The Inner Kingdom: Quest One (Dragon Quest Book 1)

by Gibbs, S. R.

  “I’ve always wanted this to be their decision. This was meant to happen,” Nolin muttered. “Tomorrow’s eve is when the door to Earth closes, and will remain so for another hundred years.”

  “You mean we could have been home by now?” Ashley whispered angrily.

  “That was not your home. This is where you belong,” Prince Leev tried to persuade us, but I don’t think any one of us was willing to listen to anything they had to say anymore.

  “On Earth there is a saying, 'Home is where your heart is.'” I said while choking down tears. “My heart isn’t here.”

  “We are leaving now. You have lied to us, and you even had someone stalking us back home.”

  “I was there to find you; I didn’t know you were the ones, until I felt the power surge during one of your games,” Rṓgaire tried to clarify.

  “You sent him to the Earth world? Why wasn’t my father consulted before you executed your plan?” The prince complained. “I know he would have chosen someone else to perform that task.”

  “It was your father’s idea.”

  The prince looked confused and hurt at the same time. “Why didn’t he tell me about this?”

  “Or me?” Leo interjected. “I am the captain of the guards and that was a very important matter.”

  “I only have one question. Why was I the only one that could see you? You had me thinking I had lost my mind,” I accused.

  “I am not sure; I was given a celta to give me the ability of invisibility, to make it easier for me to look for you. The portal just led me to the place filled with people with no direction as to which ones were the dragon warriors,” Rṓgaire looked exhausted.

  “I believe I know the reason you could see him at times. The dragon warrior of earth, also possesses the power to see through celtas. It is very rare,” Nolin speculated, looking a little sad, while he regarded me.

  “But I have also seen him disappear at times.” I recalled the time right before I fainted.

  “In times where you have used much energy, for instance the power surge he felt, that would have been enough to cause your powers to weaken. This could be the reason he appeared to be a ghost.”

  “So you were on Earth? Is that where you were just coming from?”

  “Yes, before I was to leave, I had to speak with Nanina and Machen, and give them a chance to turn themselves in.” Rṓgaire rubbed his hands through his hair, making him appear even more rugged.

  “So they know we are here? Where are they?”

  “I searched all over, but wherever they were was highly shielded. I wasn’t able to locate them.”

  “I believe we need to move this conversation to the King’s chamber,” Leo whispered as two helpers walked by watching us curiously.

  As soon as the women were out of sight, Angie began to speak her mind, and neither I nor Ashley tried to stop her. “We are going home now! I can’t believe I was beginning to consider the things you were telling us!”

  “You can’t go back now.” Leo stopped Angie from turning around by grabbing her hand.

  “Why not?” Angie countered, snatching her arm away.

  “Because the doorway is closed for today. It will return for the last time on the morrow with the rising of the suns,” Rṓgaire answered.

  “How can we believe you? You lied to us the moment we met you.”

  “You have witnessed yourself when you were first brought here. The portal was just beginning to close. Once you arrived here, the door did not open again until today.”

  Judging by the expressions on my sisters’ faces I could tell none of us wanted to believe him, but for now we had no other choice.

  “Then we will be in our room waiting because the moment I see a hint of light in the sky, we will be leaving.” Ashley said in a tone that made it clear to everyone that there was no point in arguing.

  Ignoring the complaints and mad faces, I followed my sisters who had already started moving away from the king’s chamber and the people responsible for bringing us here.

  After walking around for about an hour, we finally found the room. Once inside, we found that we had someone waiting for us.

  “Welcome, I had the helpers prepare food,” Mina smiled, gesturing to the table in the corner, covered with food and tea cups. “You must be very tired after training today."

  I wanted to ask her how she was doing, but there was a more pressing matter to address. “Did you know about the portal?”

  The sudden disappearance of Mina’s smile from her face was answer enough.

  “I trusted you. I thought at least you would tell us the truth.”

  “I have just found out about this myself today from my father.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell us the minute you knew?”

  “I know it was selfish of me, but I wanted you to find out more about yourselves and this world. Your world.”

  “If we leave or stay is our decision to make!” Ashley exclaimed. “If it wasn’t for April recognizing that Rṓgaire guy, we would’ve never known the truth.”

  The color seemed to drain from her face at the mention of Nolin’s assistant's name. “All of you have met him? He is dangerous, and worst of all, he’s Raven’s son. I don’t know why my father made him his assistant.”

  “That is not our problem.”

  Mina began to step closer to us. “Do not trust him, or anything he says. Nothing good can come from Raven’s offspring.”

  “And why should we listen to you now? I believe you should just go,” Angie pointed towards the door.

  Looking dejected, Mina slowly made her way toward the door. “Just remember that everything I have done was to help you.”

  “I guess this is goodbye since we are leaving first thing tomorrow morning,” I informed her as we parted for her to leave.

  Mina opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again, deciding against it.

  It may have been my imagination, but I could of swore I saw tears coming down her face as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

  “Now what do we do?” I asked to no one in particular.

