The castle could be see from a distance of up to seventy miles away and it was a sight to behold, with its towering walls and intricate carvings. It stands tall and proud, a monument to the grandeur of the past. Its majesty is undeniable, and one can't help but feel awe-inspired in its presence. The sheer size of the castle is breathtaking, and one can only imagine the stories that lie within its walls. It's truly a magnificent sight to behold.
The closer the bus got to the castle, the more intrigued Benjamin got. Benjamin had not been many places, but he was sure that the Royal Palace was the grandest and most beautiful place in all of the continent of Solara.
Benjamin was currently in a huge bus, more than half way across the continent from where he once upon a time lived. There were other recruited workers on the bus as well, and they all looked rather tired from being on the road for so long.
Benjamin nudged the guy who was sitting next to him. "Look at the size of that castle." He said.
The guy glanced at him."Yeah, it's big." He said dryly before going back to the book he was reading.
Benjamin nudged him again.
"What?" He questioned looking up from his book and at Benjamin.
"I bet the Royal family is loaded, don't you agree?" Benjamin questioned.
"Well obviously, they own the continent." The guy said before going back to his book once more.
Benjamin nudged him once more.
"What is it this time?" The guy asked looking up from his book.
"Don't you think that it's cheap of them to have us ride a bus almost half way across the continent instead of just paying for us to fly?" Benjamin questioned.
"Well maybe they wanted annoying people like you to suffer." The guy said with a bit of annoyance in his voice. "Now I'm going back to reading my book, don't talk to me anymore." He said dipping his head into his book once more.
"Rude," Benjamin said before leaning forward to look at the cover of the book the guy was reading.
"By the way," Benjamin whispered. "I've read this book before. Rafael dies, and Jules ends up marrying Cassy." He said with a smile, leaning back in his seat with his arms crossed causing the guy to shoot daggers at him.
Very soon, the buses were parked outside of the walls of the castle, and General Gaston and the rest of men got out of the slick black cars that were driving ahead of the buses to address the new workers before entering the castle walls.
___
Prince Vlad sat up abruptly from the position that he was lying on his bed, and clutched his chest. His heart felt like it was being violently tugged on, and his entire body felt weird. The mutant Prince had never felt such a way before in his entire life, so he had no idea what to make of it.
Prince Vlad tried going back to the lying position that he was previously in, but that only made things worst. The more he tried to ignore the pain, the more painful it got.
That was when his mind when back to the conversation that he had with his parents a few days ago.
'"How will I even know who my soulmate is?" Questioned the prince.
"You will know when your soulmate is within a two mile radius." Said the king.
"What? How?"
"Rabashan made it so that when your soulmate is within a two mile radius of you for the first time, you will feel an uncomfortable pull on your soul, and the only way to ease that pain is to be at least within ten feet of her." Said the king.'
Prince Vlad got up off of his bed and barged out of his room, clutching his chest. He knew that this could only mean one thing. His soulmate was here, his soulmate was here within the castle walls, and dispite the fact that he claimed to not wanting a soulmate in the past, he was dying to see who could make him feel a way in which he had never felt before.
He wanted to meet his soulmate.
The mutant Prince longed to meet his soulmate.
___
"How comes everyone get such a nice room and I get... this?" Benjamin asked looking inside of the small room with unpainted walls and a bed with no sheets.
"It was the general orders kid, apparently you really pissed him off." Said the guard to Benjamin.
"Jeez, that man can seriously hold a grudge, is he still angry about what happened back in the restaurant?" Benjamin asked.
The guard sighed. "Look kid, you're no longer out in the world where you could do whatever you want, you're here in the castle now, which means you will do as you are told, and keep the questions to a minimum."
Benjamin looked at the guard. "Ok I have one more question." He said, and before the guard had time to respond, he went on with his question.
"Can you at least give me a better room? I mean, first of all I didn't even want to come here, I was forced, and the least that I could get is a better room."
The guard sighed, "Even if I wanted to give you a different room, I can't. I cannot over rule orders given by the general. The only ones who could do that are the king, Queen and Prince. Do yourself a favour and get some rest, you're going to need it." The guard said patting Benjamin on his shoulder before walking away.
With a huff, Benjamin walked inside of the small room with bare walls, and forced himself to fall asleep on the hard mattress. After all, he was tired from being on the road for such a long time.
___
Prince Vlad stormed his way through the halls of the castle, and staff members were practically jumping out of the way so that his Royal highness could have a clear path to walk.
The prince's senses were heightened, more heightened than usual, that so much so, he could hear a pin drop from a mile away, and could take the faintest of smell from a similar distance. Even for an A Level mutant, this was very unusual.
The prince knew that his soulmate was someone who just came into the castle, because if they were someone who was already there, from the moment he turned eighteen, he would have felt the pull on his soul that he is currently experiencing.
Prince Vlad made his way down to the main lobby of the castle.
"Who has entered the castle today?" He asked the woman who was sitting behind one of the many desks.
"A good afternoon would be a nice way to start out a conversation." Said the woman looking up from her computer screen.
When the woman saw who she was talking to, her life basically flashed before her eyes. She quickly stood up and bowed to the mutant Prince.
