The Crimson Prince： Awakening

Michael looked to Leo with amus.e.m.e.nt. "That"s a name I wasn"t expecting to see anytime soon." His voice held no disdain nor irritation as a smile played on his lips. "You sure you don"t want to call her back?" He grabbed at his coffee in front of him. "It could be important." He blew gently at the contents within before taking a sip.

"Not as important as what we are doing." Leo put his phone back on the table before addressing the room.

Since Will"s message, Leo had gathered all of New York"s Crusade to go over strategies. He knew the gist of what was happening in Ebonhart. Will"s father had been found, Jonathan somehow had an earth affinity, and darkness had them as well as at least a hundred knights trapped within the castle. So, a normal day, huh? He thought as his eyes scanned the meeting room.

"I had hoped to wait until all of us were gathered," Leo could pretty much feel the absence of Roy, Ben, and Jacob. "But what"s happening now is too important to wait." He looked around the large room expectantly. The majority of the two hundred and fifty men and women in the room knew that if they were summoned from their patrols, it had to be something important.

"Will contacted me just moments ago with some good news, and bad news." The Prince"s adviser leaned back in his chair. "With the help of a hundred Crimson Knights and the Earth Sage, the King has been brought from the dungeon." He gave a moment for the news to sink in. Leo knew it wouldn"t be easy news to break, the fact that their king had been locked away the whole time they had thought him uncaring towards their suffering.

"Why was he in the dungeon?" It was Michael who spoke first. His rage could be seen within his wide green eyes. Leo knew it would be most difficult for Will"s uncle to hear the news, seeing as though it was the king who ordered him to protect Will in the first place.

"Most of you have heard the name Aremesis before, correct?" Leo questioned, looking around the room and saw a few confused nods. Finally, he looked at Michael, his eyes stayed unmoving as he awaited the continuation of the explanation. "Most of you know that the name Aremesis has been used by the High Adviser to the king, yet none of you have not seen this man before," he stated rather than questioning.

"There hasn"t been a High Adviser to the king," Leo continued. "Not for many generations." Even Michael seemed to take attention to the news. Leo noticed the man"s eyebrow raising within the corner of his eye as he continued to make eye contact with the rest of the group.

"I"m not so sure I can believe that," Michael disputed, abandoning his coffee and getting up from his seat. "While the king had been absent, all the formal requests as well as dispatched patrols, decrees came from the High Advisor." He paced the room within the limited s.p.a.ce in which allowed him.

"I am going to repeat the same words the Earth Sage asked a hundred men not even an hour ago," Leo said as he looked directly at Michael. "Have you ever seen the man?"

Michael was at a loss for words which Leo had to savor, not so often could one throw off the man who had been guarding Will for as long as he had. A man who had to consider every possible outcome in order to keep his nephew safe.

"There is one more shred of proof I"d like you to consider, Michael," Leo offered as his fingers traced the pattern of the ring on his right finger. "If there were a High Adviser in King Ragnos"s court," he paused, allowing a tiny bit of his gold aura to surround him, "how could you explain me?"

"There can only be one adviser to the King"s Flame," The girl Leo recognized as Chloe muttered under her breath. It seemed that some of the two hundred and fifty were educated in Crystallia"s history. I"ll have to see what else she knows later, Leo thought as he looked at the blonde-haired girl approvingly.

"Chloe is correct," Leo shifted his attention back to Michael. "There can only be one." A slight smile appeared on his lips at the thought of his favorite martial arts movie reference. "So, if I have this aura," Leo extinguished the gold from around him. "How exactly is there a High Adviser looking after Ebonhart?" He raised an eyebrow while looking around the table again. "And how exactly do none of you recall ever seeing him?"

Michael shook himself from his shock. "If he was there, how could anyone not have seen him? Just who is he?"

"That," Leo pointed at Michael. "Is the right question. If Aremesis is not the High Adviser as you all thought he was, as Michael put it, just who is he?" The question made everyone quiet. "If he truly was always there, when exactly did he insert himself within the court?"

"You raise a great point Leo," Michael said as he moved back to his seat and grabbed his coffee, a sign that he had calmed down slightly. "But what does any of this have to do with Will?" He seemed to be losing patience from the obvious stalling the adviser was doing.

"I was getting to that next," Leo waved at his friend to calm down. "Aremesis is apparently a dark energy which has trapped the king, earth sage and one hundred knights within the entryway of the castle. The king has them protected now with his aura, yet he is growing weaker by the minute. Will has sent an SOS and needs all hands on deck."

"I"m not sure what any of that means," one of the crusaders spoke out. "But it"s about time, we"ve been away from our kingdom for too long already." Many others murmured their agreements as they talked among themselves. "The prince has been without protection within a land of tyranny for long enough."

"What it means," Michael said agitatedly. "Is that we might be going up against the main source of corruption within Crystallia." He gave a stern look to the teenager. "Possibly the conduit of dark energy that corrupted Jake."

Most of the Crusade knew of Jake through whispers, talks between Bianca and Leo while they sparred in Crystallia. All of them knew him to be the leader of the corrupt army which went against Will half a week ago.

