Will of a Prince

The group zipped across the vast continent at incalculable speeds. The whole trip, Jacob was holding on to the seat in front of him so he wouldn’t get thrown backward. Everyone else appeared to do the same. Usurpingly, the only one who wasn’t affected by it was Abby, who had a front row seat to where they were all going. It took Harold 12 hours straight of running before he was able to confidently say he was in Monlo territory. The group all stopped to give Harold a much-needed break.

"I still can’t believe how far we’ve travelled in only a half days’ time. Harold is absolutely extraordinary."

Orvo stared out the window and studied Harold thoughtfully.

"His face is sunken. I think we may have pushed him a bit too far today. I think we should all feed him and give him some real rest."

Avala stood up hesitantly.

"Can we afford that time?"

Orvo nodded.

"The main armies won’t catch up for a few more days anyway. Besides, if he’s our means of transportation, taking a whole day to travel truly isn’t too bad of a sacrifice. That means we still have one day to scout everything out."

Aval nodded and sat back down next to Gabriel who was still staring wistfully out his window.

"Fair enough. I’m sure we could all use the rest as well. Who would like to be on guard for a while?"

Jacob and Maria both raised their hands. Jacob grabbed Maria’s and pushed it down.

"You need sleep. I was the one who kept you up for all those days. The sleep you got the other night was hardly enough."

Avala scratched her head awkwardly.

"I’m sorry Jacob, but after what happened recently, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with you taking this watch."

Jacob was slightly offended, but he knew Avala was correct. Lidia looked back and raised her hand.

"I’ll stay up with the little squirt. He won’t br turning into nothing on my watch. That’s a promise."

"Thank you, Miss Lidia. By the way, I’ve been meaning to say I-... I..."

Avala blushed and looked away.

"My brother has good taste."

Lidia laughed obnoxiously and slapped the back of her chair.

"I know he does!"

Everyone rested as best as they could with both Lidia and Jacob sitting outside the carriage keeping watch. There was a small fire roasting in front of them. The light of the flames danced on their faces as they stared into its dark orange center.

"You know, I truly never gave up on you two returning. The others were about to start making me consider other options of what happened to you both. Even if it got to that point, that still wouldn’t have been something possible for me to do. I’m glad you are both safe, Jacob."

Jacob nodded his head.

"Thank you."

A small silence hung between them.

"Hey, can I ask you something... weird?"

Lidia raised an eyebrow at him.

"Something weird? Are you going to propose or something already?"

Jacob blushed before contiuing.

"Well, no... I mean I would like to maybe soon, but-"

"YOU WOULD LIKE TO?!"

Jacob put his hands up and shushed Lidia.

"Yes yes, of course I would! It’s just a little complicated with everything going on. But that’s not what I want to talk about."

"Oh? Then what is it?"

Jacob played with his fingers.

"If you knew someone close to you was going to die and there was nothing you could do to stop it, how would you react?"

Lidia’s expression turned serious. She crossed her arms and thought to herself for three moments.

"Hm. I would probably still try to do everything I can to save them."

"But isn’t that kind of hopeless?"

"Is it?"

"Well, I think so."

"Here’s what I like to think. If you know someone close is going to die, would you rather sit back and let it happen or do everything you possibly can to change that outcome? In my opinion, with the second one, you can say that even if you did lose them, you didn’t let them fall without a fight. I think I would still be able to look myself in the mirror the next day, even if I do fail if something like that were to happen."

"Wouldn’t it be much easier to rid yourself of those you care about? Because if you have no one who’s close to you, no one will die."

"What kind of stupid thinking is that? You’re acting like you were given a choice to be given that curse. Well, do you have a choice."

"You do not."

"Then there’s your answer. Throwing yourself towards a tortuous solitude would be throwing yourself into another curse. And what if you eventually do find someone who becomes close to you? That would mean the whole choice would have been pointless to begin with, so you lost all those close to you anyway. What I’m trying to say is, cutting yourself off from those you about is no different than all of them dying. So, why not do everything in your power to fight it instead?"

Jacob’s eyes widened. Lidia was right. If cut himself off from everyone, he would never see them ever again. And similarly, if they all died, he would never see them again. However, only fighting against the second option would give him a chance at preventing it from happening, no matter how small. Jacob smiled.

"Thank you."

Lidia nodded.

"So, what do you think you would do?"

Jacob had forgot he brought the situation up as a hypothetical and Lidia had no idea he was talking about his cursed destiny.

"I would probably try to cut myself off but then get pretty lonely and do everything I can to fix it."

