A surprise

After leaving the room with Cornelius, they headed towards Jakobs chamber. Tristan entered first, and immediately stopped Corbelius, as he found Jakob dead in his bed, with a dagger through his heart.

„How unfortunate.", he said, „I don't think you want to see that.", he closed the door.

„What? Why?", Cornelius started to get sad and confused.

„Don't tell me he is... too?", Cornelius asked.

Tristan nodded.

„I am sorry.", he said.

„We should go. I don't think I can handle much more of this.", Cornelius said. They left the castle and took a carriage out of it.

Tristan drove, while Cornelius sat next to him. And that's why they didn't notice something particular. They weren't alone on the carriage.

——————————————————

„So the royal family has been attacked? How many are still alive?"

„The crown prince, the smart one and the older girl, your majesty."

„I see. And what is with the special one?"

„He left the capital with the younger one of the two living princes."

„I want him. Send them the masks. And for the capital. It should be in chaos now. Prepare the army. This is the chance of a life time.

Good bye... Kathul"

————————————————————-

After a while, the horses slowed down a bit. They have been riding for about an hour now, and they rode fast. The horses were already tired, even though they were trained ones.

Tristan drove the carriage to a field, next to the road, and then stopped it.

„I'll go and check the resources we got.", Cornelius said and went to the back of the carriage.

„So we got some water, a bit of bread, some blankets and... huh?!", Tristan looked at him. What was so surprising?

„A woman?", Cornelius asked confused.

And truth be told, a woman jumped out of the carriage.

„Layla?", Tristan asked. It was the woman from the training field.

„Oh. Well hello. And greetings your majesty.", she bowed towards Cornelius and smiled at Tristan.

„Don't call me that. I'm not a royal anymore. Because of that b*tch I used to call mother.", Cornelius made a grimace, when talking about his mother.

„Those gods. They don't want this greater good she was talking about. They are like greedy nobles, but they are the kings too. Nobody can stop them. Not yet at least.", Tristan said. He didn't know why, it just happened, it just slipped out.

„What do you mean?", Cornelius said.

„I am getting revenge. For things they've done. Not to me, but to do many.", for some reason, Tristan was completely convinced of this. He didn't know when he got that attitude, but he just had it.

(A/N: Just to make things clear, Nova is an evil system, that used Tristans rage and sadness to take control. It influences him into always having the hate inside of him and always being against the gods.)

Seeing that it was a very personal and sad matter for him, Cornelius and Layla didn't ask more.

„One question, how did you think of the gods? What do they have to do with what happened in the castle?", Layla asked.

Cornelius told her of the events, how first Jarowan got poisoned and one after another, the royal family got killed, until only Katherine and Cornelius were left. Totally forgetting about the crown prince. But no one knew how he was anyway.

„And why are you here?", he asked after finishing.

„Well, I left because the people don't like me. My safety was guaranteed by the emperor. If I were to stay without his protection, the nobles would definitely do something, since I'm a commoner.", she said.

„I see. I don't think the nobles will do anything now. He", Cornelius said.

‚i wonder why they are so relaxed. For Layla, I can kind of understand, but it just doesn't make sense with Cornelius. His sudden change in attitude. And he is acting so friendly. Weird', Tristan thought, while watching the other two talk.

„Answer: I have used Cornelius anger against him, and now I am able to influence his mind. This way, he can help you with your quest.", he heard Novas voice in his head.

So it was fake. But was his hate and anger fake too? What if Nova was taking control of him too? Thoughts like these went through his head, but then he reminded himself of the night he felt true happiness.

He started building up a little camp, where they could rest for the night.

——————————————————

When waking up, Layla stood up. It looked like the others were still sleeping. But to be fair, their day was hard.

Deciding to look at what they had for the trip, Layla went to the carriage and looked inside. Food, water. But it surely wasn't enough to go straight to the mountains, where her master lived.

It was her plan, to go back to him. She didn't know where the other two wanted to go, but maybe she could convince them.

Without them, she wouldn't have a ride.

Suddenly, she felt something on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Tristan. He tapped her on the shoulder.

„What are you doing?", he asked.

„Well I was looking at what you got.", she answered.

Tristan raised an eyebrow.

„No, really I swear!"

He sighed.

„Did you take anything?"

„No"

Then Cornelius woke up. They started making breakfast and ate it quickly. Then they readied the carriage and drove of.

Then something came to Tristans mine. If he was going to stay in his shapeshifter form, it will slowly use up his mana, and eventually he would turn back. Also he would need the mana when he will be facing bigger foes, like other angels. It would probably be okay with Cornelius, but Layla was the problem. Not like Cornelius, she wasn't influenced by Nova.

He would have to find a solution. But for now, he could focus on other things.