Invitation

Chase slowly opened the door to his temporary room within the grand castle of Rider's Kingdom. 

Limping over to the mirror of the small tile-floored bathroom, he hesitated before he took a look at himself in the mirror. 

When he did, he let out a sigh. 

His hair had dark mud-brown tips, but most of it had become golden once more, as it reached the top of his shoulders in length. 

His green eyes looked lifeless, with dark bags swelled up underneath them. 

Cuts and scars ran along his gaunt face like an intricate needle had sowed it together, not to say that it was so bad that he would need an entire restructure of his face, as many healers could mend such things; however, healers were quite rare in the current age, and the only he that he knew had died.

The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth, he shook his head and splashed his face with cold water. 

His armor had already been thrown aside, as there wasn't much left of it. Sazir had truly put up one hell of a fight, which brought that same thought back to him. 

How had he beaten someone so far ahead of him once again. 

He looked down at his hands, his once pale skin had been stained red by the blood of both his enemies and his allies. 

"How old am I again?"

He muttered to himself, feeling a strange rush of confusion. 

Drawing his dagger from the sheathe on his hip, he grabbed his hair, pulling it with his left hand, and took a swift slash at the wildly long and filthy hair. 

He wondered what Poppy, Neo, and even Jack were up to. 

Glancing down at his dagger, he spoke to himself, or more so the dead, which he had found himself doing a lot lately. 

"Father, I did it... Your murderers are dead... I have avenged you..."

The continent of Vallmora now only had eleven great kingdoms, as Frostfang had been wiped entirely off of the map. 

It was a strange feeling, to be at the center of world altering event such as that. But he couldn't help shake the feeling that there had been a much darker reason hidden behind the true scale of the war. 

To be frank, he did not trust Rider. 

He had not seen or spoken to Leander since the night before the war, which also left a bad feeling within his mind. 

The surviving members of Task Force Unity had all been invited to a grand feast within the castle by King Rider himself. 

Chase knew the reason of course, it was no secret after all. 

He had revealed his identity to the world, and now there was no hiding who he was, no matter where in the world he ran to, people would always be able to recognize him as the last heir of Vallmora, and the only living descendant of the Phoenix Clan. 

After cleaning himself up, he sat down on the neatly made bed of the expensive royal room, and glanced around. 

Everything in it was expensive, and made of fine materials that could not even be dreamed of within a town like Willowmere. 

'Why had father chosen to live in Willowmere...?'

Was there a distinct reason other than it being far away from any large governed city? He had no way to know. 

He tucked his dagger underneath the silk pillow, and rested his head, as he stared at the ceiling above him.

He feared sleep, so he did not close his eyes.

He feared where his sleep would take him, he had grown quite anxious of the multitude of strange recurring dreams. 

'Kade, Sparky, Cloudy, Blaze, Summer, Danny, and-'

His thoughts trailed off, and he was left in a daze as he lost track of all time and even traces of reality. 

How strong had he grown since that night? He wondered, clenching his hand into a fist.

'It's not enough.'

He thought, blinking hard two or three times. 

'Not enough for what?'

He asked himself. 

"What could I possibly do now? Become a Paladin?" There was no point, he wanted to change things not follow the same damn order that everyone before him had blindly followed like sheep.

Then pulling him out of a daze, he heard a quiet knock on the door. 

After making sure his dagger was still resting underneath his pillow, he pushed himself out of bed, and slowly made his way to the door. 

He couldn't shake the feeling of dread upon reaching the door, something strange about it brought him a cold chill down his spine. 

His hand touched the cold bronze door knob, causing an ache somewhere deep within his withered mind. 

He slowly turned the knob, feeling the image of Hero's Fang, wait patiently within his catalyst. 

"Hey..."

Poppy greeted with a neutral expression, her ivory hair swaying with the cold breeze of the castle halls. 

Chase put his hands behind his back, and pinched himself hard just to make sure this wasn't another one of his strange dreams.

"Hi?"

It was more so a question than a greeting, he wondered why the princess of the Aries clan had arrived in such a distant place, but then remembered what Vivian had said before leaving the Oasis. 

'It's dangerous to return to the academy... Why had she said that?'

He thought, waving his hand in a gesture that was meant to welcome Poppy in. 

She had a strange look in her crimson eyes, as if she did not really want to be there, which only brought more dread to the current situation. 

Once the door closed, Poppy sighed.

"You killed Sazir... And not only that but decided to let the world know who you are..."

Chase nodded, realizing just how careless the act the was.

He had a feeling he knew why she was there, and couldn't let that feeling go until she leaved, the forces of Vallmora acted swiftly underneath their Grand Paladin after all. 

She lowly walked toward Chase, as wind blew from the open window. 

It was around evening outside, and the bright lights of Rider's Kingdom lit up the entire city, and everything around it, so stars were quite rare to see here unlike Phoenix Academy.

Then just as his thoughts started to trail off, she did something completely unlike her, which only secured his original theory. 

Her warm lips graced his in a swift manner, as his eyes widened with dread.