A Bright day always follows a Dark Night...

The ground beneath shook as the monster charged toward Pearl with great speed. It was quick for its large size. 

Vidan looked carefully with lines of stress on his face, he didn't wanted Pearl to turn into a chapati. 

But his stressed face eased up when he saw Pearl jump abnormally high in the air.

The monster looked around in confusion where its puny-looking prey had vanished.

"-Double hammer fist-"Like a comet Pearl plummeted down from the air and struck the monster with her hammer fists.

"BOOM" The sound resonated around the whole area. 

The monster's leg sprawled wide open and it smashed to the ground giving out shock waves. Without giving the monster any time to act she started punching it with her bare knuckles. 

"KEEEE" "KEEEE"

The monster screeched beneath her 'tiny-looking' hands as she landed punches one after another. 

Vidan was left bewildered. The reverberating screech made him question who the real monster was among the two and he felt a little sorry for the Bettle monster now.

Now it made all sense as to why his party was unbothered by this one sided looking encounter, and now seeing how things had unfolded it looked exactly one sided.

'Never judge a book by its cover, especially in this world.' Vidan reminded himself.

Pearl countined her heavy strikes showing no mercy to the monster and in no time it's exoskeleton shattered like a glass under the heavy blows.

"KERRRRRR"

The monster screeched one last time and dropped dead.

Vidan felt a surge of excitement rising in his body. 

Magic, Magical beasts, Magical Items, Magic infused attacks, Magical World, and then some more magic was what he had dreamt all his life and now he was here witnessing everything firsthad. 

Even though Vidan could access fights and scenes through the Prince's memory but it was stale as compared to this.

"LET"S GO !" he announced and without bothering for anyone or the dark stairs and started to make his way down.

He had walked only a few steps when the same spotlight illuminated under him.

Downstairs, he was not sure if the Church would let them leave without any hindrance but they seemed unbothered so he ran his way out to meet his little devil of his sister. 

----____----

"PEARL ! PEARL ! THAT WAS AMAZING." Vidan shouted in excitement as soon as he saw her from the distance. 

"BROTHER !!!!" as soon as she heard her brother's voice she pounced up in the air like a frightened cat.

"Wahhhhh" Vidan looked at her with her half open mouth as she effortlessly floated high in the air with her face turned completely cherry red.

"WAHHHH" Then the corpse of the beetle caught Vidan's attention, and he then quickly jumped closer to it in complete awe as the the monster looked even more menacing up close.

Vidan was like a magic-hungry child who was thrown into a world where everything intrigued him.

"WHAT POWER !" his eyes glittered as he felt the hard exoskeleton of the monster. The imapact of Pearl punches were so much that the whole exoskeleton had carved in.

Vidan was dying to know more about this world and especially more about the 'prana' magic or whatever it was.

"Ummm" Pearl had hid behind Miya and peeped from behind her not sure what wrong she had done again to get a visit from her brother. 

Vidan turned around to face her, he was already aware as to why Pearl was acting so timid around him. Through the memories he had found that the two siblings didn't share a healthy relationship and the prince was the sole reason for it.

Vidan would have overlooked the situation and dealt with it later but it was not some menial bullying.

In the past year prince had made sure that Pearl was deprived of any kind of friends, or any form of love from around her. He had even manupilated his own family into hating this little innocent girl.

Her life had been turned to basically hell by her own blood.

Vidan had searched wide to find any concrete reason or incident for this deep-rooted hatred, and realized that the Prince's actions were instigated because Pearl had awakened last year, which made her a prodigy. This reason was enough for the Prince's insecurities to trigger and take out his frustrations upon Pearl.

Vidan could see traces of himself in this little girl. He had been lonely all his life without having anyone to go to and just like Pearl his own blood had brought him misery.

'This couldn't continue at any cost.' Vidan thought to himself. 

"Pearl, come here." Vidan spoke and instantly could feel a hostile aura directed towards him from the starry girl. 

This was somewhat reassuring to him that the little girl had atleast someone by her side in such difficult times.

"Pearl" Vidan spoke again this time as softly as he could.

The little girl stepped aside from Miya. Her head was still hung low and she stared at the nothing on the ground.

