We arrived in Tordis quicker - as Nate had planned - by only taking a few breaks and traveling the whole night. Looking at Ace's kingdom, you could really tell that it was truly a magnificent place for the elves. The area itself already looked magical with an alternating jagged tree bark surrounding the whole area as fences. The tallest bark stood at the farthest; near the castle coming smaller and smaller as it surrounds the entire kingdom until it just stops and vanishes into the ground – didn't even make a full circle.

"This is the place where the once-great oak tree stood. It was once inhabited by the whole elven kingdom." Ren spoke behind me as if sensing my wonder regarding the tree barks. The whole way to Tordis, I took a ride with Ren since Ace was too weak to transfer on Midnight. Also, I was too scared to ride on Ace's horse. Trust me, it's like Ace and his horse buddy are one for they share that same frightening look in their eyes.

I actually did try to ride and Midnight. And guess what? The stallion snapped at me. And if that wasn't enough, it rose on it's two back legs and started chasing me. It stopped when I hid behind Cloud. Cloud simply snorted at midnight as if challenging it to proceed. It might be my imagination but I think Cloud threatened Midnight that she will drop PRINCE Ace if he attacks.

"Hang on." I told him and looked back down at Tordis. "The whole diameter of the kingdom is actually the same exact diameter of a giant tree?"

"Yes. It was said that it protected the people from evil." He answered.

"What happened?"

"It's a long story." Ren shrugged. "But to make it short; Tereau tried to invade Tordis. The tree died in trying to protect its people." He said. "I heard that little magic still exists in these barks though. They said that you can feel it when you enter Tordis."

I looked back at Tordis and pictured the enormous tree standing there and couldn't. I lack imagination with these things.

I looked back at Ace instead. He was not looking so good. Even with his usual perfect posture and stone-cold eyes, you could see weakness by the unusual paleness of his skin as he rode on Cloud. Nate was riding beside him in case he might fall while Dan was holding Midnight by his reins. Throughout our travel, Ace didn't seem to get enough rest despite our efforts into forcing him to sleep. Apparently, his PRINCE ego was too greater than his concern for his health.

While the others got too little rest, I was feeling guilty as I was able to accidentally fall asleep on Ren's chest along the ride. He only woke me up when we were now overlooking the kingdom of Tordis.

"Let's go." Nate ordered and soon we made our way to the entrance of the kingdom where the barks seemed to sink into the ground and the only entrance to the kingdom.

Once we entered did I feel a strange sensation sinking into me. It was like every nerve and muscle in my body became active until the feeling of something being cut from me settled in. I looked at the others to see if they were feeling the same, but no.

They looked lively and energized.

"You okay, Rose?" Still riding close to Ace, Nate asked as he moved a little closer to Garius but still keeping a good distance. Somehow, I noticed that Nate has been acting weird when he's with me. He often keeps his distance and would only talk to me when needed.

I shook my head and thought about what it was that I was feeling. The feeling that you lost something but you don't know what. "I don't know." I said. "I just feel...weird. How's Ace doing?" I asked quickly to divert the attention from me.

At that, we all looked at Ace to see that he had gotten a little better. Some of the colors returned to his cheeks. Somehow, I have forgotten about that strange feeling and felt relief.

Feeling satisfied that our bratty prince was alright, I started to take in my surroundings. When I said that Tordis was surrounded by trees, I don't mean it like the trees in Sanver. The trees here in Tordis –I realize – are in fact, the houses of the elven people!

Pavilion-like houses perched on top of each of the vine twisting and root curling trees. Each flooring was round with intricate designs with glass windows and several hanging crystals for decorations. The sizes of these treehouses vary to the thickness of the trees supporting their weight. Some are bigger while some are smaller.

Then I noticed something. From one of these said houses, I saw one elf with big pointy ears and long bronze hair looking at us. When it caught my gaze, it immediately hid. I blink and search around the place to see if I can find another elf. There were none.

"Stop." Ace said. We all stopped as we looked at him. Ace was sitting up tall while looking straight ahead without any emotion at all. "Lower your weapons. They're guests." All of us wore confused looks as to who Ace was addressing to since there seemed to be no one around here except for us.

Ren started sniffing the air and tensed up when figures started appearing all around us; upon the trees, behind the bushes, by the tree trunks, and some even swinging on vines. All of them are elves armed and ready for combat as they regarded us.

My eyes roamed around the elves surrounding us. They were all beautiful - both men and women. They all have the same tip-pointed ears paired with either red, white, light and dark brown, and black hair colors that are either grown short or long for both genders. The women in the group all wore skin-tight black leggings paired with either a leather brown or black fitted long-sleeved top while the men all wore riding pants and boots with army green or brown shirts.

At the sight of Ace, they all started lowering their weapons hesitantly as they studied us. One of the elves, a male with long red hair flowing behind his back, walked out of the bushes as he fearfully stood in front of Ace. "Prince Ace." The elf lowered his head as head dressed Ace, who was now on guard as he plastered on his authoritative PRINCE look. "We did not expect your arrival." Said the elf.

"I only came here to see how Tordis was doing." Ace said, which I know was a complete lie.

