Promise to hold

"Hey, what did you do to the nice lady?"

Art felt afraid, not understanding who or what the blue mist was. He had just witnessed it get rid of the lady somehow and take control of her body. He was confused at the weird words the mist said, and yet it told him it was merely a joke.

Mary, now possessed by the mist, rolled her eyes, tapping her head.

"Don't worry, she's fine!" The mist reassured.

"She's just in a temporary slumber while I control her body."

"But why are you controlling her body? She didn't do anything bad!" Art told the mist.

"What would you know about good and bad kid? You have no memories. You've been living under this dream that this kingdom is nothing but kind, sweet, and loving when it has a dark side." The mist spoke, smirking at Art.

"Woah, how did you know about my amnesia?" Art approached the mist.

"I told you, I see all." The mist spoke. He walked even closer to Art and extended his hand.

"I go by Tempo, it's a pleasure to meet you." Tempo shook the boy's hand.

"Nice to meet you Tempo!" Art smiled, shaking his hand back.

Tempo frowned, letting his hand go.

"Anyways I want to cut introductions short because I wanted to warn you. This place is not like what you think it is. It's got a skeptical past, and not to mention the king is extremely powerful in illusion magic."

Art opened his mouth wide in awe

"That is..AWESOME!" Art jumped up, cheering in excitement.

The lady rolled her eyes.

"Quit talking and listen will ya?" Tempo said.

Art stopped jumping around, and quickly went back to where he stood before. He scratched his head wondering to himself what Tempo was talking about.

'What does he mean? Is he saying King Dulcee is bad?' Art wondered.

'And what is candy energy?'

"Hello?" Tempo asked, waving the lady's hand in front of Art's face.

Art jerked his head up, he turned his head to both sides rapidly, as if looking for the voice he had just heard. Then he stopped and looked at Tempo.

"You don't belong here though, you'll soon find out. You are born for much greater things."

Art smiled cheekily. He had heard many compliments about his hard work as a harvester, and about his stamina. However, he had never heard anyone say anything like Tempo. Art didn't wanna agree with his words, so he decided to give a small shrug.

"I don't have much time, but know that you and your friends are in grave danger." Tempo started walking off to the edge of the tent, walking into the hanging cloths.

"Wait what do you mean?!" Art asked in a panic. He ran towards Tempo, but suddenly stopped when the lady raised her hand. Her hand started glowing blue, the same blue mist that came out her eyes wrapped around her and covered her body. She then closed her eyes and the mist started slithering into one spot, and that was her hand.

She then moved the mist right in front of her, where it all started expanding and circling together. Once it formed a large thin oval shape. The mist glowed a brighter blue. The lady walked right into the oval made of mist. She was gone and so was Tempo.

"Crap now I'll never know what the danger is!" Art still felt a bit panicked at the thought of great danger. When suddenly, a voice spoke to him.

'Art, find me when you're stronger. I will grant you my power to aid you.' With that, the voice was gone.

The room started lightening up, as the covers had been removed allowing for the sunset to shine into the tent. Art looked around then walked up to the golden statues.

'Saviors of Terra' he read inwardly. He still felt afraid of what Tempo had told him. According to him he was supposed to be in danger but also was born for greater things.

"I almost forgot Doan and everyone is in danger!" He yelled out to himself quickly running towards the exit.

'Wait a minute, that lady used the table to talk to Tempo, maybe I can do it too.' He stopped in his tracks, and walked back to the table. He picked up the chair, which had fallen at some point in time.

"Come on, please work!" Art pleaded, speaking to the table. He held his palms on the table facing down, just like he saw the lady before Tempo. Not a single bit of light appeared from the table. Art tried flipping his palms, and rubbing his hands on the table, trying different methods on getting in contact with Tempo.

** ** **

Doan and Ryker had left the food and prize tent, and walked around the other tents, catching up and talking about their more recent experiences. Doan started recalling the previous weeks when he had first met Art. He mentioned he had met the boy miles away from the kingdom. He laid on the ground and appeared to be sleeping when he saw him.

"He could've been trampled by a Candy." Ryker added. He walked beside Doan, heading towards the storytelling tent.

"I told him that." Doan agreed.

They entered the storytelling tent, one after the other and walked to the group of villagers. A few kids, a group of 3 boys and 4 girls were sitting around the soft ground. There were a few elders, chatting away, and about 6 adults. 

"What I found strange is that he woke up in Sweeten with no memories. I had accused him of being a spy for it. It turns out he's got some heavy case of Amnesia." Doan spoke, his and Ryker's voices getting the attention of the crowd. 

"Wow, its Sir Hilbert!" A little boy pointed as he smiled excitedly. The rest of the kids heard their friend and ran towards the burly knight. The rest of the villagers stood where they were and gave a quick bow out of respect. One kid ran up to Doan faster than the others and threw his arms around his legs in a hug.