  “We wait,” Angie answered.

  The Evaluation

  Location: The Castle

  ◑ Ashley ◐

  After sending Mina away, there was nothing left to say, not even to one another. We were finally going to be able to leave and return home. I just wondered why I wasn’t as happy as I thought I would be.

  Since we did not have anything to pack, we picked at the food Mina had prepared and waited.

  I must have gone to sleep while waiting, judging by the lack of light shining through the window Leo created.

  Lifting my head up off the bed, I could see that April was asleep beside me on the bed, and Angie must have dozed off as she sat on top of the dresser as she wanted to be the first one to see the sun rise.

  Unable to lie still, I decided to take a short walk so I could think.

  Carefully putting my sandals on, I tiptoed out of the room, gently closing the door behind me. I knew it had to be really late. Due to the darkness of the sky outside the room window, there was one thing that confused me, I don’t remember climbing any stairs the entire time I’ve been here, and yet the view from the room window suggests that it is high up. When I looked from the window earlier, all the people below looked like ants.

  I guess it doesn’t matter since I won’t be coming back here ever again.

  I continued walking down the halls, and since I had nothing better to do, I tried to use my energy to find the celtas drawn into the walls. I was surprised by how many there were. After getting bored with finding celtas, I started seeing what each one did.

  I saw the one shaped like a tree hid things such as doorways, and the ones shaped like a bird hid windows and mirrors. There was another one I did not recognize, and this one was shaped like a crown.

  As I transferred energy into the celta to activate it, nothing happened. I thought maybe whoever designed it did not f
inish it yet. Then the hall I was in flickered as if someone was changing the channels on my surroundings. The stones went from gray to gold and silver, and the lights grew brighter, as well as the floor seemed to be covered with gold carpet instead of the silver colored one I was just standing on.

  When the scene completely changed, my stomach dropped as if I was on an elevator. Clinging onto the now gold and silver wall, I tried to regain my balance.

  “How are we going to convince the girls to stay?” I heard a voice sounding like the prince coming from a room up ahead.

  Letting my curiosity get the best of me, I strode quietly, closer to the doorway, trying my best to stay hidden while I peeked inside.

  “Let’s not focus on them; there will be a war very soon that we need to prepare for,” a huge burly man said with a long flowing gold robe and a heavily jeweled crown on his head. The entire air around this guy screamed royalty. No doubt about it, he must be the king.

  “Father, without them, we might as well hand over Eupai to Jewel. Bain’s last word says that the dragon warriors will unite the land.”

  “Then, if you believe so much in the foretelling of the future of the previous warrior, my uncle, spoke about long ago, why are you so worried?” the king spoke in a deep voice.

  Uncle? Nolin never said that the prince was related to one of the previous dragon warriors. I would think that would be something the prince would be bragging about to everyone.

  “It’s just so hard to sit back and do nothing. Maybe we can call a council meeting.”

  I could see the prince pacing the floor while his father sat down in a large gold chair with a heavy thud. I thought the king would be a little frail guy, but he appeared to be quite healthy.

  My opinion changed rather quickly when I heard the string of coughs coming from the king. When it finally ended, the king was left gripping the edge of his chair.

  From the angle the king was sitting at, he could easily see me, so I moved a little away from the doorway, but I was still close enough to hear.

  “What do you expect will happen once the other kingdoms find out that the daughters that we were responsible for returning home have chosen to stay on Earth? “ The king asked in a raspy voice due to his recent coughing fit.

  “There must be something we can do?”

  All of a sudden, the room became quiet. Wondering if they had gone deeper into the room, I moved closer to the door only to see the prince staring at me.

  “This is not what it looks like. Well, maybe it is what it looks like, but I didn’t mean to listen in on your conversation at first,” I continued to mumble, not knowing how to react as the prince stood silent.

  “Escort the shadow in, son,” The king bellowed from inside the room.

  I couldn't be that thoughtless, but the shadow cutting through the light in the hall proved to me that I was.

  “Actually, we have more than just a shadow,” the prince finally spoke guiding me in the room. “Let me introduce to you the dragon warrior of the Sapphire Kingdom.

  The room was much bigger than the one we were sleeping in. On one side was a complete bedroom, and on the other side, was what looked to be an office.

  A little confused on how to greet the king, I just bowed the way we did at the ceremony. “Nice to meet you. My name is Ashley.”

  It must have been the right thing to do, since the king's eyes lit up with a smile. “So this is what the entire buzz in the castle is about?”

  “Where are your companions?” The prince asked, looking back out in the hallway.

  “They are back in the room ready to leave at the first sight of dawn,” I answered truthfully.

  Even though what I had just said was true, it felt wrong saying it in front of a sick king that looked at me with such a hopeful expression.

  “So, you didn’t come here because you have changed your mind?”

  “Actually, I got bored just sitting in the room and decided to walk around some, and I saw a celta I hadn’t seen before, so I activated it, and it led me here.”

