“I said she could tell him, but he probably won’t really believe her if I just never show him the crown I’m wearing.” I thought to myself, hardly being able to focus while listening to their conversations.

“Lia, it’s been over nine centuries since King Ven’Thyl disappeared, why must your House still believe in something that clearly doesn’t exist?” Zebeyeyl questioned. “If only your House would stop with your delusions, you would still be considered equal to the Noble Houses.” Expectedly brushing it all off as the House’s delusions.

“They’re not delusions, Zel.” Odelia refuted, sounding slightly irritated, “What we believe is actually true, and Lord Eyes is proof that it is.”

“He should only see me as a normal person like everyone else, but it was a good thing I decided to put my hood up before he saw me.” Slightly pulling the hood more over my face just in case.

“Not a single descendant in all those centuries has ever claimed the throne, or has even been found for that matter; why would one only just show up now?” Zebeyeyl argued.

“I don’t claim to know their reasons, for it is their reasons to keep.” Glancing over to me as she said so, “But I’m telling you, Zel, he is our future King.” Odelia proudly stated, believing in her words—Zebeyeyl on the other hand continued to argue otherwise.

“With that Quest I got earlier and Odelia’s words just now, it seems like she still believes I’ll be King even though she already knows I’m not the rightful Heir. Maybe it’s just the crown’s influence over her, but maybe she just doesn’t believe we’ll be able to find the other descendants.” The thought brought real doubt about the difficulty of the Bloodline Quest for the first time.

After an hour of them loudly disputing with each other, and myself continually making tiny bits of progress while I listened, we then heard the echoing sound of Verana’s bell ringing throughout the chamber. Momentarily stopping their dispute, Odelia said “Dinner is ready.”

“Then I better make my way home in time for my own dinner.” Zebeyeyl then walked over to me say “I don’t know how you were able to convince House Ven’Thyl that you’re a Descendant and the Heir, or how you convinced Lady Verana to name you her successor; but nevertheless, I’ll concede to the fact that you’re the new Head of House Ven’Thyl, and congratulate you on earning such a highly respected title.”

“Thanks?” I said, unsure if I should be thankful.

“With that being said, you should know that the other Noble Houses will surely try to destroy and belittle your House’s reputation further if and when they learn Lady Verana is no longer the Head. Especially if they learn she’s been succeeded by someone who is...to put it lightly, not her equal.” Zebeyeyl warned, sounding reasonably sincere. Advising me “It may be best to use Odelia as a false head who can compare in power and ability, or perhaps Captain Aelthar who can compare in name and reputation—better yet, use Lady Verana herself as the false head.”

Surprised by his genuinely good advice, I suspiciously asked “What’s in it for you? Won’t House Fre’Nddare just do the same as the other Noble Houses?”

Zebeyeyl let out a little chuckle, “You can be assured I will never intentionally cause harm to your House.” He gave a quick glance to Odelia who stood away watching us, and whispered in my ear “Truthfully, I don’t wish to be targeted by her fury.”

“Odelia has fury?” I quietly replied curiously.

“Oh, you’ve no idea the hassle and turmoil she’s put me through. She once even almost destroyed—”

“Zel, we are in the same chamber! Do you really think I can’t hear you speaking ill of me behind my back!” Odelia angrily stomped over towards us.

Zebeyeyl covered his mouth sight and whispered extra quietly, “See what I mean.” and then spoke normally again, “Well anyway, it was nice truly meeting you, Eyes Ven’Thyl. Or should I say, the new Head of House Ven’Thyl?”

“Likewise, Zebeyeyl Fre’Nddare.” I replied back, “And I think I’m beginning to see why I hear people question your decisions.”

He simply smiled and said, “My earlier offer from before still stands, but I eagerly look forward to seeing your future within the city, Eyes.”

When he turned around to head back to the entrance, I caught a faint glimpse of a small purple tendril sticking out at the nape of his neck, but got quickly covered up when he put his hood back on. “What was that?” I asked myself, closely observing Odelia lead Zebeyeyl out of the chamber—noting they spoke to each other normally. “Strange, maybe I’m just seeing things?”