She looked like a child waiting to get an earful from her parents, complete opposite to what she was minutes earlier.

Vidan walked upto her and stood infront of her. She hardly reached his chest so he got down on hunches.

"You were amazing little sister." he spoke looking at her and making the best smile he could. 

"Umm" Pearl rasied her head and blinked her large hazel eyes in confusion, she was unsure what her elder brother was upto this time.

"The way you stopped that monster Pearl. You were so strong." He gently patted her little head "I am proud of you my little sister."

She visibly eased up. 

"Is Elder Brother Mikhail proud of Pearl... I do a good job ?" She asked innocently, 

"You did the best." Mikhail spoke remembering how well she had fought, and he himself passionately stood up. 

"You were so strong and brave. Like when you stood infront of it."

"And then you flew up in the air - "

By the time Vidan was completely zoned out, and had started to shadow box and kicking at the air.

At the moment he himself was up against the beast. 

"POW!"

"POW!" 

And then more POW! POW !" He jumped from one place to another taking different stances.

Vidan was so engrossed in his own little world that by the time he came back to reality everyone was giggling all around him.

With narrowed eyes he looked from face to face and the giggles ceased one by one.

'So much so for making a little girl happy.' He sighed and smilingly looked towards the clear sky over his head. Doing stupid things and laughing about them itself was a privelage, it was a sign of happy and peaceful time.

"Thank You Brother Mikail" Vidan was still lost in his thoughts when Pearl walked upto him with a pebble sized black stone, "This is a gift from Pearl, to elder brother Mikhail. For…For… being Elder Brother Mikhail" She spoke innocently. 

Vidan searched through his memory and realized that the gem was a monster core, which she had most probably got from the Beetle monster. This core had many functions, but most importantly it was used by cultivators to power up. 

But to someone like him who was magicless it was of no use. Vidan could tell Pearl had pure intentions and she was giving him the core beacuse it was the most precious thing she had at the moment. So not wanting to spoil the mood and point out the obvious he gratefully took it.

Pearl's eyes sparkled, and her whole face lit up. Her pink rosy chubby cheeks lifted and a wide bright smile appeared on her lips revealing tiny teeth, with peeking adorable gaps.

It was impossible for Vidan not to return the smile. 

"Elder Brother Mikhail !" out of pure joy she hugged him. 

"Huh…HUh…" Vidan could feel his face getting red hot, he was not used to this.

"P..earl…P..earl…" He squeaked like a little trapped mouse. All these concepts of emotions were as foreign to him as magic, and he didn't know how to react to this.

"Yes Elder Brother Mikhail." She took a step back, looking at him with the innocene of a 10 year old.

Vidan quickly turned his back for he knew well enough that his face was reflecting his emotions. He then announced - "Let.. us all go back t... the castle. Mothers… and others would be worried." his broken speech only added to his embarrassement further.

Without wasting a single moment he walked away with whatever little self-respect he was left with.

"So uncool Prince…So Uncool. Keeps on embarrassing me." he whispered under his breath while walking away.

____

Vidan's party, which was of five now, soon caught up to him as he walked through the streets of Sunspire, towards the castle.

Darius proposed that he could quickly run up to the closest stable and get more Camus for him and the princess but both Vidan and Pearl denied.

Vidan did so as he wanted to know the overall mood of the masses following the battle, and Pearl denied it because Vidan did so.

He still felt a little embarrassed by the whole incident earlier and kept a few paces ahead of the party. 

They hadn't even walked for a minute when the people started appearing on the roads in group of two to three. Every person had a smile on their face and every small group seemed to be engaged in a high-spirited conversation with each other.

Curious on the terms of the truce, Vidan asked Crimson to gather the information. Crimson branched out from the group and disappeared into the crowds.

Vidan and his party walked down the streets and the scenery slowly changed, the groups became thicker and their conversation merrier. Some were singing songs, while some groups formed large circles doing their traditional folkdance.

People happily moved to each other exchanging plesantaries, and sweets. Vidan was also enjoying the whole merry mood shaking his head now then to the songs.

A girl from a nearby group walked up to Vidan with a sweet in her hand.

"Have it" she said while still tapping her feet to the beats of the song.