"Pft. Only an idiot would do that. I’m glad none of this is real!"

Jacob twitched slightly trying not to show his offense.

’She has no idea that’s exactly what I’m in the process of doing...’

The morning eventually came and everyone was at their absolute peak. Harold was excited to begin running again. He stretched his thick legs on the ground multiple times and did some breathing exercises before fastening his harness.

"Let’s go!"

With everyone back in the cart, Harold kicked off deeper into Monlo territory. It took them six more hours of travelling before they came across their first kingdom. Harold screeched to a stop and allowed everyone to pile out. Bo and Steel prepared themselves and ran towards the gates.

"Bo and Steel will scout it out. They will return shortly with information on the enemies’ numbers."

Three hours had passed and everyone was growing impatient.

"Where the hell are they? Are they scouring every rock on the street!"

Avala crossed her arms.

"We should have told them to be broader with descriptions."

However, Bo and Steel had suddenly appeared in front of them. Both of their faces were distraught. Aval pushed forward and stood tall above them.

"Status?"

Bo was still staring at the ground.

"I... can’t believe it. It’s... it’s empty."

Avala raised an eyebrow.

"Hm?"

"The kingdom. It’s completely barren. There isn’t a single person in it."

"Any sign of damage?"

"Tons. Broken buildings, giant rocks on the street, and their palace is in ruin. We tried to look for survivors but..."

Avala raised her fingers to her chin.

"No survivors? Do they have another enemy?"

Orvo put a hand on Avala’s shoulder.

"Let’s just go to one a little deeper in their land. Perhaps this was one of the ones we attacked without knowing."

Avala nodded.

"Everyone back in the carriage."

Another three hours of travelling passed before reaching another kingdom... or what was once left of one.

"What the-..."

No one needed to get out of the carriage for this one. Sitting in a pile of giant stone rubble was another Monlo kingdom. Torn flags poked through broken wood and rock here and there, indicating that they were in the right territory. Avala looked at Jacob.

"Was this you?"

Jacob raised his hands defensively.

"I’m not sure! But I don’t think my monster form would have had time to come all the way over here and run all the way back to Paria within such little time on foot."

Jacob was right. His form was fast, but nothing compared to Harold’s speed.

"Next one. Hurry!"

The next kingdom was the same way: no walls up, broken glass and stone, and blood spilling into the streets.

"What the hell has happened to them? What was attacking these kingdoms?"

"On the bright side, it seems Miss Enny’s information here was correct. But to think it was to this extent... I’m having a hard time processing it."

Avala stood up, her face fearful but confident.

"Head for the main kingdom."

Orvo challenged her and stood in front of her.

"What?! Are you crazy?! What if this is all a trap! We could be travelling further into their maw without knowing it!"

"I said head to the main kingdom!"

Orvo rubbed his face.

"This is crazy. I hope you know what you’re doing."

Another day and a half had passed of travel and resting. It was getting to the point where their armies were mere minutes from catching up to them. They managed to reach a small slope on an ashen plain. At the top, Harold finally rested. Standing strong was the main Kingdom of Monlo Empire. Its walls were stretched so wide it looked like the entire horizon was guarded. Nothing appeared to be wrong with the walls. In fact, the kingdom looked to be in perfect condition. However, from what they learned, looks can be deceiving.

"We go in."

"All of us?!"

"ALL OF US."

"She’s lost it. Tell her she’s lost it, everyone! The armies will be here any minute now!"

No one interjected. Orvo sighed heavily.

"I hope you know I will leave you behind if this goes south. I am not going on a suicide mission. Understand?"

"Fine by me."

Abby was massaging Harolds legs before they all decided to walk together towards the large wall. Its gates looked just as sturdy as Paria’s. The steel was tall and made of a similar azure metal to Enny’s armor. What scared everyone the most though, was the silence. They couldn’t hear anything coming from the other side. After waiting a while for something to happen, Slimo was the first one to push the gate open. It took all his strength to move it as much as an inch. Thankfully, Maria helped him open it much wider. When the door was opened and the inside was revealed to them though...

"W-What the hell?!"

Bo immediately threw up on the ground and began to cough. Many others gagged and held their stomach. Jacob walked forward, horror-stricken.

Lined up at the front gate were the bodies of innocent civilians mangled beyond recognition. Their heads had a pike through their foreheads, they didn’t have skin and their organs were revealed to the outside world, most of them already infested with bugs and maggots. Jacob was the only one brave enough to kick the pikes down, hopefully bringing some sort of rest to the innocent corpses who had stayed up, most likely as a deterrent for intruders.

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