Karim, Shu, and Krum anxiously sat in their room in the Hall of Fortune and Fame, when suddenly they heard loud steps outside their door. More than half an hour had already passed, and the group had yet to return.
"We should have gone with them," Shu said with a stern expression.
"Calm down, Shushu, you don't think something serious will happen? Think about it, would our king really leave one of his princes unprotected? There's no way!" Karim said, mostly trying to calm himself.
The door to their room began to move until it opened completely. Eren and Emilia entered the room first. The latter had a deep frown on her forehead, and annoyance was written all over her face. Shu Huang noticed this, and from his position, he could slightly tilt to see outside the room into the hall. What he saw there baffled him, Bazuul and Markus smiled from ear to ear and walked toward the room, arms around their shoulders. Stunned, he readjusted his position and looked at the siblings as if a question mark.
Karim and Krum were equally shocked after the uncommon duo entered the place.
Eventually, though, the room's atmosphere calibrated with the guest their prince brought along. Both theirs and the foreign prince began drinking heavily, discussed random matters, sometimes even talked right past each other, and then began roaring in laughter, until they had too much. At some point, Markus even openly wept and apologized for his behavior early while hugging Bazuul. Thrown off by this scene, the lot inside the room was shocked. After all, earlier, when Markus was on his knees after the duel, his shoulders were still high enough for Bazuul to lean on as if it was a counter in a bar. Seeing such a big and burly teenager hug Bazuul, accompanied by the occasional tremors caused by his sobs, almost looked an avalanche of muscles and meat had consumed their prince.
Bazuul, on the other hand, was overcome by a mix of emotions. For one, he was slightly annoyed by being touched and the wetness the other exuded, but he was also amused by it. It seemed accurate that big muscle-heads were incredibly soft-hearted teddy bears.
The door to the room was knocked, and an attendant of the Hall of Fortune of Fame entered. He excused this disturbance and told Bazuul that his father had sent an escort for him; apparently, he was to return the castle at once. Bazuul frowned when he heard this. Usually, his father would have the patience to wait, but to even send an escort, there must be an important matter his father had to discuss with him. Bazuul then took his leave and exited the building of the auction house, outside stood an escort of six guards at the ready. The darkness had already overtaken the city, as such, it was even colder than the snow-covered day, but they returned to the castle after a while. Bazuul hoped this matter would settle quickly, now that the alcohol-level started to decrease, he suddenly got in the mood for a bath and his bed.
Bazuul entered the throne room and saw a robed figure stand below the throne where his father sat.
"Son, come here. A distinguished figure traveled far to meet you." The king said.
Bazuul walked up and saw that his father's expression appeared stern on the outside, but he knew the king was rather relaxed. The fact that an apparently distinguished figure in robes came to meet him piqued his interest. "A little sooner than I calculated." He thought to himself. He could already guess that person's identity through several things. First would obviously be the robe, but far more intriguing was the fact that the person appeared to be alone, yet Bazuul could detect about five other individuals in some form of stealth. For a second, he felt like teasing his guest slightly but refrained from it. He thought that it was more advantageous to him if the other would not know he was aware of the other guests.
"Ah, you've arrived about a month earlier than I expected," Bazuul said with a friendly smile on his face.
"Ahai, young prince! It seems Elder Darwinius' description of you is indeed correct, quick-witted, and a glib tongue." The robed figure greeted, put out his hand, and said, "My name is Rion Ebonwillow, sixth master of the fourth circle in Atlantis." Bazuul shook his hand and also introduced himself. The man looked about the same age he was on Earth. On the other hand, his green eyes, and the way the light reflected in it also meant that he could be about fifty. As his name indicated, his hair was black and rather long. The only other feature that stuck out was his crooked nose.
His introduction itself also held some impact, as he introduced himself as the sixth master of the fourth cycle. Even his father, King Varanur, twitched slightly when he heard this as he himself had not seen a master-level mage. The highest he had seen so far was someone of the grand elder rank. Now, not much was known about the inner workings of the island state Atlantis, but when one considered that this was the first time an almost two-century-old king saw a magician of such rank, proved how incredulous this meeting was.
"The lines you spoke then, they went along the lines of, "Thou, O man, art thy brother's helper. Let him not lie in the bondage of night.
Now unto thee, I give my magic. Take it and dwell on the pathway of Light.
Light unto thee, Life unto thee, Sun may thou be on the cycle above..." weren't they? If I may ask, where did you hear about that saying?"
Rion Ebonwillow asked as he quoted the lines cited to the abbey's elder, Darwinius by Bazuul.
Bazuul looked at the magician for a while before he said something. This question was, after all, quite strenuous for him to answer. He couldn't just go and say he read this line once in a book about Atlantis in a different world.
"I'm not quite sure myself, but I think it is a line that appeared in a dream. In it was an old man that claimed to come from Atlantis..." Bazuul fabricated a dream and explained it in detail for about fifteen minutes. "Seeing someone with ties to Atlantis at a most inopportune time sprouted intentions to use these lines as a sort of bluff and buy some time. Although I hoped for more time, it did work, didn't it?" He added which followed a laugh. Rion had not said anything for a while, as he seemed quite suspicious of the story this young prince had told him. In fact, if his lord had not shown such interest in these lines, he would most likely believe the tale. "What is it you want to know about my supposed death and resurrection?" Bazuul asked with a calm but rather flat tone.
This caught the master-magician off-guard. For a second, he wasn't even sure what the young prince had meant. A light smile lit up his face, and Rion Ebonwillow's friendly voice rose again after he had cast off all previous doubt, "No, that's not it! Who cares about old matters such as this. No. The lord of the fourth cycle has found quite some interest in these lines you call a bluff. He wishes to invite you to his home for further discussions about this matter over a cup of tea. I hope you understand what it means for an outsider to be invited behind the gates of our beloved Atlantis. To the abode of a lord no less."