Doan smiled and ruffled the boy's hair. The rest of the kids joined in and started to laugh happily. The boy who hugged Doan looked up and with curious innocence asked Doan.

"Are you here to tell a story?" 

The other kids lit up at the idea and they chimed in to try to convince the kind knight to tell them all a story. A little girl walked up to the man and tugged on his sleeves.

"Looks like they want you to tell them a story." Ryker pointed at the kids around Doan's legs.

"I wish we could, but I'm looking for my friend. Have you seen him?" Doan asked in a gentle tone as he kneeled down to the kids' levels to speak to them. He ruffled the little girl's hair along with the little boy's hair and smiled. He decided to continue.

"He's this tall" He raised his arm in the air and leveled it around his stomach.

"Does he have blue hair?" A boy in the back who was older than the majority of the kids spoke.

Doan nodded in response. "Yes do you know where he is?"

"Yea he went to the fortune teller tent." The boy raised his arm to the side and pointed in the direction of the tent.

With that information, Ryker was already on his way out of the storytelling tent, seeing no point in staying any longer. Doan nodded and gave a brief thank you.

"Well children, I have to be off, you all be good now." 

"No! Don't go, tell us a story first!" The boy who hugged him whined.

"I'm sorry little one, I must go find my young friend first." Doan patted the little boy's head and walked out. The last thing he heard was the little boy bursting into tears.

** ** **

The sky was dim purple and the greens were a lighter hue outside. The sun was going down, as the sky darkened. Rena was feeding the king's private Candys. She had a bowl of mushed up grass mixed with slices of Pels, a green triangular fruit. She had walked a few miles to the Acid Forest to pick them.

"Good girl, make sure to eat all of it, the king needs you to be at perfect health at all times." Rena pet the Candy's hair.

She repeated the feeding process for the rest of the Candys. She exited the pink fence area, and walked back inside the castle through a back entrance. As she walked through the corridor, she came across Lance, an older Sugar Knight. All Sugar Knights ranged around 17 to 31, whereas Lance was 43 years old. He was the oldest knight. 

"Good afternoon Lance, have you seen the king?" 

"To you as well Rena, our majesty is in the portrait room, I just came back from there." Lance informed.

"Very well, thank you Lance, I shall leave you to your duties." Rena gave a slight bow and walked off.

When she arrived at the portrait room, the door was already wide open. She stepped inside seeing the king sitting on a model of a Black Licorice Basilisk, as a painter in front of him drew a portrait of him. She gave a curtly nod to the male painter before walking to the king.

"Greetings your majesty, I hope your evening is going well." Rena smiled.

"Ah, it's a pleasure to always see you Rena." King Dulcee smiled back. 

Ever since Rena had been saved by the king when she was a little girl, she had decided to move to Sweeten, gain citizenship, and devote her life to her king.

"Your majesty, did you really have to infuse all of your power into that reward?" Rena came forward with her question.

King Dulcee chuckled. "Do not fret, it's not my power, just an abundant amount of candy energy. What everyone forgets is that candy energy replenishes much faster than other life energies out there. I'll be back to full tank in about 3 days." He explained.

"I do wonder who will be the lucky winner to earn the reward, and if they'll even know how to access it." The king added.

"Yes I agree, I trust our people to use that reward for a good cause. Whoever receives it, I know it will be in good hands." 

** ** **

Art kept on trying to contact Tempo through the blue crystal, when 2 figures stepped through the entrance going unnoticed by Art.

"Come on please answer!" Art pleaded.

"Hey kid what ya doin'?" A voice broke his focus. He turned around and noticed Doan and Ryker standing right behind him, looking at the blue table.

"Why are you all by yourself?" Doan asked.

"I wasn't, a bit ago there was a lady with a weird blue smoke or mist and she had a deep voice and spoke like a man but looked like a lady and then she told me I was in grave danger and that everyone here was too and then she moved the mist and turned it into a circle and walked through disappearing!!" Art ran out of breath quickly telling the 2 about everything in one breath.

Doan and Ryker exchanged looks. Ryker started to laugh and Doan shook his head and smiled, finding the vivid imagination of the child amusing.

"You could've said yes, you didn't have to make up that strange story." Ryker said in between laughter. He held his stomach after laughing for a while.

"It's true! We're all in danger!" Art turned around, and threw his arms up. Doan placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Calm down, come on let's go get something to eat. You didn't eat breakfast today, hunger must be affecting your imagination." 

Art regained his composure. He stared at Doan and Ryker before nodding in agreement. He rubbed his stomach as it growled.

"Food sounds good."

'It's no use, they don't believe me! Being a kid sucks!' Art inwardly complained.

Once they stepped out of the fortune telling tent, they walked towards the food and prizes tent. Art looked at the ground noticing golden squares spread out forming a pattern that followed all the way to the entrance of the massive building.

