Third Person’s POV (12 yrs. and 8 months old)
The group walked inside and were met with darkness for a short while before clearing. They were greeted by a place full of mountain lions. ‘Wow, the sun is visible in the sky, it’s like a valley on its own but on a mountain? Wonder how wide this place is and how they built it.’
The inside of the mountain almost looking like a mini valley with its hollow interior, with holes at the ceiling to let light in, adorned with many trees around the area, even finding that the foundations are sturdy with Ken’s scanning skill.
‘Impressive.’ The wind caressing his face, lulling him to sleep.
“Oi! Ken! Wake up!”
“Wah! Huh?”
“You were standing asleep dude.” said Wilbert as he chuckled.
“I did?” Ken tilts to the side, he wanted to complain, but decides against it, not that he could do so. A thought entered his mind, tempting him to sneak around.
“Ken, you better stop right there.” he abruptly stop and turn around, a cheeky smile on his face.
“No, you are not going anywhere not until we have met and paid respect to his majesty.” said Coralia as she stood beside Wilbert, ‘Awww, how does she know I want to go explore right away?’ Ken pouts.
“Okay, but can I do so later?”
“You can.” Ken jumps in joy.
“YAY! Then, let’s get this over with.” The group walks further into the place and about twenty meters forward they’re greeted with an elevated rock with lions around it, with the King present, at the top.
“Ahh, our guests have arrived.” said the King as he stood up and walked down the rock and met his guests halfway with his two lion warriors, the warriors whom the group recognizes. “Thank you for accepting our request.”
“You’re welcome your majesty.” said Trunk as he and Coralia bowed to him, Ken stare wide eyed at his Uncle. “What do you request of us your majesty that had you in an urgent pace?” Trunk asks.
‘I am completely speechless right now.’ gaping still. ‘NOTICE MY BLATANT STARING UNCLE!’ the other turned to glance, Ken composed himself instantly, he returned staring once his uncle turned around, and slowly glaring daggers at his back.
“Our request is simple, the time of the year has come for one of the demon gates to open.” said the King. ‘Demon gates? We have that here?’
“The Lion Kingdom’s Military force is already strong is it not?” Coralia asks. ‘What’s a demon gate? Why do we have that here?’
‘You know they can’t here you right’ -White-
‘Mm *nod*, teheee.’
“I’m afraid our forces has been stretched thin for we had unexpectedly encountered many gates opening simultaneously.” said the King, he stepped backwards and summoned an- ‘OOOOHHHHHHH a map using the earth, and it shows a wide map of the valley too!’
‘Oh, the exquisite detail almost 3d like. That’s so cool! Gotta learn that spell.’
“As we all know, we monitor this valley as it is our rightful task to do so, and with this earth artifact, we are able watch over the anomalies happening everywhere in the valley.” The King then shifted the map to show locations, showing three, the locations where the gates must have opened, with the swirling sand and all.
“But the monsters coming out of these gates are far stronger than what we’ve faced in the past, so we decided to ask for your help.” said the King, Trunk and Coralia nodded. ‘Have I encountered one of those monsters in the past?’
‘To answer your question, yes, yes you have.’ -White-
‘When?’
‘Remember that time when you were fighting a pack of wolves?’ -White-
‘I remember. It was four years ago.’
‘Well, those wolves you fought weren’t normal wolves, they were touched by a chaotic energy, only faint, maybe that’s why you weren’t able to notice it back then.’ -White-
‘Ahh, what kind of chaotic energy?’
‘We’ll talk about this later once you’re assigned with the task.’ -White-
Ken nods mentally. Meanwhile, a question bogged his thoughts. Deciding to let it go before it gets him distracted. Back to the conversation.
“The tasks I will be giving you are, to wipe out all the monsters on a specific demon gate I will be assigning your group to, and make sure that no one leaves the place until the gate closes, then report back to me.” said the King, the group nodded and formed a cir-
“By the way, who was it that was using spells on the way here?” The group all turned to look at Ken. Busted. “Ahh, it was you my boy, I admire the part that you want to practice your spells at any given time but do use them relatively lesser, the citizens were anxious of the magic fluctuations in the air.”
“Ah, hehe, I apologize your majesty.” he say and bowed, the King nodded and looked back at the guardians.
“The gate that I will be assigning your group is at the territory near the Nature Deers, I’ll have one of our scouts escort you to the location.” He says and walks back and conversed with his two warriors with their plan, giddy for action, Ken started coming up of plans with himself.
“That reminds me, Auntie, Uncle! Are the Lions living here at this mountain the ones we passed on the first day we met you guys?” Ken asks.
“Not exactly, those group of Lions were just a fraction of their whole population, they were just at our territory because they were making their home bigger, which is where we are at now.” said Coralia.
“I hope we’d get to meet those nature deers in the past again.” said Celine who positioned herself beside Ken.
