After fifteen days of nonstop sailing, Sol awoke to the sound of seagulls laughing overhead. He had fallen asleep near the deck's wooden bow looking up at the sky. A soldier was standing nearby, seeing him awaken. "I wouldn't typically sleep in a spot like that sir but I didn't want to wake you either. Is your back feeling alright? That doesn't exactly look comfortable." With one big yawn and a stretch, Sol got up from the wooden ground. "Good morning" Sol ignored the soldier's question. "It's actually the early afternoon sir." The soldier corrected him. "Close enough." Sol turned around to face the bow to be met with land once again.
"We're going to be docking soon. I would recommend going with the scouting group so we know where to meet up with everyone else that's waiting on us." As the soldier suggested, Sol went down the ship's stairs and went inside and tried to head to the room he had stayed in while traveling. The corridor swayed, suggesting how choppy the waves were but Sol was still better at keeping his footing than he had before. Opening the creaking door to his room, he started looking through his stuff. He had heard that they were going to stop at a town called Cobaltia in the Kingdom of Metal and wanted to find an old map he had brought with him for the occasion, a map that Brook had lent him a long time ago.
"Where did I put it?" Sol said to himself as the room he rummaged through started to look like a mess as he pulled apart every blanket and cover on his bed or opened up every drawer to the nearby desk. He eventually found it after a good five minutes or so but was now greeted by a knock on his door, followed by his sister coming straight into his room. "What are you doing? We're waiting on you, let's go." "On it. Just got what I was looking for." Sol said as he rolled up his map and joined Crystal up on the top decks again.
Soon, the ship docked and the anchor lowered into the water. The scouting team consisted of Sol, Crystal, and four other soldiers. "Remember everyone, we're just trying to find where our meeting is going to take place. We're not here for sightseeing." Crystal said to everyone with them. She was especially referring to her brother Sol and raised a brow, knowing fully well that he would be the most likely to wander off. "Yes ma'am!" Every soldier with them said in unison. Even with the amount of formality, Sol couldn't help but giggle when bird poop landed on the backside of one of the soldier's armor. But no one else saw it, having everyone else give Sol a strange look. "Is everything ok sir?" One of the soldier's asked.
"Just peachy." Sol responded. The young prince unrolled the map he had in his hands and gave it a good look, knowing that his sister only had so much patience to deal with. "So uh... where were we supposed to go? I have this map Brook lent to me awhile back. I figured we can use it here since this is the first time I've been to this kingdom." Sol suggested. Everyone started walking away from the docks, figuring things out as they went. "It's supposed to be a large cathedral with a sea green roof. Although I don't see anything of the sort from where we are now." Crystal admitted, suggesting the idea that Sol was allowed to use the map he had. "Awesome! Let's see then." Sol did his best to examine what he had.
"From where we are now, the cathedral may be in the far top right of town." Sol looked up from his map to see light blue tiled roofs which were nothing like the description Crystal gave. He was also able to notice every other orc going about and living their daily lives, though, Cobaltia didn't seem as lively as Sol thought it would initially be given the mere size of the sea-side town. One orc was able to spot the bird poop along the backside of one of their soldier's armor and couldn't help but chuckle which made Sol smile and chuckle along with him. In an ironic sense that same soldier looked at Sol again with concern. "I know I've said this before but honestly, are you ok?" I don't understand what you find so funny." It was only then that the other soldier's noticed as well and started to smirk, all the while trying to keep themselves from laughing to keep a professional outlook.
Regardless, they kept on searching for where they thought the cathedral might be. After several minutes of walking nonstop and realizing the cathedral wasn't where it was supposed to be on Sol's map, Crystal was starting to get a little aggravated. "I know I'm not holding it upside down or anything, I swear this is where it was supposed to be." Sol tried his best to explain himself, although none of that wasn't going to stop Crystal from taking the map from him. "What's the big deal here?" She got a good look at it herself. Crystal looked around their environment and eventually noticed the same thing Sol did, that the town didn't seem as lively as it should. Despite there being a few orcs here and there, it seemed too quiet for a grand town for the one that they were currently in.
