The moment they arrived at the temple, the young prince was immediately escorted inside to begin the spiritual rite of discovering his abilities. The rite lasted for an hour before he was finally let outside, he was put through laborious and intensive exercises. It was a scary experience for the young prince to suddenly let complete strangers examine his body. For the sake of processing the rite's analysis successfully, the priestess needed time to progress it. So she had accommodated the royals with the finest luxury the temple could provide them while they wait.
The priestess assured that there was no safer place for them to be in the whole kingdom but there, for all of her temple members and she herself, is blind and therefore have no way of knowing the royal's appearances. She knew who they were, even without having the King having to introduce himself to her, she could sense who they were simply because of they are of similar descent. There were no other race known for their extraordinary abilities but the fays and the Solkans.
Who would not be fearful? He ventured into the lands of his enemy just for the sake of his son, which is considered to be an ordeal that very much cost the King his pride. But the faculty there were indeed blind and have practiced with their lives to be familiar in their environment using their other senses. The King was at ease with their safety however, rather impatient to know of his son's rare capability.
As he sat there in his golden chair, arms crossed and shaking his leg up and down. The young prince sat across and in front of them, laid mountains of freshly cooked fine delicacies that would suit their expensive tastes and the temple's sacred wine that they would only drink for special occasions. While two of the temple staffs fan each of them for a better breeze and a blind band playing gentle music to further comfort their stay. But even with such a generous display, the prince spared no glance at it and is only focused on his curiosity of what lies beyond the temple walls.
"It seems to be taking her a long time", the king sighed in thick Edzhilan. The boy glanced at his father.
'He's angry again'. He thought and looked back at the scenery outside the walls.
"P-please forgive us, Your majesty. But the priestess concentration mustn't be disturbed", one of the elder monks spoke. Bowing his head even more as sweat begins to drip from his old wrinkled forehead.
"Is that so…I shall see to it myself", the king stood and walked towards the prayer hall where the priestess is, followed by the old monk begging him not to disturb her. In his stand came the threats of his patience so along came the staffs and all of the soldiers, seemingly forgetting the little one.
"But, Your Majesty, the priestess..--"
Taking his chance, the young prince immediately ran towards the wall and climbed it, he couldn't even hesitate. The green scenery had attracted him immensely the moment they arrived in foreign soil. He felt his small heart ponder on his silly scheme knowing that it would be worth it to disobey his father's orders for a little adventure of his own, after all, there may never come a day again where he is out in the greens as a young child. As the breeze blew harder, he felt determined to go on. He wanted to brag about the things he sees to his older brother back home.
* **
Ever since the protagonist was a small child, he was already showing signs of his ability and his mother made a great effort into covering it but his father was bound to find out . After he moved back to the palace he was soon discovered, when he stepped outside of his chamber and unknowingly unleashed his powers. During that time, he crossed paths with the King while he was out for a stroll. Witnessing the shocking discovery of his son's potential, the king himself even killed the guards that were with him that night for the crime of seeing a royal's face and having witnessed his power. The very next day, they traveled to get here.
Fire, Water, Earth, Air, The Combinations,…
Who knows what kind of element the king saw, it wasn't shown in my memory.
The old broken cart I found was for this opportunity as I sat here, squatting in front of a bunch of peaches I had gathered ready near the wall, chewing on my last bite of a peach. But I had waited for a long while now so I sighed in dismay. It's getting late in the morning and there's still nothing. I've already scouted the temple walls, I listened in on where they might be and wherever the loudest commotion of voices were, there they must be. I've also been rereading everything in my notes, if memory serves, it was day time when he fell from the wall. The sun was bright but still not too high up in the sky, definitely morning.
'Urgh, what a pain'
I couldn't help but pull my hair back in frustration. Would my god give me a sign at least? Or would everything just fall into place. Damn it, there's no way of knowing. I hope he breaks his arm or something when he falls so that he'll scream and I'd hear where he'll be just in case he doesn't fall here.
I stood up and paced around in circles, debating on whether if I should do another round at scouting the walls or to just wait here. Urgh. Maybe, I need to sneak inside again and snatch his mask like the rest.
*CRASH!*
But just as I was about to take my leave, something crashed behind me. I immediately looked back and smirked, a person just fell into my trap.
'Finally, you're here'.
* **
Lupa rushed to the poor boy who is now covered in squashed peaches. He had fallen from quite a height of the tall temple walls. He winched painfully at the sudden fright, he had slipped on his robe while trying to escape with might.
"Oh my gods!"
"Ughh". The boy frowned from hitting his back and head in his crashed landing. Just now beginning to realize that somebody had spotted him which alarmed him.
"That was such a loud fall, here let me help you", the mischievous little girl offered and helped him got up into a sit and schemed to quickly took off his mask with the ill intentions of exposing his face for her to see if it matched the protagonist's description. But before she could do so, the boy was quick on his guard and immediately pushed Lupa away. Her eye's widened when she saw how he pulled out a small knife from his robe and grabbed her by her dress, shocked of his aggressiveness.
