LEV POV
We followed the annoyed and restless guards into the Palace.
Queen Virdi and King Cinis rushed out, walking behind the guards, anxiously waiting for their daughter to wake up.
Of course, she was already awake. We knew that. This was just a ploy to get into the Palace.
Iris put on a worried face.
"Queen Virdi, is she going to be okay? Do you mind if we stay here the night?" Iris turned to Talia and nudged her to enforce her proposal.
"Yes, we have nowhere to stay." Talia added.
"Of course, I just wish you had accepted our proposal last time."
"And the Highest Tower in the castle is restricted." King Cinis reminded us.
"Of course." Talia smirked as she looked at all of us.
"I feel bad for Lyna. I mean, we're plotting against her parents, after all." Auriana whispered to Dawn.
"Don't worry. This is sort of what she wanted, correct?" Dawn replied. Queen Virdi and King Cinis turned around.
Talia's back straightened.
"Your rooms are all in this corridor." she pointed to the hallway lit up with lanterns.
"Thank you, Your Majesties." we all chorused.
The rulers smiled politely and left the corridor.
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We all tiptoed out of our bedrooms at the same time, except for Carissa. Iris had the brilliant idea to use Morse Code.
"I told you it was the perfect time," Iris grinned proudly, "someone left these papers in my room containing the changing of the guards. Then someone left the key to the tallest tower in the castle."
"I wonder how Lyna is." Auriana whispered.
"I'm sure she'll be fine." Dawn reassured her, looking back to a worried Lyna.
"Her parents didn't seem that worried." Chandler noted.
"Maybe they've experienced this kind of thing before."
We all went silent at that thought. We didn't think there was anything wrong with Lyna. She was shy, but almost everyone was like that.
"Never mind," Nathaniel laughed nervously as he brushed away the thought, "let's just get to the tower."
We climbed the stairs, and we were nearly out of breath before Iris stopped us abruptly, with us almost falling down the stairs.
"Whoa!" Talia whispered, "Careful!"
Iris blushed.
"Sorry. There's two guards. They almost saw me."
"Oh. Then you have every right to make me trip." Talia grinned.
"Princess Iris?" an unusual voice called. Iris' ears perked up curiously.
"Castor?" Iris called.
We heard a thump, and then the clanging of a metal helmet.
"Iris?" a boy about our age called down the hallway. He was dressed like Chandler. An honorable soldier from Crystalla. His jewel was a pin, fastened onto his lapel.
"Castor!" Iris jumped up to hug him.
"Hey, little flower!" the dude smiled and grasped Iris in a bear hug.
"Castor! Stop! You're embarrassing me!" Iris laughed as she was swung around the castle's tower. I could only imagine Nathaniel expression.
I heard grumbling and his fists were clenched, as if he were about to unleash his fury on the dude.
"And I've heard about you, Talia, Auriana, Carissa, Nathaniel, Lev, Dawn, and Chandler. I'm a big fan." he squealed. For as tall and intimidating as he was, he seemed like a regular, hormonal teenager.
Nathaniel laughed nervously, "A fan?"
"Yes! There's this anonymous author who writes stories about you."
We all stared at him.
"You don't get out much, do you?" Talia asked.
"Nope! But you're here to see the Knight, correct?"
"Yep."
"No one ever wants to come up here." he sighed.
Auriana cautiously stepped over the unconscious body.
"Why'd you knock him out?" Carissa said warily.
"Oh, well, anything for my Iris." he grinned at her and embraced her again.
"Just be careful. He's been going crazy lately." he warned us.
He opened the door. We all went in, to find it was a very spacious room.
"Princess Lyna. Where is Princess Carissa?" a voice asked.
We all hesitated to turn around.
"King Cinis! What are you doing here? Are you going to ask the knight some questions?" Talia greeted him nervously.
There was a mumble of hellos.
"Where's the knight?" Iris demanded, drawing her sword.
"Iris!" Nathaniel reprimanded through his teeth.
He laughed.
"Oh, you poor child. I'm sorry, but you've missed him."
There was a glint of purple behind him. Carissa's eyes flashed a stormy blue as she raised her dagger and drove it through the stomach of the King.
Lyna screamed.
Carissa walked through the body, not caring at all.
"Carissa! What did you do?" Chandler screamed, shying away.
"Nothing." Carissa tucked the dagger away. Lyna shrieked as she fell to the floor. She rushed over to her father's body, and hugged him.
She turned around in tears, her face stained red.
"You!" Lyna marched over and drew a weapon. She raised it, when Carissa put her hand in front of Lyna's face and snapped her fingers.