Changing my attention, I looked up at the platform 50ft above me and wondered how exactly I wanted to reach it. There was always the simple choice of climbing the jutted out bricks on the walls, but I figured while I was here I should test out the extent of my mobility Skills.

First I tried using Leap Shot on the spot to see how high I could jump, but I was only able to get 30ft in the air. Next I tried combining Sprint and Leap Shot to get some extra speed, and it significantly increased the height I was able to jump—adding about 10ft to it. Luckily as a surprising hidden effect of Leap Shot, I safely and softly landed back on the ground, feeling absolutely no impact from a dangerous fall from that height. It was assuring to know I had a Skill that could seemingly negate fall damage, and knowing that fact let me confidently try some dangerous ways to reach the platform.

While I failed a few more times to reach the platform, Odelia finally returned and saw what I was doing, offering to just bring me up to the platform. Refusing the offer, I tried one more time and positioned myself slightly closer to the platform; using Sprint to get some speed, I followed it up with a Leap Shot right after—heading purposely into the chamber wall a bit away from the platform—then as soon as I made contact with the wall, I looked up above me and instantly used Leap Shot again, propelling me straight upwards.

Rising above the height of the platform, I realized my wall jump angle was slightly off, and I was about to fall and miss the platform completely. Quickly reacting, I used Archer’s Dash to close the distance and barely got a hand on the ledge of the platform. Then as I tried to pull myself up, Odelia suddenly came skyrocketing up over me and easily landed herself onto the platform, applauding my amusing effort. She gladly helped me up and we both decided to head up for dinner, and though my mobility testing didn’t go according to plan, I was at least happy in learning different ways to use my Skills.

Walking up the floors, I asked Odelia something I thought Zebeyeyl said was strange, “Hey, Odelia. Zebeyeyl said you compare in power and ability to Verana, but that Aelthar compared in name and reputation. Does that mean you're stronger than Aelthar, and just as strong as Verana?”

“Ummm...contrary to his appearance, Ael is more tactically brilliant than he is strong, if you would believe it.” I couldn’t believe it, but Odelia seemed to be telling the truth, “Many of the guards even call him the Untouchable Wind, as not even the other Guard Captains can land a clean strike on him during their monthly Open-Challenge Duels.”

“Where’d he get all those scars he had then?” Remember he had quite a few of them.

Odelia strangely hesitated to answer, but said “Let’s just say a few of them were from me, the others...”

Noting her strange reluctance to say, I changed the topic “I get, your stronger than Aelthar, but how does Verana compare to the two of you?”

Snapping back to her senses, Odelia said “Verana? She is in a whole other realm. Ael and I do not even come close to the power she can call upon.”

“Huh? From what I saw you’re both below her Level, but the gap in power can’t be that big, can it?” Remembering that Odelia is Lv.85, Aelthar is Lv.87, and Veretha is Lv.99 after vowing loyalty to me.

“How would you know our Levels?” Odelia gave me a questioning look.

“Uhh...secret?” I smiled, nervously.

“You seem to have a lot of those, Lord Eyes.” Odelia said, curiously looking at me. She then continued, “Anyway, Levels are not the only thing that determines one’s strength and power, as the Skills they develop and grow play a big factor in that matter—not to mention the basis for it all, their Class.” explaining, “Zebey only compared me to Verana because the true potential of a Trinity Archer rivals—and in some ways is greater than Verana’s Astral-Body Mystic Class.”

“An Astral-Body Mystic?” I repeated, “Never heard of it.”

“Not many have, as Verana is only the second person in the entire history of the world to have ever obtained the Legendary Healer Class, and rightfully inheriting her the title of Star Caller.” Clarifying “But do not be mistaken by its name, an Astral-Body Mystic is no simple healer, for it even surpasses my own current abilities.”

“That’s some praise, but if Verana is only the second person to have the Class, who was the first?” I questioned while continuing up the stairs.

“Well that would be the one who made it Legendary in the first place.” But Odelia sighed when she saw I had no clue who that was, and said “The person of which was of course the Great Queen Sya, the Caller of the Stars.”

