"What was that?" Lloyd breaks the silence. "Technically speaking, it's impossible for someone to do that!" he exclaims, fumbling around in his bag for scrolls or books. "No human can even stand such heat, and let's not even get started about a human conjuring up fire!" He begins to mumble something about his logic being challenged.

"Shut it, we are lucky enough to be walking out of this alive," Lancaster says after a moment. "It is a miracle he decided not to burn us." Grateful for this fact, Lancaster silently hopes that they do not cross paths again.

Alaina helps Rose steady herself while Lancaster and Lloyd are bickering. "Are you fine?"

"As good as new."

"What happened back there?"

"I don't know, but it happens sometimes," Rose admits.

"Have you not seen a doctor about this?" Lancaster questions, as both him and Lloyd rejoin them.

"It doesn't really happen often. Besides, whenever I get in touch with nature, I feel better."

"Like how you felt better when you had the poppy?" Lancaster raises his brow in disbelief.

"Definitely." Rose smiles. "That's why we live in the outskirts. I haven't experienced something like that since a long time -- until now, that is."

Alaina begins to recall that Rose once told her she used to live near the city centre. "Does that mean you suffer from this problem frequently, back when you lived around the city centre?"

Rose nods. "I'm sorry I didn't tell any of you about this, I didn't expect it would happen -- or be a problem, after so many years."

"The important thing is that you're safe and well." Alaina smiles, and Lancaster nods in agreement.

Lloyd rubs the back of his head furiously, messing his hair in the process, as frustration takes over his body. He still can't manage to make out the logics and reasons behind first, the boy who can produce flames; and second, how Rose would have been in a very critical condition, but is able to appear as if it never happened after her little pleasure on the flower.

"Shall we?" Lancaster asks.

"Just a moment," Lloyd says quickly, checking through his bag. He turns around and starts walking back to where they'd come from. "I think I left something -- be right back."

Ignoring the annoyed sigh from Lancaster, he returns to the place where the poppies grow. He hears complaints from Rose in the distance, but he has much more things in his spinning mind to bother. He picks a poppy carefully, and then keeps it in his bag. Just in case, he thinks.

"I'm ready," he says, returning to the others.

Lloyd glances back one last time at the place where Rose laid not too long ago as she struggled to gasp for air. He spots the wilted poppy immediately, lying dead in Rose's place; an ominous feeling inevitably, viscerally rising within.

*****

After what seems like an eternity, the four finally stand in front of the grand walls that shield the Kingdom of Caelus -- their intended destination from the very beginning. Taking in the majestic sight, they brace themselves for what is to come -- after a series of interesting events, they aren't too sure if they would be surprised for anything else in store for them.

Alaina can't stop feeling that their adventure has just begun.

"Come," Lancaster says, breaking her train of thoughts. "I am certain the guards would recognise me, and trust me enough to let us through."

As they make their way closer to the gates of Caelus that rise so high that they look as if they kiss the sky -- as how it would befit the kingdom's name; instead of glancing up enviously how high the gates rise, Alaina turns her head curiously around the walls, wondering how far the borders stretch. As she does so, she definitely had not expected to see someone ever so familiar, finding his way through a small barred passageway around the wall. She gasps.

"Alaina!" Rose calls out to her, and she turns to the source to find the other three already right in front of the gates, Lancaster talking to the two guards posted in front of the gates. Deciding to convince herself she's just hallucinating as what she'd seen would be too much of a coincidence, she regroups with the others.

"-- new orders." is what she hears one of the guards saying when she is finally in their circle.

Lancaster frowns. "Since when?"

The guard opens his mouth to answer, but he notices Alaina when she strides close to them, and immediately he is silent. His eyes fall to his toes nervously. Then he flickers his eyes first at Alaina, then at Lancaster, and then finally slightly but more quickly at Lloyd and Rose. Something has clicked within him.

"Since when?" Lancaster repeats impatiently, eyeing the guard with suspicion at his tiny actions. The other guard flinches, stealing a glance at his partner; their minds are linked, they know what the other is thinking.

