King Midas aggressively tapped his fingers on his armrest as he stared down at the three kneeling men. In the middle was Guan Yu, who remained calm despite being under the scrutiny of their ruler. "How long has my daughter been gone for?" His voice echoed throughout the throne room, filling everyone with nervousness when they realized how grave this situation was.
The other guards watched intently; a few were whispering amongst themselves when this whole event escalated quite quickly. "approximately less than two hours, my lord," Titus nervously informed him, keeping his eyes forward when he explained, "I was searching for her through the entire palace, and even with the help of other knights, we could not be found anywhere." Fear crept into his voice.
Closing his eyes briefly while letting out a deep sigh of resignation, the monarch questioned him, "Was she with anyone?" Despite how relaxed he is from the outside, deep within his mind, the king was extremely terrified, worried, and angry at allowing this to happen in the first place.
Garret and Guan Yu glanced at one another before Titus spoke up once again, "Yes, she was with a boy wearing a brown robe and the princess herself, your highness," answering honestly before adding, "Is he perhaps your son as well? Your Majesty?" He inquire, only to be met with silence for the next few minutes of this high tension. The young knight called out with trepidation.
Upon opening his eyes, Midas scowled in obvious disapproval at having his daughter form an actual relationship with someone who is foreign and has been summoned from a different world. "Get her," he said in a commanding tone, while Garret nodded solemnly to obey the order, "bring them here." Turning his attention to the other warriors in front of him as he glared furiously.
"Now!"
Slamming his hand down, everyone present could sense his boiling rage inside. "Find my daughter!" His bellowed through gritted teeth in a shout of authority, "If you don't have her within the hour, the summoned heroes will have public execution; is that understood?" He threatened them with his furious gaze, "NOW GO!" Roared loudly towards them as all three men stood up and bowed respectfully before calmly exiting the throne room swiftly.
After leaving the throne room, the three stood outside of the entrance with a disbelief expression on their faces. "I never seen him this angry before..." Garret said aloud for others to hear as Titus agreed with his statement, "I'm getting a bad feeling from this." Stating in a suspicious manner the strange occurrence of the princess having run away with the boy.
Frowning upon hearing what the king had said, Guan Yu stroked his beard in contemplation. "Execution?" He understood the man's anger and blame towards them, although he isn't too keen when it has to involve children, especially when it comes to Seth and Billy. "This isn't good." He muttered under breath while glancing upwards at the ceiling for awhile before looking back at his allies.
"What are you waiting for?" Garret urged them to go with an annoyed expression: "We have orders from the king, and it's our job to carry them out regardless of the consequences." He told him before walking past Titus as he headed towards the hallway.
Guan Yu quietly nodded before they followed in suit, moving through several hallways and doors that lead to different rooms until, finally, they exited the castle by taking a long set of stairs that led them down a tunnel leading to the outside world.
As the three left the darkened place with little light coming in, the general now has the chance to see what lies beyond the castle, noticing how the right and left paths from where he was standing have become different paths that lead to their respective towns, and the only way forward was through the center.
Massive Renaissance city filled with crowds of civilians with many different kinds of buildings, some of which have tall buildings above them. After entering through the bridge, it would take awhile for him to even navigate through these maze-like roads due to how intricate the architecture is.
They stood in the open area, where he was amazed at the view of this bustling city where there are numerous people, with merchants shouting loudly at each other and the interesting clothing everyone is wearing that is far more rich compared to his world.
"This is going to take awhile," Titus sighed loudly before gesturing for Guan Yu and Garret to follow him. "Come on, it'll take longer to search the Heartland if we stand here and dawdle," urging the both of them to hurry along while passing through a crowd of bystanders with some curious stares at the foreign warrior.
Noticing that his attire is unlike theirs, people around here gave him a wide berth of distance due to his size and height, along with being a complete stranger among them, as the two others wearing knight uniforms beside him weren't enough to lower the tension altogether.
Traveling throughout the crowded city streets filled with noise of citizens shopping or talking among one another with the occasional sound of horse-drawn carriages passed by slowly but surely while a few others were standing around waiting patiently for someone to come or simply being idle as they observed their surroundings.
To say he was impressed by this strange land is an understatement; despite being used to living in empires where there are great buildings, temples, and many more, none compare to what he is seeing right now in front of his eyes in this place.
The streets weren't dirty nor unhygienic; its people were dressed finely, except for some who were seemingly poor and wearing ragged clothing, while their buildings were unique, colorful, and beautiful, as their design almost reminded him of the eastern kingdoms he used to travel to with his lord during his youth.
Its a shame they cannot enjoy the beauty of this wondrous sight; they have a duty to fulfill after all, and that is to find the princess before anything else that may or may not result in tragedy for them. Strolling through the town market, the three men observed every corner of the area to find them, occasionally asking questions to nearby civilians about whether they'd seen them or not.
Some shook their heads, others said no, and most of them ignored them. Guan Yu, however, kept his eyes peeled for any signs that might lead to a clue for where Seth and Cinder could've possibly gone while also being mindful of not offending anyone.
From what he could remember, the boy isn't particularly social, and he most likely avoids people unless absolutely necessary. For the child to openly hang around with the princess, it must mean something important that is out of ordinary circumstances.
"Perhaps they are friends?"
It would make sense when the princess is polite to them and Seth does respond back quite fondly despite their differences in personalities: "If that's true, then things might become more harder than it appears." The general idea of how he should handle finding them when dealing with royalty is a delicate matter in itself.
Not only would he have to bring them back safely, but he would also have to report to King Midas about what happened during their adventures, including his interaction with them as well, which is understandable since the monarch cares greatly for his daughter.