"I'm so sorry your highness, I didn't know that it was you. Please forgive me I ha-" She started but was cut off by the Prince.
"I don't have time for your pointless fucking apologies. I asked a question and I want answers right now." Said the prince impatiently.
All the prince wanted right now was to meet his soulmate, and he would go to great lengths to ensure that it happens as soon as possible. When a mutant first senses their soulmate, everything else takes a back seat, as this is the most important moment in their lives.
"Who entered the castle today." He asked.
"It was General Gaston, your highness." Said the lady.
"Who did he have with him?" The prince asked impatiently.
"He arrived with the workers that you sent him to recruit." Said the woman.
Prince Vlad immediately realised that this meant that his soulmate was among the recruited workers.
"Where did he take them?"
"To the staff quarters in the west wing of the castle, your highness."
Without another word, the prince spun on his heels and started walking in the direction of the staff quarters.
___
As the mutant Prince was making his way into the staff quarters, General Gaston was making his way out.
Just the mere sight of the General annoyed the prince. In Prince Vlad's eyes, the General was a power hungry mutant who didn't know his place. He didn't know why his parents had such trust in him.
"Your highness," Said the General once he was close enough to the prince.
"What do you want?" Questioned the prince.
"You sent me away for just over what? A week?... And I'm already hearing about people breaching the castle walls?" Asked the General.
"What are you implying?" The prince questioned in a sharp tone.
"Perhaps it would be wise to keep me within the castle walls next time. My job is to protect the castle, and I'm sure that if I was present at this time, such a situation would not have occurred." Said the General.
Prince Vlad took a step towards the General, closing some distance between them.
"And perhaps it would be wise for you to keep your mouth shut, and not question my decisions. Maybe I should send you away again to get my point across properly. You may be the General of Solara, but you don't call the shots." Prince Vlad said brushing past General Gaston, and making his way further into the staff quarters.
The prince walked next to each of the doors slowly, in hopes that the uncomfortable pull on his soul would calm down, which would indicate that his soulmate was on the other side of the door.
Door after door, there was no indication that his soulmate was present, and that really annoyed him. All the mutant Prince wanted was to be with his soulmate but one would think that the universe was conspiring against him.
After walking next to every single door of the staff quarters in the west wing with no indication of his soulmate, the mutant Prince finally came to a halt next to an old storage room.
The uncomfortable pull in his chest started simmering down, and his heart rate picked up.
His hearing was so good, that he could hear faint snores from the other side of the door as if whoever that was inside the room was snoring directly into his ears. The prince's hearing has never been so good in his entire life.
Prince Vlad lifted his hand, and placed it on the doorknob. The prince was feeling nervous, because he knew that once he opens the door, there was no going back. He knew that once he opens the door, the person on the other side would be his everything.
Holding his breath, Prince Vlad turned the the doorknob and gently pushed the door open.
When Prince Vlad looked into the room, he was surprised.
What he expected to see was a female mutant with long black hair that matches his, but that was not the case.
In the bed, sleeping, was a boy. A human male with with brown hair.
Not only was his soulmate a human, it was also a male.
But still, looking at the boy on the bed, the prince's heart was filled with love and care. For the very first time in his life, the stone cold, Prince Vlad Whitlock who has never given a single care in the world for anyone, or anything, was now feeling love and care for a boy that he had seen less than a minute ago.
But it was not just any boy he was looking at. No, it was his soulmate.
It didn't matter that he was human. It didn't matter that he was a male.
All that nattered was that this was his soulmate. The boy who he will spend the rest of his life with. The boy who he would not be able to live a single day in his life without from this point fourth.
Prince Vlad slowly started making his way deeper into the room. He didn't want to wake his sleeping soulmate, but at the same time, he wanted to get a better look at him.
Before the prince could go any further, he was distracted.
"Your highness?" He heard a voice said from behind him.
Even with his unusually superior senses, the mutant Prince did not detect that there was someone following him, he was so distracted by his soulmate, that he lost sense of his surroundings.
Prince Vlad quickly turned behind to see that his head bodyguard, Darren was standing outside of his soul mate's door.
"Darren?" Said the prince, turning his entire body around and quickly walking out of the room.
"What are you doing here?" The prince whisper yelled in order to not awake his sleeping soulmate.
Darren was taken aback that the prince was whispering in order that he not awaken whoever was sleeping inside the room. This was the first time that Darren had ever seen the mutant Prince show any form of consideration for anyone, and he couldn't help but want to know why.
"It is my job as a member, and leader of the Obsidian knights to follow you and keep you safe, your highness." Said Darren.
"Forgive me for asking, but what are you doing here your highness, This is the staff quarters. And who is this?" Darren questioned looking curiously into the room.
Darren knew that asking the hot headed Prince such a question was not as bad an idea as it would have been for anyone else, because although Prince Vlad would never admit it, Darren knew that he was the mutant prince's closest friend, and most trusted advisor.
"That's my soulmate." Said the prince, and Darren could have sworn that for the first time in his life, he saw the prince's lips tug into the faintest smile.
_______________________________________
Sup guys, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. I'm actually having so much fun writing this and please tell me what you think so far.
Also if there are any mistakes, please feel free to point it out. Constructive criticism is always welcomed.
Love you
♥
-Jay