"Hold on just a second." Crystal told everyone she was with to wait while she approached an orc sweeping her porch. "Excuse me miss! I have a question." Crystal said as politely as she could, holding onto her patience. "There should be a cathedral around here right? Do you know where it might be?" As she asked, the old orc slowly walked over to a small round table and with her fidgety fingers, picked up a pair of glasses to see Crystal more clearly. "Cathedral eh? There hasn't been a cathedral on this side of town for fifty years..." As soon as she heard what the old lady said, Crystal couldn't help but look at the map Sol had again. When she couldn't find anything useful on the front, she turned to the back. Sure enough, Crystal was able to find the date in the lower left. She quickly looked at Sol. "Sol! This map your friend gave you is outdated!" Crystal tossed the paper into the wind.
The seagulls flying overhead caught the paper, mistaking it for food and tore it up piece by piece on another roof nearby. Something about that made Sol disappointed. After the seagulls were done with what they had, a familiar voice spoke up to them. "I know right? I was disappointed too." Everyone looked in the direction where they heard Brook's voice and sure enough, Sol's disappointment turned into excitement. "Hey Brook!" Sol waved him down. Brook couldn't help but approach the group and took a good look at the sword Crystal now possessed. "Is there a specific reason why your sister is holding onto that sword for you dude?" Brook asked.
"She wields the Shining Giant now. I don't think the sword was ever meant for me. I just convinced Elgria to hand it over to her so now only she can use it." Sol explained. Brook looked surprised upon hearing what Sol had done. "Oh wow! I didn't expect you to do something like that." "Yeah well... for me it just made perfect sense." Sol admitted. "I can't blame you for that, especially since I now know the weight any of us carry when wielding these weapons." Brook looked at the trident being held in his left wing. "I assume you're over here because you realize the map you gave my brother wasn't going to work? You should lead us to where the cathedral is." Crystal said to Brook.
"Yeah, I'll take you all there. Everyone else is waiting." Brook raised his trident, pointed in the right direction, and started moving forward. Even just after a couple minutes of silence while they went to the other side of town, Sol couldn't stand just walking and following. He wanted to understand what was happening with his best friend while they were away from one another. "So what have you been up to lately? I mean... aside from work with the trident and stuff." Sol spoke to Brook. It took a couple seconds for Brook to respond as if his thoughts were somewhere else in that moment. "Me? I don't believe I haven't been able to do much other than work with the trident and everything else regarding protecting the Kingdom of Water. Now we're helping the Kingdom of Metal and we've been busy nonstop."
"Does the Kingdom of Metal at least have good food? I know how much of a glutton you can be. No one can beat your stomach." Sol said, looking around for any potential restaurant that might be in their area. "It's alright." Was Brook's only response which suggested to Sol that something was up. "Are you doing ok man? I don't want to sound annoying but you seem off today." Sol asked him. Brook gave a sigh and walked side by side with his friend instead of walking in front. "I'm sorry. Things have just been really stressful lately and I'm afraid I may have some bad news to share once we get to the cathedral." Brook admitted to Sol with a worried look on his face.
"You can tell us now if you want." Crystal spoke to him. "It'll be easier once we get back. Only me, Aria, and a few other orcs at the cathedral know right now." As Brook explained himself the best he could, they all appeared at the footsteps that would lead them up to the very building they were heading for since their arrival. In actuality, it was just around the corner from where they started but still hidden from view. "You gotta be kidding me..." Sol said under his breath. They approached the arched double doors at the top and opened them slowly, suggesting how heavy they were. Since orcs were naturally built strong, Sol had no doubt in his mind that they were made specifically to handle that strength. But as they all walked inside, the interior felt warmer and candles were lit upon several chandeliers leading down the aisle. Squinting to get a better look, Sol can see many more people, human, athera, dwarf, and orc alike waiting around for them to approach. Of course, among them would be Lilac, Aria, and Drakiel, just as they were expecting.