“And those lava wolves too.” added Wilbert.
“Anyway, Guardian Coralia, Guardian Trunk, what shall we do now?” asked Princess Lang.
“We wait for the scout to arrive and from then on we’ll be on our way.” replied Trunk, Princess Lang nodded and conversed with Lila at the side.
“Can we sit down while we wait? My feet are killing me.” The group chuckled at Icarus’s remark, so they sat at the shade of a nearby tree on the soft grass.
The group immersed themselves in small talk while waiting.
“Are you guys familiar with demon gates?” asked Flin, that got their interest.
“Nope.” -Allen-
“No.” -Saber, Lila, Celine, Wilbert-
“Mm M! *Shakes head*” said Ken and Glen, both chuckled at one another. Icarus shrugged.
“I have a little bit of knowledge regarding that, why?” said Princess Lang. Flin played with his fingers for a bit.
“Well, the demon realm is what you would call the opposite of the spirit realm, it’s just that, this is my first time hearing the demon gate opening on this realm, for in my knowledge only we can open gates to other realms, and demon realm fares no other.” Flin explained.
“That might be so, but other phenomenons have been happening on this valley for quite some time now, and the demon gates opening are no better, only this time, like what the King said, the monsters that poured out are far stronger ones than before.” explained Trunk.
“Oh, okay.” said Flin timidly. Ken felt bothered, the boy looked troubled for some reason.
“Anyway, first things first, we must create a battle plan to tackle our situation effectively, Ken, would you mind taking the lead?” said Saber. Saber getting all serious if they’re stuck doing nothing, especially on missions, he doesn’t like wasting time.
“Okay, like in the past, we’ll have Glen and Wilbert take the guard as they can take much damage from the enemy, while the rest provide them support from the back, rear or at the trees, summing up to three teams, which I’ll call as frontlines, support and backliners.
But since we have new members on the team, I’d like to add Icarus on Glen’s team the frontlines, Flin and Riyah, on the support team, and Princess Lang on the backliners, is that okay with you guys?” The four nodded. “Good, Uncle, Auntie, would you like to join the teams as well?” Ken asks.
“We’ll step out on the first part or so, and provide assistance when needed.” said Trunk, Coralia nodded at him.
“Okay, Now the teams will be, for the frontline team, Glen, Wilbert, and Icarus, for the support team, Saber, Lila, Celine, Flin and Riyah, and for the backline team, Me, Princes Lang and Allen. If you have any questions feel free to ask them within your group, and make sure to appoint a team leader.” Ken finish and the people then dispersed to form three circles of the corresponding teams.
“Ken, what do you mean by us being at the backline?” Princess Lang asks, as she, Allen and Ken sit down on the grass in a circle, if one could even call this a circle.
“Our main purpose would be to dish out long range spells from a distance and helping out our supports when needed be, since we’re all versatile and can switch from long-range to short-range combat easily.” Ken explain, the Princess nodded.
“Is Allen like that?” asked Princess Lang.
“Hey, despite using mostly long-range spells I can do hand-to-hand combat too.” said Allen grumpily.
“He’s right, you would be surprised to witness him fight hand-to-hand combat.” Ken reply, smilingly amused at the situation.
“How come I haven’t seen it before?” she asks, further deepening Allen’s frown.
“Well it’s either you didn’t get to witness him fight since you arrived late or left early, his fights tend to last half an hour or an hour so.” Ken said, the Princess nodded, while he could not paint what Allen’s face is at the moment, annoyance? Anger? Or maybe just annoyance.
It’s almost lunch, and the group hasn’t prepared something to eat.
“Hey guys, let’s prepare our food for lunch!” Ken call out as they nodded and stood up to do their part in preparing food, one thing he’s come to love at being the group’s chef is that they all comply to his wishes when it comes to food, who wouldn’t love his recipes.
‘They are top notch and the plate is always empty from being gobbled whole, did I mention that I’ve become the chef now? Oh wait, I just did.’
‘Lowkey bragging there, I see.’ Ken ignored the voice beside him, but inside he was pouting, to which White chuckled. This teen-child.
“That won’t be necessary.” said a voice, the group turn to look as a lioness approached. “Please follow this humble servant to his majesty’s dining hall.”
They all glanced at one another before settling at their two guardians, they eventually nodded signaling that they won’t be cooking for themselves.
“Please, lead the way.” The group walked back to where the elevated rock is at, to the back where they’re met with hundreds of lions eating a feast, there are fruits, vegetables, and all other kinds of fruits, and raw meat, laid on elevated rock platforms, well so much for a mountain of lions.
Everyone had lunch with the lions and… let’s just say that it was a disaster but funny at the same time, since, not all are acquainted with the fact of eating while seating on the ground, lucky for them, Ken cooked the raw meat they were given.
The sound of chatter filling the air.
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