For the first time Darius couldn"t help but smile, but unfortunately this was short lived as his smile soon turned to pure terror at the sight of another sphere coming hurtling towards them at immense speeds. Darius felt like he had already cheated death three times that day and he wasn"t quite sure if he could accomplish this feat a fourth time. As the two spheres came speeding towards each other neither one of them even came close to slowing down. As Darius thought that this time it would surely be the end for him their taxi suddenly slid around the track line (I say line because it was literally just a single rail line suspended by G.o.d knows what.) and was now traveling upside down. Darius looked around and realized much to his relief that they weren"t falling to a grizzly demise.Although Lionel was quite understanding, he still couldn"t help himself but laugh hysterically at his companion"s child like wonder. Due to its spherical shape the inside of the sphere was gyroscopically stable thus they had managed to stay completely upright inside even though the sphere itself was hanging under the track line.
Darius was finally broken out of his amazed stupor by the sound of Lionel laughing his a.s.s off. He immediately felt embarra.s.sed and so returned to his usual expressionless gaze.
"I apologize if I offended you, it"s just I"ve never seen someone this excited about a taxi before." Although Darius" expression had not changed, Lionel could tell that his apology had been accepted.
"Thank you." the sound of Darius" meek voice came as an unexpected surprise to Lionel.
"For what?" he replied
"For saving my life, I never thanked you, so I"m doing it now." answered Darius in a slightly more confident tone.
Lionel could have sworn he had almost seen the corner of Darius" mouth curl twist up as if he was about to smile again.
"Don"t sweat it, in fact I"m the one who should be thanking you." the slightly confused look on Darius" face told Lionel that he clearly didn"t know what he was talking about.
As Lionel was about to speak the taxi shot straight down and drastically began to lose speed. Finally it came to a halt outside a grand restaurant.
A blue light flashed three times and the taxi cab dinged, signaling they had arrived at their destination. As the hatch appeared again it popped out of the sphere and and once more created a flight of stairs. Lionel being closer to the hatch was the first to leave and descend down the hovering stairs.
As Darius got out he noticed a large, golden dragon that was placed beside the path to the entrance. Although it wasn"t a real dragon, it moved as if it were alive.
Two incredibly beautiful female attendants had been stationed just outside the main entrance. As soon as they saw the prince they immediately rushed up to greet him. "Prince Lionel, your taxi notified us of your arrival and everything is ready for you. I am Mara, this is Kim and we have the honor of being your hostesses tonight." said one of the attendants in a soft, beautiful voice.
"Perfect." replied Lionel. "Ladies, this is my friend...?" Lionel turned to look at Darius, waiting on his response. Darius however had been too busy gawking at the two hostesses and hadn"t realized it was his turn to speak until he noticed that everyone was looking at him. This quickly jolted him back to reality as he said, somewhat dreamily, "Err, Omen, my name is Darius Omen."
"Darius Omen? Interesting..." Darius could tell several thoughts were going through the prince"s head but he wouldn"t reveal what. It was obvious to Darius that this man was a prince from the incident with the young n.o.bles, but there was something about him that just seemed different. Of course he wasn"t as snooty as the other n.o.bles, but still Darius felt uncomfortable.
The two hostess" scrutinized Darius for a moment and it was obvious that they had both been thinking the same thing; just what was prince Lionel doing with someone like this?
Lionel on the other hand took no notice and simply said, "Well then, Darius, shall we?" he gestured to the entrance with his hand and they both walked slowly down the path into the restaurant. The hostesses relieved Darius of his duffle bag but he refused when two male attendants tried to take his hammer. They all had the same look of "Who just carries a hammer around with them like that?"
As they entered the restaurant, it was clear to Darius just why Lionel had taken his hat and scarf, no matter where he went, the prince was just naturally a magnet for attention. As they walked through the packed restaurant everyone immediately turned their attention to him, one man even began to choke on his food when he saw that prince Lionel had just walked in.
Lionel walked as fast as possible to his usual secluded booth, placed at the back where no one would be able to see him.
Darius hadn"t eaten in quite a while now and the smell of good food permeated throughout the air. He hadn"t noticed just how hungry he was until now.
Finally they reached the princes royal VIP booth, he was a regular at that restaurant and the booth was for his sole use. It was large and s.p.a.cious, lavishly decorated. The large table in the middle of it was covered in all sorts of food. Lionel gestured to Darius to take a seat. Darius now felt like he was starving and couldn"t wait to begin eating. He placed his hammer against the wall and sat down. Despite the fact that Darius knew Lionel"s ident.i.ty as a n.o.ble, he felt quite relaxed in front of him, so he didn"t mind showing his true self. Contrary to what one might expect, this only made Lionel feel more at ease.
The hostess" slowly closed the doors and walked of somewhere.
"Before we begin please allow me to introduce myself, as you have probably already heard I am prince Lionel Farline the third, my father is Emperor Lionel Farline the second. I am Lord over the province of Sahid." Was both a city and a province. When royalty reached a certain level they would have a province placed under their jurisdiction, although in some cases such as this one the running of the provinces was done mainly by Dukes.
Darius wasn"t sure how to reply, so he allowed the prince to continue; "You, my friend, have something I want, you have no idea Just how hard I"ve been looking for someone like you."
"What are you talking about?" Darius asked, not quite sure where this was going.
"Look, Darius, there is something I need you to do for me. I would do it myself but, quite frankly I don"t feel like it, and I haven"t got the time for such things anyway.
"What do you need?" Darius started feeling quite uncomfortable again.
Lionel stared at Darius again for a few moments before speaking, "You see, Darius, in order for n.o.bles to be in a position to take control of and inherit our parents respective t.i.tles and in my case, the role of emperor of North and East of the continent, there is a certain examination we are forced to undergo. This is done to ensure that the heir is fit to inherit their parents legacy. I personally think it"s ridiculous and like I said, have no time for such. Which is why I want to have you take the test in my stead."
Darius thought over what Lionel had just said for a moment and frowned slightly before asking, "Wait, how can I take this test for you? Aren"t you the one who has to do it?"
"Well normally you would be quite right but i managed to find a loop hole, a way which allows me to be able to get a subst.i.tute to fill in for me."
"How is that?"
"Well I don"t want to bore you with the specific so here is the short of it. When it comes time for a n.o.ble to undergo the examination, they send letters to each n.o.ble house with the qualifications needed to take the examination inside it. I have found a way to be able to send give someone else these qualifications in order for them to take the test for me. But there is just one catch; the transaction of qualifications can only be done between two n.o.bles. Meaning both parties must be of n.o.ble blood."
The prince, who was sitting opposite Darius on the other side of the booth leaned in and said, "Darius, I"m not sure if you know this, but you tested positive. n.o.ble blood runs through you veins as well as mine."
Darius was speechless, he had no idea what to say. He knew his father had been a village chief but that had been it, certainly not a n.o.ble. "There must be some kind of mistake-"
"There is no mistake, Darius." Lionel cut in, "I tested you as you came off the bus, you were positive for being n.o.bility."