What now?

Art remained sitting, next to the king who was laying unmoving on the ground.

He tapped him lightly hoping to cause a stir of movement, however nothing happened.

"Um, King Dulcee?" There was no response. He frowned, turning to look at Doan who gave a brief head shake.

Doan got up and placed a hand on Art's shoulder who was struggling to maintain his composure. His shoulders shook slightly and he noticed his fists clenched tightly.

"Why?" Art spoke out quietly.

Doan kept his hand on the boy's shoulder as he just remained silent, at a loss of words himself.

After a brief moment, he sighed tiredly.

"I'm not sure, maybe it was just fate."

He grasped Art's shoulder tighter and continued.

"He was a good king, a kind man, and my best friend." His voice wavered slightly, as his emotions got the best of him.

"Everyone and everything is gone.." Art looked up at Doan, a tear falling from one of his eyes.

"Why did it destroy everyone?" He spoke with pain in his voice.

"Why did it destroy everything?"

"This is all my fault!" Art proceeded to voice out his frustration as he continued to cry.

"I should've.. I should've.. I should've told everyone when Tempo warned me! I should have told the king about everything!" He stared at Doan, unable to form his words properly.

10 minutes passed, as Art remained sitting next to the king, covering his eyes as he expressed his feelings for all the loss. Doan squeezed his shoulder.

"Come on lad, staying here could be dangerous." He finally spoke.

Art rubbed his eyes with his hands, and calmed his crying. He took a deep breath and sighed out an exhale. He got up and looked at the forest in front of him with a nod.

He turned around and looked at Doan. Doan just nodded back and walked back towards the massive flat plateaus connected to one another. They were grand in size but looked nothing like before due to the massive burn damage they took. He bent his knees and then jumped towards the first flat level of the plateau chain. As he landed he looked around, hoping to see some kinda sign that indicated there were survivors.

However nothing was seen as he jumped up as easily on to the next level of the plateau chain. He continued repeating his actions, keeping a shred of hope in case a single survivor by divine luck managed to escape from a tragic end. He jumped up the third, the fourth, the fifth. He finally jumped to the top level, where he realized it was the king's level. He sped forwards, dashing into the black ground hoping to find any remain of the castle, be it living or not.

Doan finally finished circling through the whole top level, but to his disappointment, nothing was found. Not a human survivor, not a pet, not even a single scroll. He sighed, walking back as he jumped down the levels of the plateau chain, finally jumping off the last one, landing next to Art.

"Did you see anything?" Art looked at Doan, and gave a hopeful smile.

Doan shook his head in response. He looked up at the sky as if he was giving his final goodbye prayers to those that were lost.

"Lad we're the only ones who survived."

Art heard the words, he just couldn't believe it.

How could an entire kingdom, an entire village, an entire nation be destroyed? Completely erased with nothing but burns on the ground left?

He decided to fight off his tears, not wanting to keep crying. He just mimicked his wise friend's actions as he looked up at the sky and closed his eyes. After a couple minutes of silence, he spoke.

"What now?"

Doan looked away from the sky and turned his attention towards Art. He simply stared at the boy, trying to come up with the best solution to their scenario. He straightened up and crossed his arms as he finished deciding on his plans for Art.

"We're going to leave the kingdom behind and explore the Uncharted Lands."