My mother and the rest of the group from Riven wood had just set out from the Bell kingdom to Thaloria. The journey would probably take them a month or so as they still have to cross to the central continent. My father had given them most of the gold that Bett gave him for that purpose.

  We had only used five gold pieces from the thirty on the trip from Riven wood to here and now the three of us were only left with five. The other ten was given to the leaving group.

  We were planning to start looking for Bett’s partner today but our bodies were still tired so went back to the inn we were staying in, planning to start the search tomorrow, and decided to discuss how we would search for him.

  This was the first time I had stayed in an inn since I had come to this world. I had only stayed at our house and slept outside on this trip and that was it. The smell of oak wood and the murmurs and shouts of adventurers excited me, even at this time.

  We gathered in the room and my father started the conversation.

  “So, we don’t know the first thing about her partner. We don’t know his name, how he looks, anything. The only thing we have is the necklace she gave you” he pointed at the necklace resting against my chest.

  I had bought a string and was wearing it on my neck since we arrived yesterday.

  My father continued, “I suggest we ask the knights first just like Bett said ,and if that doesn’t bear fruit, we will start looking on our own”

  That was a straightforward plan but that was what I had been thinking as well. Both Trix and I nodded to show our agreement.

  The conversation was short and we sat in silence for what seemed like hours. There was some tension in the air and I realized that Bett and my mother were the one’s that made the three of us talk a lot. I of course speak with my father a lot but since Trix was here, we couldn’t talk. My father’s fingers tapped against his knee, while Trix stared at the floor, each of us lost in the silence.

  The day ended uneventfully and I decided to read about the Bell kingdom then sleep to converse my energy for whatever awaits us tomorrow.

  The Bell kingdom, it was a kingdom that one of the ten jades from two thousand years ago was born from. The man was named Bell the first. The Bell kingdom actually didn’t have a name until after the war. It was an unknown territory.

  Bell had a different type of magic on top of the main four elemental magics, Sound magic.

  This type of magic had been passed down to the royal bell family. The main job of the royal bell family was to ring a bell on sunrise and sunset. The sound would travel throughout every continent. One could say that it was an impractical clock of this world.

  The bell was supposedly a very big one, almost two floors big and what made it hearable across the world was the effect of sound magic.

  This was enough so I decided to stop and go to sleep. My mind drifted though, thinking the worst but it disappeared when sleep took me away.

  The next day, we went to the palace to ask one of the knights. There were knights near the entrance to the kingdom and some roaming around ,but. since we didn’t want to go back to the entrance and we couldn’t find any knights patrolling, we decided to go to the palace, where knights would most certainly be.

  The palace was a gigantic circular building, bigger than anything I have seen in this world before. It was like one of the biggest football stadiums in my old world.

  As we arrived near the palace, two guards stopped us, coming from both left and right.

  “State your business?” said one of them

  “We are looking for someone” my father replied

  “Then why did you come here?” said the other

  My father looked at me and I took out the necklace and showed it to them. Their eyes widened and in shock as they saw it.

  “Where did you get this?” said the guard with an almost scared voice

  “My master gave me this” I replied firmly

  “Do you know what this is?” I shook my head and he continued, “This is the insignia of the royal Bell family”

  I was shocked by what I just heard, I turned to my father and Trix but they were as shocked as I am.

  “Our deepest apologies, noble disciple of the royal family. Please, allow us to escort you to the royal chamber.” they said, bowing down to us.

  What is going on here? Was my immediate thought. Bett wasn’t from a royal family since my mother would have been one as well, the only explanation was that her partner is from the royal bell family, and since the guard was leading us to the royal chamber, her partner must be the king.

  Let’s go along with this was my final decision. This could lead us right to Bett’s partner.

  The knights stood up and started leading us into the palace. The place was tidy and you could see a lot of knights, their hand on the hilt of their sword, some holding spears with both hands, certainly looking out for anything dangerous.

  We arrived at the main gate of the palace, which was just a few steps from where we had been standing before. The knights opened the gate and signaled us to get in. Everything was moving so fast but at least, our goal was getting closer.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  We walked through the halls and there were statues and some works of art. Except for the portraits of people I assumed to be former members of the royal Bell family or maybe kings; all the other artworks depicted bells.

  After a bit of walking, we arrived at a door, a little smaller than the main gate. The knights opened the door for us, the door softly creaking and walked away saying they can’t get in without permission. This gave me a weird sense that we could be in trouble.

  I looked behind me and I saw my father gAve me a supporting nod, I looked back to the other side and saw a determination I haven’t seen before on Trix’s eyes.

