A King's Truth

Doan and Art sat down, each beside the king. The king took a deep breath, wincing as he did so. He looked at Doan and Art. He broke into a coughing fit. Doan placed his hand on the king's back. The king raised his hand, gesturing he was okay.

"Well where shall I begin?" King Dulcee cleared his throat.

** ** ** **

Around 200 years ago, during the War of the Divided, Terra was incredibly unstable. Alliances were being made in secret, and the leaders of the nations were all distrusting of one another. Hundreds of warships were deployed by the elemental territories against Mento, a futuristic metropolitan nation, twice in size and power compared to the neighboring nations. One particular group had gotten word of the state of Sweeten. The youngest spawn of the royal Dulcee bloodline had gone on an expedition, leading a group of men to the farthest regions of Terra.

A certain man was adventuring on an island near the center and was caught in the fire of the other nations. However the other nations did not care for this person was Ferdinand Dulcee, the upcoming king of Sweeten. The other nations had as much trust in Sweeten as they had in Mento.

"My men, we shall not falter for we all have consumed the petals of prolongment!" A young Ferdinand spoke. 

"Yeah!" A couple voices cheered in unison, feeling revitalized by their commander's uplifting words.

"Ferdinand, what are we going to do about the weaker men? They aren't trained for this type of situation." A man around Ferdinand's age spoke.

"Lance, you'll be in charge of steering the men away from the island. Set up an escape route unseen by the enemies. I'll leave it to you to figure it out."

"Very well." Lance nodded.

The sound of explosions nearby resonated in a mile radius. No warships were seen, but they were definitely heard by the men and Ferdinand. 

** ** ** ** **

"So what happened after that? Also, what are the petals of perlongment?" Art asked, interrupting the king in the middle of his story.

"The petals of prolongment, are petals from a certain flower that can be found on a small island south of Mento. It increases the lifespan for whomever consumes it." King Dulcee explained, correcting the boy.

Art looked at Doan for help feeling confused.

"They are petals from a flower which allow a person to live longer. They can be found in the deeper areas of the Frozen Fields, an island near Mento, the metropolitan nation.

The king smiled slightly and gave a nod, agreeing with his knight.

** ** ** ** **

Ferdinand looked around the destroyed landscape. He turned and looked at his men. A few had expressions of worry and fear on their faces, the tougher ones had a fierce look in their eye, staying alert as they walked forwards, away from the direction of the frozen cave they had found the Glacial flowers in.

There was an electrical buzzing sound followed by an explosion directly on the men in the back. The men in front, looked back in shock as they heard screams from the men. 3 of the 5 men in the back were gone in an instant, no trace left, not a single scrap of clothing.

Ferdinand looked back horrified.

"What's going on!"

"Sir! 3 of our men have been eleminated completely by that air craft up there! Gene, Belder, and Dean have been lost! Escape is impossible, it seems they had insider intel on us and our visit to the Frozen Fields!" Lance yelled out, informing Ferdinand.

"If retreat is unfeasible, then we shall prepare for battle!" Ferdinand yelled back.

The cold mist in the air, gave a serious advantage to the air ship. Ferdinand squinted, unable to spot the ship. He looked at the men beside him, some were starting to look worried, the rest, pressed a black button on a strange pink rectangular device, connected to their bodies.

Ferdinand turned his head, glancing around the cold frozen environment. All that he could see were bare frozen trees and thick snow on the ground. The sound of the ship could be heard but it was coming from multiple directions.

'Don't tell me?' Ferdinand looked the opposite way, realizing there was a second warship.

"My men, activate your candy energy dispensers, and begin formation!" He ordered, getting into a defensive stance himself.

The men proceeded, to line up, each next to one another, kneeling down as they, rapidly pressed the button on their dispensers. As soon as they consumed the pink round candies that appeared from the dispenser, they began forming, a solid pink wall, that started increasing in size and thickening.

Ferdinand, raised his arm up, focusing on his candy energy. He trusted his men to create a barrier strong enough to stop the ship from attacking. He didn't bother looking back, he had to deal with the ship which was camouflaging in the cold snowy sky. The Frozen Fields were currently getting hit by a massive blizzard. The heavy snowfall, blocked his sight majorly.

Nonetheless, he moved his arm, thrusting it upwards as a pink substance started flowing out of his hand, sliding down the ground and hardening as it formed stairs.

He started running up the stairs quickly, and creating more stairs, matching his speed. The stairs opened up the view in front of him, to his luck the ship being right in front of him. He jumped above the ship with unnatural agility and power, then he twisted his body midair. He created 2 walls, on each side of the ship.

