February 21, 2020

Hadeon:

     I’ve been on edge since yesterday when my stupid incompetent guards told me Amory had tricked them and snuck out. I pay them to make sure this exact thing never happens. Idiots! How could this happen? It has been 24 hours and still no sign of him. He’s gone.

     That ungrateful little shit. Once I get my hands on him, he will be lucky to see the light of day again. He will submit to me one way or another. Seventeen years and his mother’s influence is still as strong as it was the day she died. My only hope is that he comes into his dark magic once he ascends to his full powers. For that to happen he needs to be here, in the Dark Kingdom, with me.

     “Your Majesty, we have some news,” one of the guards came running into his office. Normally he would have incapacitated the guard for his insolence, but these were special circumstances. He will give him a break just this once.

     “Well, what is it?” I ask with my brow raised and an icy tone. “My patience is wearing thin.”

     “A shopkeeper, down an alley off the main road, saw two strangers roaming around the past few days. Yesterday, about an hour after the prince snuck off, he saw the two men talking to someone that looked a lot like the prince. He said the man that resembled the prince seemed to have fainted and the other two men carried him off.”

     “Can the shopkeeper describe the strangers?”

     “He is here, I can go ask him. Do you want me to bring him in if he says yes?”

     “Just go ahead and bring him to me. I’ll ask him and see if there is anything he left out.”

      “Yes, Your Majesty,” with a low bow the guard left to go get the shopkeeper. I have a strong suspicion that I know who has Amory. The guard enters and the middle age shopkeeper nervously follows him in. He bows low and waits for me to address him.

     “You say you saw someone, that looked like the prince, yesterday?’

     “Yes, Your Majesty,” he answers with a slight quiver of nerves in his voice.

     “Describe him.”

     “He was tall, a little shorter than you. Dark skin, Dark hair down to his shoulders, but his eyes were different. Light green, not dark. He was dressed like the humans, also.”

     “Yes, that describes my son. Can you describe the men you saw with him?”

     “Yes, Sir. One was young, around the same age as the prince. Red hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and shorter by several inches. The other man was older, fair skin, blonde hair, and darker green eyes. They were both wearing traveling cloaks over their clothes.”

     “Thank you. You have done me a great service by bringing this information to me. You may go back to your shop.”

     As soon as the man leaves, I let go of the rage I have been holding in. Everything goes flying and my screams fill the room. The guards are too scared to enter. No one comes close to the room while I demolish my office.

     I must find him. I must get him away from Aylward and the Celestial Kingdom. I have worked to hard to get him, he is mine. I will have his powers here with me. He will serve The Dark Kingdom, or he will die.