  I clenched my fists and walked in. As soon as I was past the door, I felt a cold sensation behind my neck.

  “State your business” came a sound from behind me. I couldn’t look back but I knew someone had put a sword on my neck. All I could see was a fat man with a lot of expensive jewels sitting on the throne.

  I’d made sure to wear the necklace openly, hoping to avoid another misunderstanding. Yet here I was, with a blade at my neck.

  The man sitting on the throne looked and examined me a lot and said, “Where did you get that necklace?”

  I didn’t want to answer any false answers since that may get me killed and I replied truthfully with a loud voice.

  “My master gave me this”

  As soon as he heard that, I could see his eyes narrow but he raised his hand and the coldness I felt disappeared and a bald man appeared besides him.

  “So who exactly is your master and who are you?” asked the fat man his eyes now showing a hint of hatred

  I turned back to my father and Trix who were shocked by what happened. I myself had been processing what had happened just now.

  I tried to compose my self and realized I should bow down since I was in-front of a king.

  I bowed down on my left knee and my father and Trix followed suit.

  “Let me introduce myself. I am Kael Ashford from Riven wood and the ones besides me are my father and my colleague, Gale and Trix" I was looking at him while talking and his eyebrows furrowed when I had mentioned Trix. Following a brief pause, I continued, "We travelled to the Bell kingdom to get away from an invasion of vampires and also to find my master’s partner.”

  “An invasion of vampires you say? I have heard of this rumor for a long time and there hasn’t been anything yet and you say the invasion had already began, huh?”

  “Yes” I answered firmly

  “Quite amusing. And you say you are looking for your master’s partner?” he said putting his fingers on his chin.

  “Yes, and I believe it may be you” I replied, though I had a lot of doubt about it.

  “So answer the first question now, who is your master?”

  “My master’s name is Bett Lucidea and she is the one that gave me this necklace”

  The man mouth curled into a devilish smile, “And where is she now?” he asked

  “She,” I stuttered. I knew I had to say it but I couldn’t get it out of my mouth. It was like I didn’t want to believe she died.

  “She died, your majesty” said my father. I looked back at him and I could see the regret still lingering in his eyes

  “Hoh” a laugh escaped the king

  “Hahahahahahahahah," his laugh echoed through the chamber, "finally, that pig died!”

  What the? Why is he laughing.

  Suddenly, I felt anger growing inside of me. I didn’t do anything reckless since that bald guy could probably kill me and since the fat man was a king. I tried to contain my anger but I couldn’t. This was one of the first times I had felt an emotion as strong as this.

  Besides me, Trix stood up. I wanted to tell her to get back down but I stopped when I saw the tears in her eyes. She started walking slowly to the throne, her fists clunched.

  “How dare you!!” she said.

  She started running to the throne. The bald guy was about to move but the supposed king stopped him with a raise of his hand. He probably thought a kid like Trix wouldn’t dare do anything to him.

  Trix charged and stopped at the small stairway that was a little lower than the throne. She started walking slowly again.

  “How dare you!?!, how dare you!?!, how dare you say that about Bett??!!”

  I heard a loud slap. Trix had slapped the king. Everyone was dumbfounded but the anger in me resided by a little bit.

  “You peasant, do you know what you just did?” said the king standing up. He continued, “Vorstag, arrest them!” he ordered.

  “Yes my king” said Vorstag

  I could feel something I felt when I first saw Drazor. He was strong, but this feeling was very less than that one. He wasn’t even a quarter intimidating as Drazor was, maybe he was just weaker than him or maybe I had become stronger.

  My father and I got up, assuming stances to fight. Trix also jumped back, sensing the danger but, Vorstag caught up to her in a flash, seizing her by the hair and took out a dagger from his pocket.

  “Surrender or I will kill this girl” he said, putting the dagger's tip near her neck.

  No, we couldn’t lose Trix right now, and this man may actually kill her.

  As so, we surrendered.

  The same knights that guided us in were called with some more guards and seized us.

  The king ordered, “Throw them in the bell dungeon!!! They shall face the worst punishment in the Bell kingdom”

  After that the knights started pushing us and took out us out of the royal chamber. Surprisingly, the king didn’t take the necklace away even though he looked at it disgustingly.

  We were led through a smelly and moist tunnel until we arrived in-front of a door. I looked at my dad and then at Trix. My dad gave me a nod as if to say everything would be fine while Trix was looking down with guilt in her eyes. Seems like her act of being tough had finally stopped.

