Ryden’s POV

After Miri ran away in sheer embarrassment I made my way out of the shadow castle and headed back to the dragonian castle.

After running for what felt like an eternity I was finally able to sneak back in and luckily no one cares about my existence so no one noticed my absence, I head out of my room and decide to go and inform my mother about everything that has gone on so far, when I notice it, something is wrong here, the servants whose eyes are usually filled with mockery or scorn now seemed lifeless and empty, their steps mechanical and controlled.

I walk with more urgency entering each room looking to find the rest of the family, my mind already flashing with so many conspiracies but still never forgetting to make my steps light and presence minimal just incase and finally I see it

In the main throne room of the dragonian castle I see my family lined up in a soldier kind of stance and on the throne, I see a man with a cloak that bore the hollow thorn sigil on it, the whole castle must have been put under their spell, just when I thought Miri was overthinking things she proves to be just right in her assumptions

“Did you get everyone, we can’t afford any mistakes in the battle about to come”

Another cloak man who had just appeared from a side door said as he approached the one who sat on my fathers throne.

“Don’t worry sir, if I didn’t get everyone I wouldn’t have the audacity to stay on this chair right?”

The other cloaked man nods in acknowledgement

“Perfect the letter has been sent to the shadow royal family, they will most likely be assembling troops in order to reach No Man’s Land little will they know that their castle is the goal”

He says with a laugh

“Why not just kill them directly why do we need the girl alive and why do we need the castle intact”

“The boss didn’t say but he gave instructions and we do have to follow them”

But as I was listening some more a servant dropped a dish and drew their attention to where I had hidden myself, but before they could react much I ran.

My goal was obvious. I had to reach the shadow castle and warn the shadow family, if not I will lose the woman I love and the place I grew up in for many years.

The hollow thorns obviously didn’t want me to go so easily and has sent several warriors to pursue me, with each step I took I had to keep on an energia barrier which was draining me both mentally and physically but whenever I think of Miri, I just know I can’t stop,

But even with my strong will, my body couldn’t keep up and I was unable to redirect an attack which sent me flying forward just at the middle line of the outpost border which would lead to the shadow empire.

I struggle but am unable to stand my body feeling the weight of all I have been through these past days and bearing the force of that attack I couldn’t stop

“You are quite stubborn, we have to give you that, you would be so useful to our goal”

One of the hollow thorn soldier says as I feel him probing my head with his magic only for him to suffer a clash back and spit out a mouthful of blood

He looks back at his comrades “I can’t control him, his head seems protected”

“Well he knows too much so he has to die then” another adds in

I stand and dodge the first attack thrown my way, I feel weak both physically and through my magic so I know I could never take on five hollow thorn soldier but I still fight

Dodging attacks after attacks and despite my exhaustion I was able to bring down two but if I do continue like this I will die and then an idea comes into my head.

I channel all my remaining energia and use it to guard all my vitals, I learnt this skill from Miri, doing this will make it look to an enemy that I have depleted my magic and any attack thrown would make me lose consciousness for about ten minutes and appear dead without any breath, but if I do this I would wake up soon after and even regain some of my energy back so I take the gamble.

The hollow thorn soldiers throw one more lethal attack at me but instead of dodging I allow it to hit me, make it look like a clumsy misstep and take a fall.

As I hit the ground my head spins, my mouth fills with blood as my vision blurs and with one final bout of coughing I lose consciousness.

But instead of darkness I feel as if I am floating out of my body, I hear their voices and conversations but can’t even hear the sound of my own heart beating anymore,

“Is he dead” one of the soldiers ask

“He isn’t breathing and his heart has stopped” another replied

“Good then, that’s his own misfortune, leave his body here to rot, no need to give ourselves the work of carrying back a corpse” I hear the final one say as their footsteps seem to fade.

I count down the minutes that should be left for me to be able to get back up and like clockwork once the tenth minute mark clocked I wake up and take a deep breath as I feel my own heart come back to life and my body feel replenished with mana I had previously lost during that fruitless battle,

I stand and head for the shadow castle once more but as I arrive I notice the shadow guards stationed everywhere, the guard patrol around and the gates are locked, I head up to the gate and beat on it,

“Who is there, state your name and purpose?” One shadow soldier asks me from the still locked gate

“I am Ryden, one of the princes of the dragonian empire and the former hostage prince of the shadow empire” I yell back adding that last part, to add priority as everyone in the empire knows that the shadow family was always good to the dragonian hostage.

“We have orders from the royal family not to let anyone of non shadow descent to enter no matter what, so as much as I and every other soldier here knows that they value you, we cannot let you in”

I stare at the locked gate

“Then you shall have to take me as a prisoner” I say before using my dragonian strength to hit the gates repeatedly in an attempt to break it down

“Prince ryden the royal family has always been good to you, if you break down our defenses wouldn’t that be repaying goodness with evil” one of the guards yells to me

“I have information that I must pass on to the royal family, if I do not tell them, that will be the real sin that I have committed, I understand your fears but I have to disregard them cause this matter is of utmost importance!!” I yell back to the stunned guards and before I can continue someone yells at them to open the gates for me.

I look to see it was one of general Rehn direct subordinates that have given the order

Upon entering I ask why and he simply tells me that my eyes show that I am not controlled

He leads me through the guards that are seriously patrolling the streets and into the castle where a maid informs us that the royal family are in the private throne room

But before anything more can be said I barge into the private throne room as all heads turn to me and all conversation die down

All the princes get on guard instantly as if ready to attack if I show even the littlest sign of being controlled but before anymore can be done Miri pushes them away

“I used my powers to protect Ryden’s brain, he can’t be controlled by hollow thorn, no need to be so unguard”

She comes to my side pulls me inside and shuts the door to the private throne room after giving a small nod to the soldier who had guided me in,

Once I sit down tarin tells me instantly “we have received a war letter from the hollow alliance”

“Hollow alliance?” I ask, confused

“Yes that is what the hollow thorns and the rest of every empire are calling themselves” rian answers for tarin

“Basically it’s every empire against us” alira adds

“Well I have more news to tell, that would make this already bad situation seem worse” I say as I look at the grim faces of the people who have become my true family.

“Speak ryden, no matter how bad. We need every single information that would help us make the right decision on how to proceed with the situation at hand” the king tells me

“Your initial plan was to gather as much troops as you can and lead them to No Man’s Land for the battle and knowing how protective you all are, you would have asked Miri and Alira to stay and knowing how stubborn they are they would have insisted on going, you would have ended up leaving one prince within the castle and head for No Man’s Land at the earliest convenience, am I right?”

They simply all nod knowing I am saying the truth but deciding not to interrupt me

“Well the whole dragonian empire has been conquered by the hollow thorn and I heard them say that, they have three goals to accomplish in this attack”

“Firstly they need to annihilate the shadow empire who they cannot control”

“Secondly, For reasons I do not know they want to take over the shadow castle and lastly they want to capture Miri alive” everyone tenses up at my final words

“I was unable to learn about their reasoning for the castle and I can vaguely guess why they want Miri”

Torven speak up next

“It must be the will of Dravin, he must want Miri, that demon is really up to nothing good” and everyone agrees with what he says

“We need to make a battle plan, we do have two wars to fight, don’t we?” I tell them in order to remind them that the situation at hand is more serious than their personal hate against Draven.