Carissa held up her dagger and she watched as the blood dissipated. We looked behind Lyna and the dead King's body disappeared.
Lyna wiped away her tears.
"What happened?" Lyna whispered.
"The dagger of illusions. Like one of those Tomb Raider things. When I take it, it activates... something. This time, it activated a deadly illusion."
"Well, aren't illusions supposed to be, like, transparent."
"Not this kind. The dagger can summon an illusion at will. It took on the form of a loved one. This dagger can kill life-like illusions. These illusions can kill, eat, drink, sleep. Some even believe they are alive. They can be controlled, too. You must just impale the dagger in the illusion's heart, and it will die. Then, snap your fingers. It will dissipate."
Carissa handed the weapon to Lyna, who tucked it in her belt. We knew she didn't like weapons. She only used defensive magic.
"Where's the knight? Are we really too late?" Talia asked.
"No. He's here. The illusion is meant to protect him." Carissa explained.
"Where is he?" Auriana asked.
"In the back room." Carissa motioned to the hallway.
"Wow, this is big." Iris commented.
"I know, right?"
In the hallway, it was decorated like a house on the beach. Then again, Borealis was an island.
"In here!" Carissa pointed to a door marked with the number 10.
"Knight Aquarius!"
"Like the constellation?" Talia inquired.
"Yep! They're all named after constellations."
"Wow."
"In here, my Princess." a frail voice called.
There was a man, sitting in a rocking chair. His arms were weak, and he only had enough energy to make the chair rock.
"Mr. Aquarius, we're on the quest to bring back the Balance of Ephedia."
"That wasted my life." the old man said bitterly.
Carissa knelt in front of him.
"I know, sir. But please, Ephedia will be sucked into a black hole, if we don't fix it."
Aquarius looked up with shiny tears.
"My comrades. You remind me of them. Please, turn back before it's too late. I'd rather die than risk other's lives."
"I'm afraid it's too late for that, sire."
The knight hesitantly told us the story of the Five Knights and Ansel.
"When Ephedia was still young, the first generation, Ansel and the Ephedians lived in peace. Back then, they were divided into factions, Blue, Pink, Orange, Purple, Green, and White. After several years, the spirits of each faction manifested into a special weapon. Like Mjolnir, or Excalibur, only the worthy could wield them. The Dagger of Borealis. The Staff of Ephedia. The-"
"We know the weapons. We just need the story." Carissa interrupted impatiently.
"Anyways, the worthy were: Columba of Ephedia, Aquarius of Borealis, Aries of Calix, Cygnus of Xeris, and Leo of Volta."
His voice was quivering.
"What is it?" Lyna asked softly.
"N-Nothing." he muttered.
Carissa snapped.
"What. IS. IT?!" she asked dangerously, pressing a knife to his abdomen.
The old man sucked in a breath.
"I'm sorry. I can't reveal this secret to you."
"Carissa." Chandler said softly.
Carissa huffed and pulled the knife back.
"What's the rest of the story?" I asked.
"Columba was the King's daughter. He forbade her from going with the rest of the knights. Columba went anyway, but not before giving birth to her son, Harrick. She had no permission, but snuck out during the changing of the guards. Immediately, the King noticed that she was gone. He sent out many spies and knights on a quest to search for her. But she had already gone with us. We went to the Black Hole, the very core and bottom of Ephedia. Ansel was there. He corrupted the plant life, and controlled black crystals. One by one, he took us out. We were almost all unconscious, defeated. Columba was the one who wanted to return home. She wanted to see her son alive."
"My father." Iris whispered.
"But she knew what she had to do. She gathered all the weapons, in an attempt to banish him to the Black Hole. But doing this spell lead to the draining of her life force. The rest of the knights tried to stop her. They really tried. But she had gathered their weapons. And she used the most powerful spell in the universe. Ansel grabbed my comrades and dragged them into the Black Hole. I managed to escape because Cygnus pushed me out of the way." he was crying.
"The weapons themselves were gathered up by the respective factions. They built up on the remains of their loved ones. Li- Columba thought she had it under control."
"Li?" Chandler asked.
The old man sighed in defeat.
"Libra. The Knight of White. She was the purest out of us all. She was the daughter of a simple village. She was adored by everyone. Never committed a crime. Never lied. She trusted all of us completely. But we were so wary of each other that it blinded us when we needed each other the most."
"She had a niece. The cutest little thing. She wanted her to come back home. She was the source of her drive to defeat Ansel. He had corrupted her niece's parents."
"What was the niece's name?" Dawn whispered softly.
"Vega."