When they arrived Art followed the smell of food and quickly got in line to serve himself some food. He didn't need to know where to get it since it was pretty obvious the way there was a line of villagers holding an empty plate. When it was his turn, he quickly got served a strange stew with a small bowl of thin slices of purple meat. He started quickly wolfing down his food, when Doan and Ryker sat down across from him with their own plate of food.

"Ryker, didn't you already eat?" Doan raised his brow.

"That was only an appetizer!" Ryker roared in laughter.

Once they had all finished their food, they got up, cleaning after themselves. Art smiled and looked at them. 

"Let's go to the prizes! I wanna get something!" Art ran off towards the prize counter. The two adults followed behind him.

He stopped and stared at the shelf of different prizes. There were some stuffed plushes and a couple of toys. There were also a few pieces of clothing. From robes to shirts and even trousers. At the very top was a pouch tied down by a golden lace. He pointed to the item and looked at the lady behind the counter.

"How much is that prize?" Art asked.

"That is either two thousand, seven hundred Treats, or fifty villager points." She replied back with a small smile. Doan and Ryker had caught up in time to hear the lady's answer and Ryker shook his head in disbelief.

"I don't think you can afford that lad." Doan added.

"Wait right here!" Art raised his arm in a halting gesture. He started heading for the exit before Doan stopped him.

"Where are you going?" Doan asked, having to yell due to the distance between them.

"I'll be right back!" Art replied, running out of the food and prizes tent.

Ryker approached Doan.

"So where do you think he could've gone?"

"I wouldn't know, maybe he had to go to the bathroom." Doan guessed.

"He did make it seem like it was urgent."

An hour later, a certain blue haired boy entered the tent wearing a satchel, and ran up to the counter. He pulled out 3 dense and red metal blocks. They were each about the size of his palm. He slid the blocks towards the lady with a bright grin.

"Here's three thousand Treats!" 

The lady was wide eyed seeing the red blocks. They reflected a slight tint of red. She picked one up and felt the weight instantly. These were the real deal. She quickly nodded and smiled, placing the 3 blocks behind the counter. She turned around and raised her hand to reach the reward at the top. She grabbed the pouch and placed it gently on the counter. Art instantly grabbed it and started untying the gold lace around it.

"Uhh, what is this?" Art pulled out a small pink rectangle with a black button on the side of it. On the front it had Sweeten's symbol over a white background. At the bottom of the item was a small pink rectangle that got wider at the end, it was very short, so it didn't help Art figure out what it was.

"I thought the king had stopped making them." Ryker said out loud to himself.

Doan turned his head slightly when he heard Ryker speak. He nodded as he recalled King Dulcee no longer making them a few years back. Then he looked at Art and smiled.

"It seems like you have been blessed by the gods lad. What you're holding is a candy energy dispenser." 

Art opened his mouth wide, staring at the candy energy dispenser in his hand. 

'Candy energy? What The Great Remmy and the book in the king's castle talked about?' Art wondered.

"Wait..uhh candy energy?"

"Yes that's exactly right." Doan responded.

"If you're wondering how to use it, first connect it to yourself so it turns on. Since the dispenser fuses with you in order for you to hold candy energy within you." He instructed.

"You mean I'm gonna be able to use the candy energy?" Art asked.

Doan nodded, grabbing the dispenser and connecting it to the boy's shirt. As soon as it made contact with his shirt it shrank in size, adjusting to the size of Art's body. Art felt a small little tingle all over his skin, as the dispenser gave a small pink glow.

"Woah." Ryker was speechless.

"Go on, press the button." Doan told Art.

Art nodded, a big smile plastered on his face. He pressed the button and almost in an instant a tiny pink pebble the size of a Pel seed fell into Art's hands. Art was no adult man, but the small round object made his hand appear larger. 

"I thought it was gonna give me candy energy?" Art stood, confused.

"You have to eat the pink pebble lad." Doan instructed.

Art popped the pink pebble into his mouth, and a couple seconds later he felt the small tingle back again, but this time it felt smoother, much softer.

"Do that however many times you want, it's quite close to being infinite." Doan chuckled.

"Okay."

Art smiled, happy with the day. So much had happened in the carnival. First, he had gone into the Farmer's Tent, then the Cavern Tent. After that, he went to the Fortune Telling tent in which he saw a lady who told him his future. Then he met Tempo. He told him the truth and the upcoming threat. 

Suddenly, he remembered Tempo's words after he disappeared.

He clenched his fist with a smile on his face. 

'I have candy energy now Tempo, I promise you I'll get stronger, much stronger.' He tightened his fist.

A loud thunder sounding roar broke his thoughts, as an enormous aerial ship made of metal descended down just a few miles near the front gate of the kingdom. The villagers and everyone in the kingdom froze in fear. They all knew what the thunderous roar was.

It was the sound of a warship.