"Wait, Let me." She added in a carefree manner and walked close to feed him with her own hands.

"Ahhh" Vidan greedily opened his mouth, as the sweet looked delicious. The top half of the sweet was browinsh while the lower was white in colour, it even smelled delicious.

This was his first delicacy of his new world and Vidan was excited as to how it would taste.

But that had to wait longer as out of nowhere Pearl stepped forward taking the sweet from the girl's hand and after giving Vidan a narrowed eyed look ate it in a single bite.

The girl looked a little confused but she decided to walk away in the same carefree manner as she had come.

"Pearl ?" Vidan spoke in a complaining manner as she chewed down on the sweet meant for him.

"Royalty cannot eat from other girls' hands what if it has poison," Pearl stated firmly with folded arms and flared nostrils. 

"Hmmm" Vidan nodded his head, maybe he was being too careless. "But wait…" he looked at her after realizing something.

"…"

"…"

"Aren't you Royalty yourself?"

She pouted and looked away completely disgusted with her elder brother, and Vidan was clueless why.

In the meantime, Crimson came back with information, and it was really something to be celebrated upon.

Sunspire and Drakmoor had not only ended their decades-old war but also formed an alliance. Sunspire's eldest child Jean Leotard was to be married off to the only heir of Drakmoor Kingdom, Theodore Cromwell.

Such diplomatic marriages were nothing new to Vidan, history was filled with such strategic ties between families and kingdoms, but what actually surprised him was that how come he had missed on the information that he had an elder sister.

He looked through his mind to find if he had any more siblings, but there weren't. Then he scanned through the memories to know more about his elder sister, but could only find bits and pieces of information.

Their interactions had been of the least amount.

At present Jean was twenty-two years old, which made her almost seven years older than him. She had been quite a troublemaker all her life and her greatest setback came when she was 'Shadowbranded' from the 'BloodTide Sect' four years back. 

Vidan was clueless about what words like 'Sect' and 'Shadowbranded' meant, this was a major drawback of these memories that he had to consciously tap into them.

Vidan looked the term sect first, he had heard it earlier too from the Archbishop.

~Sect was an organisation that was dedicated to different practices of cultivation. In simpler words it was like an academy for cultivators.

Secondly, he tapped into the word 'Shadowbranded'

~Shadowbranded meant when a disciple was dismissed from one of the top three sects, which also meant that the disciple could not be a part of any other sect.

'She had been the disciple…Shadowbranded disciple of one top sect in the whole nation. She must be pretty impressive' Vidan thought and delved deeper into his memories.

After her dismissal from the sect, she had spent most of her time out of Sunspire.

And the interactions between Mikhail and Jene which were least earlier became almost non-existent.

Unlike Pearl Jene was not someone tolerant of the Prince's nuisance and retaliated with extreme measures. 

A chill ran down Vidan's back as he came across an incident where Jene had beaten Mikhail unconscious when he was just 8.

Vidan felt a kind of sympathy towards the Prince, probably the first time he had sympathised after coming to this world.

Once he was done looking through whatever information was there Vidan made a quick mental note to keep his distance from Jene.

Who knew she might just make him a cripple as a parting gift. 

Vidan shrugged off any further thoughts. It had been a long day and now he only wished for food and a good night sleep. 

By then the celebrations on the streets had turned crazy, everyone seemed to be drunk and dancing on roads or wherever they seemed fit. 

Some drunk men stood on their rooftops waving the Kingdom's flags, and singing their songs.

It was cheerful all around, and it seemed it would be this way for the time being.

Vidan along with his party snaked his way towards the castle.

Thankfully for Vidan, the queen hadn't returned.

He dismissed his party once he had greeted him, and was really thankful to them for the most thrilling day of his life.

Vidan called for the dinner in his room and devoured the dishes one after another. It was the best dinner he had in his lifetime.

It is rightly said by someone that when the food tastes good it means one is content with his life. 

Once full Vidan fell flat on his bed not even bothering to change into different clothes.

That night Vidan slept the most peaceful sleep of his life, but that wouldn't have been the case if he was aware that a 'line pigeon' was set off ,by the ArcBishop, and that pigeon's flattering wings would govern his and Sunspire's future.