"That being said," Leo continued. "We have less than an hour to get everything prepared before we head back to Ebonhart." He raised from his seat and looked at the small company he had trained with Bianca. "It"s a battle that will put the last one to shame, make sure your prince isn"t the only one fighting this time."

The brief was over, the crusade left the room patiently and quietly. Most of them went back to their rooms to pack, others went to the courtyard to train while they still could. All of them took Leo"s words seriously, they knew their prince shouldn"t have to shoulder all of the burden within their kingdom.

While all the other crusaders filed out of the room to prepare, Leo noticed Chloe staying within her seat at the table. Her eyes rested comfortably on the two of them.

"Is there something I can help you with, Chloe?" Leo gave a half smile to the blonde girl at the other end of the table. "Most everyone else has left this room, yet you chose to stay." He looked at Michael as if to question her motive.

"Adviser Leo," Chloe rose from her seat and walked to Leo and Michael. She made a formal bow before she continued talking. "I noticed after my explanation of the king"s adviser, you looked as if you might be interested in hearing more." Leo could respect a girl who spoke without shyness or fear of reproach. He nodded to her out of grat.i.tude and allowed her to continue speaking.

"Well, the adviser dates back to the days of Cainus Ragnos, the one who held the first flame." She looked into Leo"s eyes with curiosity. "Though it seems you know more than you are willing to admit."

"Chloe," Leo gave her a knowing look. "We are close to an hour away from an all-out war against darkness to save the king for Will, If there"s a point to this discussion, please get to it." Leo looked at Michael and could almost see his patience slipping.

"As you might know," Chloe cleared her throat. "Crystallia has only been a secret to most of the world here on Earth," she looked at Michael and back to Leo, probably hoping for a little surprise at least. Leo only nodded for her to continue. "My family had stumbled upon a portal to Crystallia fifty years ago."

"So, your family was originally from Earth?" Leo was paying attention. He hadn"t heard of any immigrants between the worlds before, but it would explain the names of the settlers they had come across so far. He couldn"t imagine a family within a medieval kingdom naming their child Chloe.

Chloe nodded once again. "My grandfather was an archaeologist here in New York back in nineteen sixty. His studies were on the old tunnels that run under the city." She continued as if Leo had not interrupted her. "He came across a black door which didn"t seem to belong."

"It was a portal to Crystallia wasn"t it." Michael was the one to speak now, it seemed he had finally recovered his voice from the previously shocking news about the adviser. Leo wasn"t at all surprised that the man didn"t form his statement as a question. He knew that Michael had been close to the king, making him probably the most educated man within the room when it came to Crystallia.

"Yes," Chloe confirmed as she set her eyes on Michael. "The portal transported him to a small village outside of the kingdom of Ebonhart." She took a seat back at the table, indicating that it would be a slightly long explanation. "Even back then, the clothing that he wore made him stand out against the population of the village." Her eyebrow raised as she stared into the dark wood of the table in front of her. "As luck would have it, the Crimson Knights were there on patrol. The moment he appeared, he was sent to Ebonhart to consult with the late king, Richard."

Leo had never heard the name of Will"s grandfather before. Even though Will was a decent name for a king, Richard was a king"s name even within his own world.

"Richard was instantly taken by the idea of having another world other than his own. In some ways, they all knew, otherwise why would there be a door?" Chloe looked back at Leo, her hands fidgeting in her lap. "He then opened up Ebonhart"s library to my grandfather who studied the continent as well as history of Crystallia." She took a hopeful breath. Leo knew she was trying to get a point across. "Kind of like you are doing right now." She looked Leo in the eyes knowingly. "After working with Will"s grandfather for some time, the king grew fond of my grandfather and gave him the gift, though it didn"t manifest in the same way it did for the others he had gifted the aura to."

"So, your grandfather was the adviser to the king of that time." Leo knew there was more to learn from Chloe, but he also knew that time was limited. "Chloe, I would like it if you stayed behind for the attack."

"Shouldn"t we have all of the crusade with us when we go to Will?" Uncertainty grew within Michael. "I"m sure we are going to need the numbers."

Leo shook his head. "There"s too much that we could learn from the granddaughter of the last adviser." He breathed and sighed heavily. "I don"t think we can risk sending her until we know more about the previous advisers to the kingdom."

Michael looked as if he were about to object before Leo placed a hand on his shoulder. "We don"t have time for uncertainty Michael." He walked towards the exit of the room. "We have less than an hour to prepare a small army. You of all people know the importance of this mission." He left, leaving Michael staring at the door deep in thought.

"When did he grow up so much?" He thought aloud. It seemed as if just a day ago that Leo had appeared at the front door of his mansion with nothing but a cellphone looking for Will.

"Advisers have always been like that." Chloe said as she got up from her chair. Michael nodded. "In times of crisis, the adviser names himself." She too went to the door. "I"ll be in the library if anyone needs me."

Thirty minutes of preparation had gone by in an instant. Leo and Michael stood at the head of a small contingent of crusaders. The obsidian black door glistened in front of the adviser as he waited for any men that might have been late. With a sigh, he looked at Michael as he placed his hand on the k.n.o.b of the door. "Back into the rabbit hole." He said with a small smile as he opened the portal. "We"re coming Will," he thought as he took the first step into the darkness. "Don"t let us be too late."