* "Remove my mask and death is upon you!"
Her expression turned from a playful smirk to an alarmed frown, she may not speak the language but she knows that it's a threat.
"You little--", but as she was about to retaliate and getting up so hastily the old cart could not support both of their weight, one of it's wheel ended up breaking disrupting the cart's balance making it roll back. One moment the two paused warily, the next, they were screaming in the cart that slipped away.
* "Shit!"
"Fuck!"
They both immediately clung unto the sides of the cart for their dear life. Lupa knew this mountain, this hill. This area specifically has a cliff below it. The cart was not slowing down anytime soon, it was only getting faster as it gained momentum from the slope.
"We're going to fall! Quick grab my hand!", she ordered the prince.
* "What are you doing!", he asked in panic when the girl suddenly stood up and offered her hand to him.
"We have to jump!"
* "What the do you mean jump? Are you insane?"
"I said jump! Jump, here, now!", Lupa argued because she could not understand him.
* "Are you trying to die?"
"Fucking language barrier!", Lupa cursed and grabbed the prince's hand and jumped, he had no other choice.
The cart had been rolling too fast that even though they manage to jumped off of it in time, they still fell off the cliff. But Lupa managed to grab unto a vine along its edge that stopped them from falling to their deaths. Luckily there was a steep slope directly below the top of the cliff. The moment the cart fell into the rocky river below and the vine snapped so did they fell into the slope.
The two instantaneously crashed since the fall was quite tall for their heights, hitting a few limbs that will mostly bruise or worse, broken. It was even the more painful for Lupa because the impact made the burns itch and ache on pulse. While she wriggled around in pain trying to calm her discomfort, the damages the young prince took were mere and seemed to have faded instantaneously from his skin, the only hurt he got that puzzled him was the shock he had acquired from the situation. Breathing heavily, trying to catch his breathe and wondering about what had just happened and if they had survived the danger or not. He warily looked down at the cliff and to where the broken cart was because that could have been them.
"Urghh…you son of a bitch", Lupa groaned as she tried to get up clutching on her stomach but was only able to kneel on all fours. She punches the ground as she looks up at the boy.
"If you hadn't pulled me in, I wouldn't have fallen with you!", she cursed. He sighed and from casually fixing his mask, the boy paused and turned to look at the girl. He thought that it wasn't quite sane for her to prefer her own safety over his.
* "Foolish brat", he insulted her and got up, dusting himself.
"Hell, I guess you're not even hurt", Lupa couldn't help but chuckle as she lays on the ground but the boy couldn't care to listen. As lively as her vulgar mouth is, her body isn't quite so. He didn't like how his escape from the temple lead to this unfortunate accident but did acknowledged that it was partly his fault for not noticing the cart below where he had opted to fall.
The girl thought of pushing him off the cliff the sooner she recovers. She was practically used to all the cold treatment the villagers gave her but not so much when it came from a stranger that she was trying to be nice to and even risked her life to. She was about to converse with him again but when she glanced back at him, her eyes were bewildered of the sight. One moment ago, the boy was just with her on the slope and now, he was back on top of the first cliff. Was her eyes tricking her? Or did she just saw the vines move from his direction.
How did he get there? There was no way for him to climb up the slope nor run up to either sides of the cliff because there was no ground in both. And the vines were not thick enough to carry a child's weight enough for it to be climbed on.
In her mindless speculations, the boy was ready to turn and leave, "Hey wait!", she quickly calls out to him.
"Get me out of here too!", she yelled but he only continued on his walk and didn't mind the girl.
To her dismay, the boy really didn't heed her plea.
"Asshole!", she yelled in anger. She clicked her tongue and rested her elbows on her knees as she sat back down on the ground yet again messing her hair in frustration, thinking about her way out. She forgot that, of course, characters would have their own personalities as well as she does which makes them a challenge for her to control. Typically with this one who is as smug as they go. She couldn't believe that this incident is about to cost her everything she had ever worked for. All her hardship that was supposed to be for this moment.
Just as Lupa contemplated on what to do so did the young prince. He was annoyed at the stranger who tried to unravel his mask and felt that she was a threat that's why he left her but as he gradually walked back up to the hill, he thought about what he was going to do once he does get there.
Now that she knew the protagonist was an asshole as child, she thought of what to fucking do. If they don't get their moment now, the storyline will be messed up. As she recalls it, this was supposed to be a sweet encounter not a tense one. He was fine with Lupa pulling his mask in the story but now…what changed? Perhaps something from his own backstory? Of course, the gods have options, it is her fault for only taking action based off of one outcome. With this, she vows never to be hasty at making decisions ever again.
It took a few minutes for Lupa to just be sitting there and thinking but when she got up and dusted herself, she was surprised to see a thick vine fall from above the slope. Its size was just enough to carry her up.
"Get on",even more surprising when she heard the young prince's voice in Edzhilan.