His men had the ability to use the candy energy thanks to Ferdinand creating a device using a magic spell that could link to their life force. However, they weren't able to control it fully. After they had created an object or deployed a creation it wouldn't be able to move. That's why they only limited themselves to creating walls and barriers.

Ferdinand, swung his hands towards one another grasping on to them, and at the same time, the pink walls, moved at rapid speeds, in between the ship, crushing it. As he fell he samersaulted in the air, landing on the remains of the ship right before, kicking it with both legs, bringing it down.

** ** ** **

"Woah so you're really strong! You really beat a whole ship by yourself?" Art asked the king, eyes wide in amazement.

King Dulcee nodded, looking at the boy.

"However unfortunately I wasn't able to save everyone." He sighed.

** ** ** **

The black smoke from the destroyed ship surrounded him, blocking his perception. He heard multiple explosions and a few screams from his men. He ran forwards, passing through the smoke, but it was too late.

The ship that he had entrusted his men to block out had broken through the candy barrier and eliminated them all. Seeing it that it's comrade ship was taken down it assessed the situation beyond its control or power so it retreated.

He looked around, nothing but black smoke within the icy cold area. There were small traces of the men's clothing laying on the ground.

"Oh, Ferdinand! I'm so glad to see you alive." A man limped weakly towards him from behind a large rock.

"Lance! Is your leg broken?" Ferdinand asked his friend, relieved to know at least one survived.

Lance laughed weakly, he continued coming closer to Ferdinand.

"Yea but it's nothing." He stopped. Staring at the pieces of cloth laying on the ground.

"I couldn't even save them." He cursed himself, in a heavy tone.

Ferdinand placed a hand on his friends shoulder.

"We shall carry this burden alone friend."

** ** ** **

Years later, Ferdinand's grandfather passed and he became king, due to his father being absent.

He was kneeled down in his room where he had put up a few empty shelves. He had decided he was not going to make the mistake again. He hadn't taught enough about his powers, so he decided to start writing journals about it.

Meanwhile, he had currently formed a circle on the ground, using his candy energy. He placed his palm in the center of the circle and the circle started to glow.

'With this spell I cast, agression and hostility I shall banish.' As soon as he finished, the ground exploded with a bright pink light that engulfed the village and the castle equally. A second later everything went back to normal, as the light faded away.

He exited his journal room and walked outside, leaving his castle for the first time in weeks and descended down to the lower levels of the kingdom.

A small crowd of villagers all approached him with warm smiles.

"Your Majesty, what brings you down here today?" A man asked kindly.

"My lord, are you having a pleasant day?" A middle aged woman, wearing a worn down brown dress that covered her body.

He just waved at them with a smile and continued down, making sure his spell worked.

As he approached the second level of the village, he remained vigilant. Lots of poor people stole around this level. However all he saw were bright smiles, and warm welcomes.

He finally concluded his spell had worked. He had erased all hostility from the kingdom by casting a mind control spell.

'Maybe this way, I can save them next time.' He prayed inwardly.

** ** ** ** **

"Your majesty, I will not hold it against you if you thought casting such a spell was the right idea." Doan spoke, placing a hand on the king.

"You did what you had to. Though I may wonder, if you erased agression and hostility by controlling everyone's minds, how come I still feel plenty agression at times?"

King Dulcee, rubbed his beard, unable to come up with an answer.

"Well to me it's a mystery as well, there's a few of you in the kingdom who were not affected by the spell. You, Ryker, Mary, and Art."

Art looked at the king.

"Well I wasn't here and I also wasn't born when you did that spell." He smiled.

The king chuckled. "It's a spell that remains in a certain radius of the atmosphere. The moment you enter it, it activates, erasing all hostility."

He suddenly felt much weaker, as his eyes felt heavy.

"It seems my time is up now." He looked at Art.

"I believe you will put the candy energy to good use, you have a kind soul, and you're a good kid with splendid stamina, I know you'll be a great man one day." He smiled cheerfully, slowly laying on the ground.

"Doan, train the boy, and make sure to help him hone his strength, I trust in your skills, you are a trump card for this kingdom, thanks to your techniques." He looked at his most favored Sugar Knight.

"You've been a wonderful knight under me all these years and I know you'll become greater." His words starting coming to a halt.

"You two.. live a prosperous.. life" The king finally closed his eyes, smiling as he gave his final words.