Neither of the guards dare utter a word, fearing the outcome.

"Fine, don't answer." Lloyd shrugs. "Just let us through. Even if there are 'new orders', you would trust that Lancaster has no bad intentions, won't you? The king would, at least; after all, he was once part of Caelus' royal knights."

The guard who was talking to Lancaster shuffles his feet. Finally, when the other guard refuses to open his mouth, he says, "it's not that, Lancaster, I -- well, we trust you." His eyes move briefly to Alaina again, but quickly retreats them to the ground when she stares back questioningly. He lifts his gaze back to Lancaster. He takes a deep breath, as if embracing himself for the worst. He finally finds the courage to say, "you are all from the Kingdom of Theia."

Lancaster narrows his eyes. "I believe you would be already aware that I, at least, am from Theia; since I moved there back when I left."

"And I assume that you are travelling with the Princess of Theia herself."

Alaina flinches, and Lancaster looks taken aback by his words. Lloyd manages to clear his mind the quickest. "What are you getting at?" he asks.

The guard clears his throat before saying, "by order of the King of Theia himself, the princess and her associates are to be taken into custody."

"What?" Alaina demands.

The guard backs away slightly at her words. "It is an official order, your highness, the entire land is informed -- all the other kingdoms are told to watch out for the princess --" at Alaina's fierce gaze, he quickly continues, "-- and keep her highness somewhere so that she is under proper control."

Feeling uneasy, Alaina doubts his words. "I do not believe that my father would give such an order. The king would, at least, ask for my safe return."

"The orders are absolute, your highness. The other kings are informed. The kingdoms are taking careful measures. I am offering you a chance: I suggest that you and your friends return quickly to Theia at once, before we are forced to --"

"Don't touch me!" a voice interrupts his words.

Alaina's eyes widen at the source.

Kai is walking furiously few steps ahead of a guard who seems to be forcing him forward.

"Sir Callahan."

"What's with that lot?" the guard that's approaching, Callahan, questions at the sight of the group. He is of a higher rank than the other two -- a shimmering gold emblem symbolising the Kingdom of Caelus is worn proudly on the left side of his chest. He turns to Kai just as they close in on the gates and says, "and you, don't think you're getting away."

But Kai doesn't hear this, as he spots Alaina and the others, now in proximity. Immediately recognising Alaina, he focuses his eyes on the ground.

"Sir, they are travellers. Just asking for directions." The two guards stand straight as they talk to Callahan. "They are about to leave." The guard tries to help them, but Callahan is smart.

"Hmm?" Callahan approaches the group. "They look familiar." His eyes stay on Alaina. After a moment, he smirks. "Your highness, what brings you here, all the way from the Kingdom of Theia?"

"We just want to visit your kingdom, is that too much?" Lloyd snaps, unable to stand the game of words no longer despite being a great player himself.

"Without the King of Theia's knowledge? That is most definitely suspicious." He shoves Kai, who stumbles and nearly trips, in front of them. "And him? An ally of yours, I suppose? I found him trying to get through the walls without being seen. So you're the distraction -- pretending to be innocent travellers -- while he tries to find a way through, am I correct?"

"I said -- don't touch me." Kai pushes Callahan's arm away, glaring at the man angrily with glowing amber eyes.

Alarmed, Alaina quickly says, "it's not what you think it is. We really just want to visit Caelus."

"In peace," Rose adds.

"And we don't even know who the boy is to begin with, so let's not talk about how we're allies -- that's ridiculously impossible," Lloyd says, shaking his head. "Preposterous."

The two guards at the gates flinch slightly, and one of them is desperately trying to let them know through tiny body languages that this isn't a good idea.

Callahan has an odd expression on his face the moment his eyes lay on Lancaster. "So, Lancaster, I see you have not gotten far since you left." His eyes seem to show mock and delight. "I have enough evidences and even witnesses --" he nods to the two guards who were staring at the ground, "to suspect you."