When we arrived back onto the 4th floor, we entered the dining room and were greeted by a feast of all sorts of delicious looking food; and patiently waiting for us around the table was Verana, Aelthar, and Amariina.

“You know you guys don’t have to wait for me, right?” Sitting myself at the head of the table.

“We know, Lord Eyes, but we want to.” Verana said, already generously placing food onto my plate.

“But it looks like we’re missing someone, where’s Shurtyrr?” Though the moment I mentioned his name, Amariina showed an upset expression on her face.

The others noticed too, and Aelthar said “I-I heard there was trouble in the market today, so maybe he is just busy with that? Yes, that is probably it, and it must have been more trouble than I first thought.”

Aelthar was clearly trying to cover for Shurtyrr, but to my right I noticed a slight grin on Odelia’s face, and then I remembered part of their conversation I couldn’t help overhearing in the library yesterday.

“Here’s the final part of the plan. Avoid Ama at all costs, up until the day of the wedding.” Odelia instructed Shurtyrr, “That means no more waiting for her in the library, and if you just so happen to cross paths, ignore her existence and walk the other way.”

“What! No way! That’s not a plan!” Shurtyrr exclaimed, refusing the idea, “How is that in any way going to help me convince her to stop her engagement and not get married?”

“Shur, just trust me. Ama will definitely come to terms and acknowledge her feelings for you after she realizes exactly how much she enjoys seeing you show your love to her everyday for the last 75 years; and not to mention when she realizes just how much she’s been taking it for granted when you do not.”

Shurtyrr let out a big sigh, “Fine, I’ll do what you say. But if this doesn’t work, I’m quitting the House!” reluctantly agreeing to Odelia’s plan.

“Oh don't be so dramatic, you worry too much. It’ll definitely work...probably.” Odelia kind of assured him.

“Hmmm…” Shurtyrr irritably hummed as the sudden dinner bell interrupted him.

“Well I don’t know if their plan is working, but she’s definitely upset about something.” As we all watched Amariina aggressively stabbed the food she ate with her utensils. I then thought “I wonder if I'm invited to the wedding? I’ve never been to one, but I’d love to see if their plan works or not. Maybe I’ll even get to see them cause a scene there?” I ate my food while thinking of the chaos that could happen at the wedding.

***

In the Noble Council Room…

Zebeyeyl easily pushed open the two giant doors leading into a tall brightly lit chamber and walked right through. In the center was a triangle shaped marble table with two figures already sitting and waiting for him. Finding his way to the last empty seat, he demanded to know “Why was there another emergency meeting called today? Did something else happen?”

“Depends, can you inform us what you were doing in House Ven’Thyl?” An old Dark Elf man asked.

Zebeyeyl smiled and said, “I was simply visiting my old friend Odelia, why—” A purple magic unknowingly struck him, halting his speech and movement, and putting him in a general state of stasis.

“Why do you even bother, Lord Baen’Mtor?” An old High Elf woman questioned. “You know as well as I simply controlling his mind is far easier to know what we want.”

The man sighed, “I know, you’re right, Lady Helvi’Ett. But I guess a part of me just wishes House Fre’Nddare would finally return to being on the Noble House's side again.”

The women sighed also, “I wish for that too, but it would seem Lord Fre’Nddare is going to continue following his father’s footsteps in opposing us.” she then began to smile, “Though at least now we can control Lord Fre’Nddare, unlike his father before him.”

“Well his father was one of our Kingdom’s Heroes in the Second Trinity War after all.” The man stated.

“That’s ancient history now, Lord Baen’Mtor.” Telling him “You should look more into the future, our Houses’ future—one where they’re finally united together and ruling the Kingdom.”

“Are you sure announcing the engagement on the Eve of the Five Heroes Festival is a good idea? We haven’t even informed our grandchildren of the arranged marriage yet, and you know how much trouble those two can be.”

“We’re too close to accomplishing our goals to consider the grandchildren's feelings about the marriage, but if it comes to it, a little bit of persuasion always does the trick.” A purple magic swirled around her finger tips and floated right into the back of Zebeyeyl’s head, “Now tell us, Lord Fre’Nddare. What really occurred in House Ven’Thyl?”