He would be troubled if his child were missing, though, in reality, Seth and Cinder aren't entirely missing. They are just being searched for by a few individuals, which is bound to cause problems for everyone involved in this whole situation. "Finding them would be more difficult than it seems," he admitted to himself when his thoughts became more pessimistic over time. "Hopefully they're safe."
And yet, he wonders if the girl was responsible for this mess, seeing that it is possible for curious children to go outside their comfort zone to check out new sights without proper supervision from their parents or guardians, who are usually responsible for looking after them.
Maybe that is why she left because the princess was likely locked up in her home for nearly her entire life; although this is simply a guess and nothing to jump to conclusions at for the time being, He and his two companions continued on their mission to find them, heading towards different sections until, eventually, one of them gave up.
"I don't think they are even here," Titus commented with heavy breaths and sweat dripping down his forehead after the three stood in a circle close to each other. "Maybe it's best we head to different districts instead?" Offering suggestions that conflicted with their current goal of searching the capital city, "What do you think, Guan Yu?"
Placing his hand over his own mouth, he stared down at his feet with ideas popping inside his head before lifting it up to address his partners: "We should split up; this will increase the chances of finding them," proposing a better strategy for them; "Garret will stay in this district while you head to another one, understood?" He said this to the young knight and the older man.
Titus agreed to this, seeing as he was tired from all the walking and sweating like mad. "Fine by me," he said breathlessly, finally taking deep breaths after all that effort spent. The plan is simple enough to work; all they have to do now is get back on track and find the princess and her new friend.
This left Guan Yu in his lonesome as he set foot in unknown territory, traveling through unfamiliar streets filled with people and wondering how to start the search.
They have searched every corner of this city, and neither of them has yet found them. The worst part is how huge everything is, so it's very easy to become lost or accidentally enter somewhere they shouldn't. "Where could those children be?" He pondered to himself, still moving alone among a group of people who were busy doing their own thing.
Guan Yu had no idea where exactly he was going or what to expect in this metropolis, but he knew he must keep pressing onwards since it was his responsibility to locate them. "That boy..." His mind drifted into worry: "What has he gotten himself into?" Fear creeps within his chest as he continues striding across the city square.
Heading towards the plaza, he noticed a circle of people keeping their distance from someone or something, making him curious to investigate further into what this commotion was about. People were gathered around like animals, watching a dogfight happen between their very own eyes.
Thanks to his height, he got close enough from behind to see what the fuss was about, showing a dead, obese man laying front on the pavement with Billy holding his smoking out of the revolver's barrel and facing upwards in the heavens above, where the blood pooled underneath a hole in the man's back skull that appeared to be from the bullet as brains spattered across the stone ground.
Shocked expressions filled with horror came across their faces; everyone looked horrified and scared out of their wits, while others whispered among themselves as well in this tense atmosphere. But his focus was now on the princess, Cinder, who was lying unconscious with bruises all over her face and blood drying around her nostrils and lips as he gasped in concern for this young girl.
Gently pushing them aside to reach them, he swiftly walked up to them while Seth was sitting with his arms wrapped around his crossed legs, head buried between his knees, with a sorrowful expression that screamed out of grief, guilt, and despair at losing a person he cared deeply for.
"What happened?"
Guan Yu's calm but firm and loud tone alerted Billy, who raised his gun in defense, aiming directly at him until realizing who he was and lowering back down to Holster, "Are you children okay?" Concern was written all over his face when he approached the girl, kneeling down to check on her pulse.
"Yep," Billy said as he walked to his side before giving a glance from behind, seeing the pathetic nerd that is Seth crying silently and hugging himself out of shame, "just got jumped by some drunk asshole that I had to take care of." He shrugged uncaring towards that, "To bad she died though." He then slightly kicking the girl's leg to see if she would wake up, but she didn't respond whatsoever.
Just seeing this action caused him to snap, standing up and quickly turning to look down at him with anger visibly on his face. "Show some respect." Eyes narrowed dangerously while Billy rolled his own at the taller man, not finding this attitude amusing at all as he responded sarcastically.
"Respect for who? That corpse over there." Pointing to Cinder, "Look partner, shes not my friend or someone I know off; not family or anything important to me, so there's nothing I can gain from caring for her," shrugging once more at his response to be indifferent to her current condition.
Guan Yu gritted his teeth in frustration from listening to this coldhearted individual, who clearly has no compassion for strangers, tower over him with a menacing glare that actually made the cowboy flinch into fear. "What your tone, boy." The words alone made him pale slightly, with dread filling every fiber in his body.
Billy took a step back, looking down for a moment before giving him a silent stare as he spun in motion towards Seth, intending to speak with someone else than the massive warrior in front of him, "whatever," quietly muttering under breath so the older man wouldn't catch wind of what he said.
"Princess!"
Titus and Garret pushed the crowd to see the unconscious girl laying on the ground as a puddle of blood pooled beneath her head. "What happened?" The older knight demanded as the two kneeled to the girl while he stared at the back of Guan Yu.
"It's all my fault." The three men and Billy himself stopped when Seth started to speak. "It's all because of me." The boy's voice was cracking between sentences when his emotions began to surface out of nowhere: "Because of me, the princess has been hurt and-and-and-and-and-and!" His eyes welled up with tears as he began to cry uncontrollably, burying his face back into his knees in hopelessness. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He sniffed with a runny nose.
The atmosphere of silence became cold, harsh, and grim for everyone present; it was a sight to behold but one that was needed regardless of how unpleasant this situation felt—a broken person who had lost everything, a child whose innocence was being taken away, and a boy who never had anything in the first place.
All because he couldn't do anything but watch as his friend was attacked and hurt in front of his eyes, leaving him powerless to stop it.
"I'm sorry...I'm very sorry Cinder..."