"Wait --"

"By order of the King of Theia himself, the other kingdoms are given the permission to take you into custody until you are no longer a bother. You are in the Kingdom of Caelus -- my kingdom; hence, under direct kingdom rules, you are to come with me."

❉❉❉❉❉

After so long, their only wish is to arrive at their destination without any more hassles. They now have, only, not in the way they'd imagined.

"Wrong place, wrong time," Kai says angrily as he rests his arm against the cool metal bars of the cell that confines all five of them, his forehead on his arm. "This is all your fault; if you hadn't come to Caelus in the first place, none of this would've happen." He tries to say as calmly as he can, trying to control his anger that's about to burst out like a volcano.

"Then it's fair to say that this is partly your fault, too; if you weren't in Caelus -- doing whatever you were doing -- when we were there, you wouldn't be here. Most importantly, I wouldn't be here, if you hadn't done what you've did that made us so suspicious," says Lloyd, who is sitting in the far corner of the room, leaning against the cold stone wall. He shakes his head and buries his face into his palms. "This is so wrong."

"Oh, how the almighty has fallen," Rose comments. "We're all stuck."

"Which reminds me," Lloyd says suddenly, standing up and startling most of them in the room. "You..." He approaches Kai. "Are the one we saw back then!"

Kai takes a step back. "The what you saw back when?" he asks, trying to mask his panic. He certainly did not expect to meet them again, and he's currently lost for what to say. Right now, he isn't sure if they are the enemies.

"You produced flames out of thin air!" Lloyd exclaims, with a hint of fascination in his tone. Alaina, who was pacing around minutes ago, stops and pays attention to the ongoing conversation curiously.

"The Lion's Den, you were there."

"Wait -- that was him?" Rose asks in disbelief, clearly with no clue because she wasn't really conscious.

"Wrong person," Kai says, quickly looking away when he finds Alaina watching him. She knows, he thinks, more than anyone else; because they'd caught each other's eyes, twice.

Although she remains silent, it's obvious she's watching, but he doesn't know what's on her mind.

Alaina takes in his features; he has messy brown hair, and it gets messier as he constantly runs his hands through it out of habit or frustration, she isn't too sure. He's around her age, but is only taller than her by an inch or two. The most stunning feature of his, though, are his eyes. They are amber, and as rare as amber eyes were, his are not entirely amber -- a mixture of red and orange is fused within them, just like the colour of sun setting skies or perhaps even the sun itself.

Most significantly, they glow. And in the rather dark confinement room they are trapped in, they glow even more obviously than the first time Alaina had noticed from the first time their eyes met.

Captivated, she soon finds herself staring in the depths of his eyes from the corner of his face.

"You have weird eyes," Alaina states bluntly, when no one else speaks.

Kai turns to glare at her, his gaze fixing onto hers. Alaina is slightly taken aback by his stern glare, but holds his gaze anyway; somehow, she doesn't want to look away. Finally, he says, "I know." And he does. He pulls his eyes away from hers. "I get that a lot. You're not the first." When he finishes, he feels frustration rising, his body fuming.

He loathes it when people point out his eyes being odd as they are.

"Like the sun," she whispers. "Beautiful."

"What?"

"It's beautiful."

He pauses then looks at her once again. "... that makes you the first."

"That's not the point here -- although I must say, those eyes really do glow," Lloyd says, stepping in between them; Kai takes a step back at how close he is about to get. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"The fire."

"I just can," Kai finally admits. He pulls out his right glove, and with a slight wave, a tiny flame dances on his palm, illuminating the dark room.

"Magnificent!" Lloyd exclaims, clearly very impressed. "How? When did you discover you could do such a thing? Does it hurt you?" Questions that spiral throughout his mind begin setting themselves free.

"Is that magic?" Rose gasps, her eyes gleaming with fascination. Her excitement drops faintly when Kai encloses the tiny flame with his hand closing into a fist, the fire diminishing until it vanishes completely. "I'll forgive you for burning the grass in the forest, then, since I like you."