At that, the elf looked up at Ace with a concerned look. "We thank you for your concern, Prince. Tordis isn't doing so good."

This caused a frown on Ace's face to appear. "What do you mean?"

The elf's eyes darted towards us for a moment before looking back at Ace. "The protection of the barks is weakening. A rogue was seen entering our borders, but the palace guards managed to chase them away. Also, something has been eating our livestock and other small animals in the forest. We don't know what but we are planning on hunting it down."

Ace listened patiently as the elf talked to him. I could see that he was trying to calculate a possible solution for their problem. "Do you think that it's an animal?"

"We believe it is a snake, my prince. We've seen its tracks and we could tell that it is huge, but we couldn't find it. The forest is too big." The elf explained.

Ace nodded. "Don't hunt it because you will never find it; not when it doesn't want you to. Make it come to you by luring it with a trap. Once I get to the palace I will send in people with expertise in setting up traps to assist."

With that, the whole elf tribe bowed their heads. "Thank you, Prince." The elf said with his head lowered in respect to Ace.

"May the spirit mother guide you into becoming king." With that, the elf bid his farewell as he moved aside to let us through.

We started to head forward again and I couldn't help but look back at how different the elves were to the other kingdoms. They were all fighters and hunted their own food. I don't see shops selling goods anywhere.

It wasn't long before we now stood in front of the Tordis Palace, Ace's home. The ground was beautifully cut grass with flowers blooming everywhere that changes colors when the temperature changes, at least that's what Ren told me. The castle was like a mixture of modern and old architectural design. There were cool glass windows decorating the palace. Strange yellow lights float around giving it a magical glow. Vines wrapped around the castle in an old, modern, and elegant look.

We descended from our horses with Nate assisting Ace while Ren and Dan tended the horses. We got closer and closer to the palace and the closer that we got, the more breathtaking it looked.

An elf palace guard came to greet us. "Welcome back, Prince Ace."

Ace nodded in acknowledgment. "Send some troops in town. Help the others about the situation. Call in our best trappers." He told the elf just before he left.

"Ace?" A voice came somewhere in the forest to our left and we saw another elf. This one was unlike the other elf that we saw. He was dressed for combat but his attire looked more expensive and sturdier than the others. He wore a black shirt underneath a dark army green midrib coat. His black shirt was tucked in brown trousers and leather hunting boots. His hair was a shaggy golden brown and his ears were accessorized by a silver ear cuff. The elf walked closer. "Brother, is that you?"

Brother?

"Darem."Ace said grimly and nodded his head at the one called Darem.

With that, a huge smile appeared on the elf's, Darem's, face as he ran towards Ace and engulfed him in a hug. "Baby brobie boo!! Welcome back!" He said ignoring the few curses and any of Ace's attempts to get the elf off of him. "I miss you, little bro!!"

"Get.off.of.ME!!!"Ace bellowed and was finally able to push his brother away who seemed amused and chuckled. He looked at Ace's pissed-off face. "And stop calling me little!"

"Man, is it me, or did you get a lot more moody?"

"Shut up." Ace glared.

I must admit that I have never seen him look so ticked off or lose his composure to anyone like this. It makes me want to salute his brother for doing so.

"Aw, Ace. Don't talk to me like that. Whatever you do, I am still your older brother and you will always be my wittle cute baby brother, aren't cha?" He cooed and pinched Ace's cheeks and drew back laughing before Ace grabs his hand and breaks all of his fingers.

"Knock it off, Darem!!" Ace's voice was so dangerously deep that we all know that it would only be a matter of seconds before things get messy. And by messy I mean bloody murder.

"Alright alright. I'll stop." Ace's brother said with a chuckle before looking at us and for the first time and looked surprised. "Who are they?"

"They're the other candidates for the future king of Thalia." Ace said.

A look of amazement appeared on Darem's face before it was replaced with a huge grin. "You brought friends!" He gasped. "Finally!!"He threw his hands up and I could help but notice the relief in his voice as he said it.

I snicker, making Ren follow into laughter. But we were careful not to go overboard or Ace might hear us and chop our heads off.

"They're not my friends!" Ace growled.

"Best friends then?" Darem said hopefully.

And that did it, the air that Ren was trying to keep in to hide his laughter exploded, making fart noises from his mouth. Because of that, I burst into laughter. We were laughing so hard that we started crying. We didn't stop until we heard someone clearing his throat that we remembered that we weren't alone. Ren and I immediately composed ourselves seeing as everyone was looking at us.

Nate has an unreadable expression on his face. Dan looked pleased. Ace looked like he was trying to decide on how to kill us while Darem seemed shocked and amazed as he looked at me. His jaw dropped before he looked at Ace, stuttering,

"You.....You brought a girl." He said with a mixture of awe and excitement. I noticed that he was shuffling on his feet and moved a couple of careful steps back as if he were to flee.

"Darem. Don't." Ace warned as if he already predicted what his brother is going to do.

"You brought a girl." This time when Darem said it, a huge grin appeared on his face. "You brought a girl!!" He said a bit louder and before Ace could say anything, Darem turned around and ran for the castle at lightning speed screaming, "Mom, Dad, El, Nora! Ace brought a girl!" He yelled. "He brought a girl!"