When Kingdom Goes

Act I - Chapter 15

There's a little bit of violence in this chapter that might be a little disturbing to some readers.

"Be on guard today, even more so than yesterday." Hiro says.

"What are you expecting? Nothing happened yesterday, so why's today any different?" Rose says.

"Just take my word for it."

"Yes sir."

They start walking towards the meeting room, and once they arrive, they see the other kings arriving in the meeting room at the same time.

After some small talk, Hiro officially opens the meeting. It goes roughly as Hiro expected with no real progress being made. However, throughout the conversation Hiro feels something pass over him. Magic? Ether? Both? He couldn't quite make out what it was at that moment, but it gave him a slight uneasiness. After he finishes one of his points, he shoots Faust a look, to which he nods his head in agreement.

"Excuse me, did anyone feel that wave of energy just a moment ago?"

"No, but what kind of 'energy' was it? Ether?" Asks Arthur.

"It feels like a combina-". Hiro is cut off by yet another wave. This time, everyone in the room feels it.

Hiro taps Rose's arm. She instinctively enters Hyper Speed and awaits the next move. There is another wave that passes over them, only this time it's more forceful than before. Immediately following are a few painstakingly long moments of silence. Regardless of the stances they held previously, they were all of one mind now.

More waves come in at smaller intervals, gradually increasing in forcefulness, and starting to come from above them. After a few more of them hit, the waves stop, allowing for a brief moment of reprieve.

"Hiro, is this what you've been feeling in Rahu? If so, it makes sense that you're so concerned." Says Relve.

"Something like that, but with more force and less individual waves." As Hiro finishes his statement there's a loud crash from the room above them, followed by something falling through the ceiling and shattering the meeting table.

Fear.

This 'something' was a short, muscular man with a spear in hand. He had an immense, heavy, grotesque aura about him. He felt... monstrous.

The entire room stood still, until he looked over his shoulder directly at Hiro. As soon as his head turned, the teleporters in the room all reached for their respective kings in an attempt to withdraw but to no avail. He releases a strong wave of ether, shaking everyone in the room before rushing towards Rahvas's teleporter effortlessly decapitating him.

"It's Xander! Run!" Zero shouts before Xander throws his spear towards him. Sera manages to reach around him and deflect it, but not without getting nicked by it in the process.

This was exactly the thing they were afraid of. The absolute worst case scenario. Xander's malicious reappearance.

After deflecting the spear, Sera picks Zero up by his waist and leaps across the room towards the door, carrying him under her arm. Xander tries to intercept, but Rose leaps in, tackling him to the ground.

"You better come back to help!" Rose shouts at her, before Xander throws her off of him.

Sera gives a thumbs up to her and sprints out the door. By this point, the other two observers teleport Relve, Therius, and Arthur out of the room, presumably to their home countries. The only ones left in the meeting room are Xander, Rose, Hiro, Faust, and Laura.

After being thrown off Rose teleports back on top of him, attempting to wrestle him into submission. Before she can gain any kind of advantage, he points to his spear, that's now lodged blade-first in the floor, and magically pulls it towards them. As it flies, she is forced to let go of him to dodge the spear. She scrambles to get back up, but once she does, she's met with a door sized fireball exploding in her face.