  “This was meant to be. I hate to think that you would have gone back without me being able to meet you,” the king laughed hoarsely. “I would greet you properly, but as you can witness for yourself, I have been a little down lately.”

  “That’s not a problem. I was wondering if you have been to a doctor about that cough, if you do not mind me asking.”

  “We have had the best healers in the Inner Kingdom come and prescribe medicine for his coughs and fatigue.”

  “Those are symptoms. Has anyone found the cause for them?”

  Before the prince could respond, the king started to spasm with the ferocity of his coughs.

  “We need to get him to his bed,” the prince instructed without giving me a choice. “Help me get him to his bed; he has exhausted his self today while preparing to meet you and your companions.”

  Feeling lower than what I was when I walked into the room, I helped him move the king to his bed. The room was nice and warm, but the king was burning up.

  “You need to undress him,” I ordered the prince.

  His response to my demand was a "she’s insane" look.

  “I know it may sound weird, but your father has a fever, and we need to get his temperature down.”

  The king tried to tell us something, but all that came out of his mouth was a few incoherent words.

  “He needs water.”

  “There is a glass on the table; usually the helpers will leave a pitcher of water.”

  “I will look for the water. You just undress him.”

  Looking around the massive room, I didn’t see any pitcher. I looked at his desk and also the tables beside his bed. Nothing.

  Remembering the incident at the ceremony, I wondered if I could find the water that way. Relaxing my mind I stood in the middle of the room and let the energy spread. On the shelf of one of the king’s bookshelves I saw a small stream of water coming toward me. I then saw the pitcher sitting on the shelf with a cloth draped over it.

  “I’ve found the water,” I cheered. I was so excited I just pulled more water to me, until I was cupping enough water in the palm of my hands to form an orb the size of a tennis ball.

  Carefully taking the water to the king’s glass beside his bed, I could see that the prince had finished undressing the king, and was pulling the covers up to his chest.

  “Do you mind handing me the glass?” I urgently asked, not sure on how long I could hold the water together.

  “You really are the Sapphire dragon warrior,” the prince said while holding out the glass. “You can heal him."

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t know how. When I supposedly healed my sister, I wasn’t even aware that I had done it.”

  “My father believes in you,” he muttered, looking at me for once not as a spoiled rich boy, but as a son seeking help for his father.

  “I will try.”

  Focusing on the sphere of water in my hands I closed my eyes and did the one thing I could think of to do. Pray.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I really don’t know,” I admitted with my eyes still closed.

  The prince's voice sounded a little odd. “That’s strange because something is happening to the water.”

  That caused me to open my eyes just in time for me to see the last section of clear water turn dark blue

  Slowly moving the water out of my hands into the glass, I watched the water remain dark blue after entering the glass.

  “Will this heal him?”

  “I don’t know, but I believe it will help.”

  With trembling hands, he lifted his father's head up, and with one glance my way, he began to drizzle some of the water into his mouth. Soon, the king was able to grab ahold of the glass and began to drink the remaining water in the glass.

  The king tried to talk again, but the prince just quieted him, and ordered him to rest. Closing his eyes, the king seemed to quickly drift off to sleep.

 
“Does he usually go to sleep that fast after one of his coughing fits?” I questioned a little concerned that I might have poisoned him.

  “Even though he has been weak for almost two weeks, he has found it very difficult to sleep, due to all of the pain he has been suffering from.”

  Moving closer to the bed, I leaned over and put my finger underneath his nose to make sure he was still breathing. Yep, I could feel the slow stream of air exiting from his nostrils.

  “What is the reason for that?” The prince asked, watching me with fascination. “Is that another part of your healing process?”

  “Yeah, it’s called make sure the patient is still alive,” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

  “That’s not funny.”

  “I know. He seems to be breathing steadily. I think he needs to rest. Just in case, I would send for a professional healer to check him out,” I suggested right before the prince engulfed me in a big hug.

  The hug was very brief and not completely what I expected from the guy who came on to me during the ceremony. I didn’t notice it earlier, but the prince appeared drained as I could make out the beginning of dark circles forming around his gray eyes.

  “No problem, by the way you never told me that you are related to the previous dragon warrior,” I blurted out, feeling a little self-conscious after the hug.

  I was surprised to see that the prince actually looked embarrassed by that fact. “Yes, it’s not something I convey to strangers.”

  “I’m not a stranger now.”

  The prince then moved so close to my face that our noses were almost touching. “I suppose.”

  The prince moved away to go stand beside his father’s desk, leaving me to catch the breath I had lost as soon as he came near.

  Keep it together, Ashley. Remember, you are leaving tomorrow. Do not get attached!

  Even though I knew I needed to return to my sisters, I just could not help myself from following the prince to the desk.

  “The dragon warrior of earth was my father’s, father’s brother. This makes him my great-uncle. My grandfather founded the Inner Kingdom because of my great-uncle’s dream of unity.”