Chapter 2 - The Prince's First Defiance
Suddenly, a young man swung his eyes open with anger and unknowingly released a force that shattered his bed to pieces.
Then he immediately looked around him in shock and discovered that he was in the room that he lived in at the age of twenty.
The door suddenly opened to reveal a fifteen year old girl who looked shocked and confused. She walked in with a puzzled and concerned look on her face.
"Brother, are you okay?" She asked, her voice warm and gentle, unlike the determined, brave and spiritful voice of a strong and tyrannical female warrior that she once had, which was what Vhelgarr could remember before departing for the forbidden legacy cave.
Still shocked and confused at the sudden turn of events, he said, but in a stuttering manner, "I... I... I am fine, sis."
Nailah looked at him strangely and further pressed with her question, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am fine. Just had a little nightmare. That's all. But I am fine. No need to be worried over nothing." Vhelgarr said and forced a smile.
"Hmm. If you say so." Nailah said and turned around to leave the room.
Once she left, Vhelgarr shook his head. He had tried hard not to lunge towards her and give her the biggest hug of her life.
Strongly exhaling and thanking himself for restraining his surging emotions of joy and happiness, as he could have given way to the seed of curiosity to germinate within his bright and investigative little sister, he looked around once again in total shock, unable to understand what had happened.
Then he suddenly caught sight of a full-body mirror hung on a wall of the room and immediately walked towards it.
Now gazing at his reflection, he sighed and said in a confused tone, "Did I travel to the past? Or I got reincarnated? It definitely can't be reincarnation. Such concept doesn't even exist."
"I guess I was taken back to the past."
"But what force was at play? What force returned my consciousness to my twenty-year old body, and for what reason? I guess I would have a great price to pay for that in the distant future."
"Well, it's all good, since I still retain the memories that I painstakingly gathered for more than ten thousand years in the White Chamber of Xielgorthaa." Vhelgarr uttered with intense light emanating from his eyes.
Inhaling strongly, he walked out of the room. His next plan was to walk to the palace. He was hoping he would see them, and not that some convoluted twist was waiting for him, or it would break him.
Clenching his fist and determining in his heart, he walked to the palace with calm but strong steps, emanating grace, royalty and power like that of a battle-hardened prince that couldn't be stopped by any force in the world.
As he walked to the palace, nodding his head at the maids that greeted him, he suddenly caught sight of seven massive floatships.
These floatships—black in color, had hundreds of glowing, small indecipherable inscriptions engraved on their surfaces, and had large, red-colored emblems at their front, spanned sixty feet in length and twenty-five feet in width. Then radiating from the bodies of these ships were streams of palpable auras that would invoke great fear and awe in anyone.
It was both a terrifying and suffocating aura that if a mundane person was to go near it, they would think that an omnipotent being resided in them. It was too strong that they would simply fall to their feet and worship the divinely being that they felt would be in, casting his powerful, disdainful gaze at them.
But it didn't do anything to Vhelgarr. Even when he was younger—at the age of twenty, he didn't feel anything before these ships, or even before their towering and intimidating owners, which were the Grand Seven Stars Envoy.
Immediately he saw the floatships, his eyes widened. Then he quickly remembered what day it was.
Quickly, he dashed to the palace, where he saw his father feeling uneasy about what the envoys were telling him. But he had to accept their demand, or it would be disastrous for his family, himself included.
"Father! Don't!" He shouted from faraway, turning a lot of shocked and heavily surprised heads in his direction.
His father, visibly annoyed by the sudden appearance and behavior of his son before an highly esteemed group of people sent by the Chadnezzar, he said with a loud and angry tone, "Son, what's the meaning of this? Where's your respect for the important dignitaries seated in front of me?"
Vhelgarr simply ignored his father's words and said with a brave and resolute tone in his teenage voice, "Father, no matter what they tell you, do not listen to them. Don't accept the Staff of Garryshem."
Shocked and bewildered at the mention of the staff that Vhelgarr shouldn't even know about, the father looked at him with a certain inexplicable gaze in his eyes and simply asked, "Why?"
"Father, I have no reason. Please, just don't accept it." Vhelgarr said, his voice becoming louder and more determined, seeming like he wouldn't stop until his father agreed to his demand.
Seeing that the atmosphere in the room was now tense, Arryhiarr, Vhelgarr's mom, immediately said with a soft and magnetizing voice to eliminate the currents of tension now crackling through the air, "Gentlemen, Great Envoys of the Red Sky Empire, please don't be annoyed at my son. He sometimes does things that are unexpected and bewildering. I beg you to forgive him."
Then she turned to look at her husband, gave him a certain look and said to the Envoys who were looking at her. With a beautiful and entrancing smile hanging down from her red-painted lips, she said gently but resolutely, "Gentlemen, we would love to think about this again."
"When we have made our final decision, we will write you. Thank you for taking your time to come to this faraway, small kingdom of ours." She said further, immediately wrapping up the conversation and giving it no leeway for it to continue.
The envoys, who knew the discussion had come to an end, immediately stood to their feet and began to walk to where their floatships were parked.
Looking at Vhelgarr who simply looked at them, without fear but respect, they turned their heads away and simply headed for their individual ships.
They were followed directly behind by their servants who gazed at Vhelgarr and wondered why he acted so weirdly.
Vhelgarr thought nothing of their scornful looks and simply made sure that he became really strong very quickly to be able to protect his family and kingdom this time around, unlike the last time where they were totally decimated.
Looking at his father who gazed angrily at him and even began to walk towards him with potent, dreadful waves of air-trembling power emanating from his bulging, veiny muscles, he knew he had to do everything to stop him from agreeing to the demand of the Envoys. He absolutely wouldn't let that happen. Not under his watch!