"Glad you can make it!" Aria was the first to greet them. Right off the bat, Sol noticed something different about Aria. The athera no longer seemed as pompous as she once was and the outfit she was currently wearing was much more loose and easygoing than the dress she had on before, almost as if she had gained some sense of freedom since the last time Sol saw her. All Aria had to wear was a white sweater and some black pants and started to look like she could pass for an average citizen without having anyone guess she was actually royalty. "Hey." Lilac's greeting sounded more depressing but all Drakiel could muster up was a little wave.
"So are we all here? What's the first thing on our agenda?" Crystal wanted to get the ball rolling. To Sol, it felt a little weird for him to see everyone from the four kingdoms together in one room, but something was still off to him. "Well Brook did say he had some bad news to share. I guess we have to start with that?" Sol suggested. "Yeah, we've been waiting to hear it. As if things couldn't get any worse as they already are." Lilac's tone meant to Sol that hearing what was about to come from Brook's beak wasn't the only bad thing that has happened lately to her and Sol can make a good guess as to what it was. But for the time being, everyone was ready to hear what Brook had to announce.
"Our group was told to meet up with the wielder of the Unyielding Bulgasari in the east mountainside. When we got there, we were unfortunately met with his corpse instead along with the bodies of countless other soldiers." Brook made his tone heavy, trying to tell the other people in the room the severity of the situation they were now in. "What about the axe then? Where has that gone?" Drakiel's priorities were in a different place but one look around the cathedral and anyone could see just how upset everyone was to hear what they found. Even some of the orcs who went with Brook and Aria were upset to be reminded of what happened.
"That's the thing. The axe was taken to this kingdom's capital in Ironmelt." Brook said to Drakiel. "It's this kingdom's natural law that if the axe's previous wielder were to fall in battle or retire, orcs will fight in a tournament to compete and see who will win the axe in Altem's honor." Aria added on. "So I guess we have to watch a bunch of orcs brawl it out before we can make any real plans then?" Lilac asked. "Yeah, we're basically stuck until we do that." Brook confirmed it. "Who killed them, the orcs in the mountainside?" Sol desperately wanted to know. "Who else? We suspect that it was either Mithra or Amon but... we have a good feeling that it was most likely Amon." As Brook answered his question, Sol wished he hadn't asked. "Well there you have it Sol. Do you still think we can save him?" Crystal looked at her brother sincerely. "We don't know for certain yet that it was him. Let's try not to jump to any conclusions before we get all the facts straight." Sol said to her, holding onto any bit of hope that he could still save the friend he had forgotten about.
"Well we can go get our things packed again. It's a fair trek to Ironmelt so we can leave first thing in the morning." Drakiel walked off with a few dwarfs following closely behind and not wasting any time. Their plan seemed simple for now and everyone in the cathedral started to do their own thing to get ready for the next day. Lilac, however, still sat at the steps that led up to the podium looking over the entire aisle. Sol couldn't help but sit down with her since they hadn't gotten a good chance to talk about what happened in the Kingdom of Terra.
"Are you... alright?" Sol asked a simple question to Lilac, though he wasn't so sure if talking with Lilac was the best thing to do at the moment given his hesitance. "He was kind. He didn't give up on other people. He would always be there for them, even you." Lilac looked at Sol after saying that last word. Right away, Sol knew she was talking about William. "I think I can be a bit too brash at times. Even though it helps me from time to time, I solve most of my problems through violence and I was convinced at one point that I did it to protect Ella but... she isn't here right now." Sol could only listen, letting Lilac say everything that had to be said. "What do you think made William fall in love with me?" Lilac was asking a genuine question to Sol.
"Well... they do say that more often than not, opposites attract. Maybe William saw something in you that he wished he had himself, maybe he felt that with you in his life he would feel complete. Only you two would know for sure." Lilac thought about what Sol said for a moment. "We are talking about a skinny, vegan, and wimpy sounding orc." Lilac had to agree with Sol. "You said it yourself though, he was more than that. The amount of times he stuck his neck out for us in a pinch meant that he was still a true orc through and through." Sol said to her. "And there's something I could still learn from him about kindness. I feel like that's something he possessed more than I did." Lilac stood up and walked down to the cathedral's aisle. "I think we could have all learned something from him." Lilac said before joining the other knights so that they can all prepare for tomorrow.