

As he settled the woman placed something on his side and after some echoing footsteps he heard the door closing.

He opened his eyes and looked at the things on his side. They were probably bathing tools. He ignored them and swam to the other end of the huge bath tub. There was a soothing rose scent in the air.

He swam for a while before bathing using the tools that had been left. He was about to get out when he noticed he had no clothes. As if sensing it a male servant entered and placed his clothes on a beautiful beast shaped stone protrution.

He got out wore the clothes and walked outside where he saw the woman alone.

She gestured at him again. He walked with the woman and she led him to a room where he found Ruda and Ananke his rude servants whom he had almost forgotten. Closing the door, the woman began to speak.

“I am Reva you head attendant and your royal etiquette trainer, you will be staying here at the castle while learning etiquette. This will be your room,” she said and that’s when he took time to examine the room. It was the same size as his room at the dukes castle. With gold coated chandeliers, bright, white curtains, a huge bed at the center of the room and what seemed to be a wardrobe on the left side of the room.

“I’ll give you an two hours to acquaint yourself with the important parts of the castle before preparing for the evening meal, you will have it with his Royal highness the king ,” she said, then she turned towards his servants, “Ananke, Ruda, please show him around the palace.”

And with that she left.

“We should take him to the gardens first,” Ananke starts.

“No he’ll need to know the inside of the building first, As we teach him the castle history” Ruda states.

“we can start from the outside and go in It still won’t make a difference,”

“Since it won’t make a difference let’s start from the inside”

“But….

It seems that they they had forgotten who they were going to escort, he opened the door and walked outside leaving them to argue he walked for a certain distance before stopping at a beautifully decorated hallway.

Around him were huge clear windows reflecting the setting sun, he move closer to the window nearest to him and looked out, there was a beautiful stream and next to the castle it was a large forest, it was beautiful and it was obvious at sure that it was filled with magik.

The sound of a beast growling made him look down from the window, he spotted a familiar obsidian haired man wearing a uniform unlike any he’d seen before, his eyes were covered in a black blind fold and he stood beside an also familiar golden haired boy, he was one of the princes he had greeted when he first came to the palace, they looked like they were discussing something important, since their voices couldn’t be heard even with all the mana and magik around.

Just as he was about to turn the Obsidian haired man turned his head and ‘looked’ directly at him scaring him stiff, if it wasn’t for the blind fold he would have thought he could really see him. He moved backwards a little and look behind him, that’s when he realized that he didn’t know where he was. He tried walking around a little and by luck he came across to flight of stairs. Since he didn’t know where to go he decide to go up the stairs.

As he went up a feeling of familiarity hit him, it’s obvious he's spent his whole life in the village, but as he walked up the stairs he had a subtle feeling of nostalgia although it was fleeting but he felt it, it was like he had been there before.

The sound of a girl laughing and a familiar voice catches his attention. He moves closer and finds a door that is only slightly open. The voices inside sound like the crown prince and a girl. The rational part of his brain kept telling him that it would be safer to leave and deny hearing anything, but when did he start listening to it? He attempted to peer through the space out of sheer curiosity. He saw the prince sitting on a chair next to a table covered in papers, with a woman—possibly a noblewoman, based on her attire—on his lap and her arms around his neck, gazing lovingly in his direction. She was most likely a consort.

“I heard your father brought in another bride for you,”

Ohhhh…they were talking about him.

“It was just a stupid forest native,”

That’s abit harsh he was a forest native but he wasn’t stupid.

“Why did your father choose him,”

“Probably for reputation, to make the common people not feel discriminated,”

He is not a commoner; rather, he is descended from a noble family that has fallen to disgrace.

Just as he began to tire, he turned his foot and, to his luck, it smacked the edge of a stool that he could have sworn if asked wasn't there when he had moved toward the door. The vase on top of the stool then fell, and as he instinctively reached out to catch it, the movement unintentionally caused the slightly open door to open wide, causing the people inside to stop staring at each other directing their gazes at him.

“Oh you continue, don’t mind me I was just passing by,” he said while placing the vase down preparing to leave with a smile.

“Stop!”

He stopped and turned to look at the prince, he placed the lady that was on his lap down stood up walking towards me, he almost took a step back because of the in imitating aura the prince was emitting.

“Lord Circe?”

“Your highness I –

“What are you doing here,”

“I accidentally got lost, then I heard a voice from this room, I was going to ask for direction, but I found that it was his highness in there and you were busy so-

“You talk a lot,”

‘You asked me a question idiot.’ He thought keeping a smile on to hide his irritation.

“Since we are done may I excuse myself,” Circe said but the prince held his arm.

“You know the castle isn’t a place where you can walk in any way you want. You may see something you shouldn’t,” was he talking about his fling cause if so why would he care about who he slept with, who was he going to tell? The duke?

“Thank you for the information your highness,” he said while bowing down, the prince squeezed his hand a little before letting him go.

“You can find your way back to your room if you take that direction,”

“Thank you your highness,”

He proceeded in the direction that was indicated, and when he arrived at the end of the corridor, he spotted the same door that Rev had led him to.

The servants' glares that were directed at him as soon as he entered the door were enough to make him freeze.

They can't hold him responsible because he was bored and they were arguing.