"I thought you like me," Lloyd says almost immediately after Rose's last word.

Alaina laughs at his words. "She likes everyone." She nudges Lloyd lightly. Lloyd, embarrassed by his own dubious act, doesn't say any more in his own defence like he usually would. Instead, he steals a glance at Rose, who stumbles slightly then leans against the stone wall for support.

Drawing her attention back to Kai, she offers her hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Alaina. We're from the Kingdom of Theia."

"And what brings you here, all the way from Theia?" he asks curiously, slipping his hand back into the glove he'd removed before shaking her hand hesitantly. It is only then he notices the shining diamond necklace around Alaina's neck, and he can't help but feel he has seen it somewhere before, but he decides against asking about it for he may be wrong. "Kai." he gives her his name -- willingly -- after realising that she and her friends bring no harm.

A thud stops Alaina from answering his question, and she finds Rose on the ground behind her.

"Again?" Alaina's face pales.

"Hold on, I've got this," Lloyd says calmly, reaching for his bag. "Please watch over her, your highness." He searches his bag and finally pulls out the poppy he'd carried with him. "Rose," he says softly, guiding her hand to the poppy, and when her hand finds it, Rose clutches the poppy near her.

At first, Kai watches in confusion at the sight; but as he witnesses the poppy wilting in Rose's hand, he just stares with wide eyes, immediately concluding that even if the world's logic is bent, he shall be right on one thing: he isn't the only one who's special.

Alaina sighs in relief when Rose starts returning to them, thanking Lloyd for the poppy. Silently, she hopes that Lancaster is doing as well or even better than they are, wherever they've taken him to.

*****

"Callahan." Lancaster sighs, following the man in front through halls, two armed guards watching him closely from behind in case he tries anything funny. "What do you want? Where are the others?"

A sly smirk forms on Callahan's face. "What a pitiful state you're in, Lancaster, hence I am offering you an opportunity to redeem your current laughable self."

Lancaster furrows his brows, not liking where this is going. Knowing Callahan, Lancaster is almost hundred percent certain that Callahan is trying desperately to use his current position against him. But he knows better. "Do you really need these guards behind me? Are you captain of the knights now, or not?"

"Exactly my point," Callahan snaps impatiently, his pace slowing down slightly. "They are to keep you from escaping."

"I was wrong, then, my bad; I had thought they are to restrain me just in case if I were to give you a hard time."

Callahan stops in his tracks completely, his fists clenching by his sides. He turns to face Lancaster. "You are nothing now. I was made captain of the knights since you left, and I have long surpassed you!" he says angrily. "Even if you were to return, I will still remain captain. And today, I shall finally prove it."

From his words, Lancaster knows immediately the answer to his first question. Callahan is going to try and force him back into Caelus' royal knights in order to overpower him in mere social standings with his current title.

But that leaves his second question unanswered, for Callahan only seeks to defeat Lancaster, nothing more.

"What have you done to the others?" he presses as Callahan resumes walking.

"In the dungeons where they belong. At least, until the installation's over."

"While they are held captive, it is completely fine for me to walk freely in the castle? Your judgements are absurd."

"You are not really walking freely, armed guards are watching you," Callahan spats. "Best be careful, Lancaster, you don't want to end up begging for a place by my side."

Lancaster remains silent as they continue making their way down the hallway. He is aware that, at least, he would be able to use his skills and previous profession here in Caelus to help the others. It is a risk, but definitely one that's worth to take.

As they are nearing the end of the hall, the King of Caelus appears suddenly from the left corridor, and he now stands before them.

"Ah, your majesty." Callahan bows. "I was just looking for you."

Lancaster is almost too sure that Callahan is bringing him to the King of Caelus, but he certainly had not expected the king to look as if no one's home. The moment Lancaster's eyes lay on the king's, he realises instantaneously he'd seen something similar before.

The king has the same blank and emotionless eyes, the same soulless body as the King of Theia.