  The door was probably the entrance to the bell dungeon, whatever it was.

  The door opened and I could see some people in sight.

  “Get in” said the knights, shoving us inside.

  Trix fell flat on her face, probably since she was unfocused but my dad and I didn’t fall.

  I stared at the door as it closed and I could see some doubt in the knights’ eyes. Trix got back up and sat with her back against a wall. Everything was silent for sometime until one of the people behind us talked.

  “So what did kids like you do to get here?”

  “We had a misunderstanding with…someone important” I replied

  The man showed a slight smile as if he knew who I was talking about

  “Just say the king. Everyone here had something to do with that grubby fake king”

  Fake king!?!? What did he mean by that.

  “What do you mean ‘fake king’!?” I asked

  “Oh, I guess you are a travelers. The king you saw isn’t the real king, he was just the royal minister until 3 months ago”

  What the-??? I thought that the man I met before was the king and Bett’s partner. How had I not doubt that a fat disgusting man like that would be Bett’s partner? This actually makes something explainable.

  “But I am quite interested how kids like you even got a meeting with the minister and what you did to him?”

  Excluding the invasion, Bett and the necklace, I told him everything that happened since we arrived here.

  “Hahahahahahaha, you guys slapped the minister, you have got some guts,” he burst out laughing, even some of the other people in the dungeon laughed, ”though that still doesn’t explain how you got into the royal chamber”

  “Sorry, we can’t tell you about that….. that’s a little complicated”

  “Ah, no worries, you gave as a good laugh. Damn I can’t wait to see how Edwyn would react when he hears about this.”

  “Hear about what?” came a calm voice from a region I thought was a wall.

  “Oh, so you came back from your hunt”

  “Yeah, I got a boar, I’m sure this will suffice for a week.” he looked at us, “And it seems we have new arrivals as well, and it seems two of them are ki-”

  He stopped mid sentence.

  “Wait is that you Trix?” asked Edwyn. Trix finally looked up for the first time since we arrived here. Her face was almost unrecognizable because of her mood.

  “Do you recognize the girl Edwyn?”

  “I think, though I’m not sure”

  “You said Trix huh, isn’t that Bett’s apprentice. If I remember correctly she is usually bright”

  “Yeah, you’re right. But I can for sure say she resembles Trix”

  “Yeah now that you mention it, I can’t deny she looks like her”

  Huh? What was going on here? Did these two know Trix? If so why didn’t the guy recognize her until now?

  “Sorry men, but do you know Trix here?” asked my father with confusion and seriousness in his sound.

  “Even their names are the same, this can’t be a coincidence Remond.”

  Edywn started to move towards Trix. My father got in between.

  “I asked if you know her?!” said my father with a loud voice.

  Edwyn, as if understanding what my father was worried about, “Sorry, mister. She just looks like my partner’s student”

  That gave me a signal, Edwyn might really know Trix because he is Bett’s partner.

  “Could I ask who you’re partner is?” I asked boldly. I also took out the necklace deeming that if he is Bett’s partner he would recognize it and I was right. As soon as he saw it his eyes widened, surprised, as every other person who saw the necklace until now.

  “Where did you get this?” he asked

  “My master gave it to me”

  He looked at me with a confused look but then asked, “Are you perhaps Kael Ashford?” This was the confirmation I needed, though I wasn’t sure if he was Bett’s partner, I was one hundred percent sure he knew her.

  “Yes sir, I am Kael Ashford”

  “Um, where is Bett, isn’t she with you?” he said worriedly, looking around

  Trix when hearing the mention of Bett, sprang up.

  “How do you know my master?” she said

  “Oh so you really are Trix, and well Bett is supposed to be my wife in the future, but she hasn’t sent any letters yet, not that I would be able to read them anyway but, Gubran always burn’s them in front of me but that hasn’t happened in two months?”

  So he was Bett’s partner.

  “Mister Edwyn-”

  I was about to tell him about Bett’s death but I faltered. How would he feel if he knew about it now. Trix couldn’t also say anything. My father took the lead again as if he read my mind.

  He took a deep breath, his voice steady but heavy. “Edwyn, I’m sorry, but Bett… she’s gone. She was killed in the vampire invasion, by Drazor of the ten jades.”

  Edwyn froze, his calm demeanor fracturing as the weight of the words sank in. “What... What did you just say?” he stammered, his voice breaking.

  The silence that followed was suffocating. For a moment, I thought he might lash out, but instead, he sank to the ground, his hands trembling. “Bett… she can’t be… gone.”