A pair of dragon wings drove in the pure white clouds, against the air that was greeting them with a cold gentle breeze.
It was a great experience, but no one was talking.
Though they did rode Hope's dragon form a couple of tis, everyone has to agree that it would always feel like the first ti. The air, the view, the speed. It was a thing where it always seem foreign.
The cause of their silence was Elliot's serious mood. It was the first ti for them to see him act this way. He was indeed serious for a few tis before, but never like this.
It always looked like he was in deep thought, staring into the void while his hands were gripping on Hope's scales.
In his mind though, a scene kept playing. The look on Florencia's face under Lance's fortress haunted him like it was a giant beast. Her eyes were rapidly dilating and her body was trembling. It was like she has seen Death itself.
"Do you know about the myth about how the Five Kings were corrupted?" Lance broke their silence.
Elliot was sitting on first, Lance was behind him, Ed and Connor were sitting last respectively. Elliot shook his head, glancing behind his shoulder to look at Lance.
"You don't have to look at ," Lance chuckled. "You just have to listen."
"Okay," Elliot said.
"Good," Lance said. He reached his hand on Elliot's head to ss it, but the latter leaned forward. "Okay."
Centuries ago, even before Alorde, or Avancia, there were five small kingdoms in Terra. These kingdoms were ruled by five kings that each possess a virtue given to them by the Almighty himself.
In fact, the Almighty himself gave them their titles. He erected a kingdom from the ground made of mud and stones, gathering small villages of people to join the kingdom, and finally, choosing the one who will rule over them.
The Almighty saw qualities in each of five normal boys of the different villages he gathered.
"I knew all that," Elliot interrupted. "The five qualities"
"Don't ruin it," Lance groaned. "My version is better, I swear."
Elliot sighed and shrugged. "We're not doing anything else anyway. Okay, fine."
The first boy saw difference in his neighbors. So lived differently. In their village, people were eating at, but these people refused to eat at. It was a very minimal thing, they weren't hurting others but their village still looked down on them.
The boy educated the other villagers, telling them it's okay to be different. The Almighty did not created the world perfectly, and everyone was different.
So, the Almighty built the first kingdom and gave the boy the title, King of Acceptance. He soon later beca the King of Sun Palace.
The second king was hailed from a family of muscled people. His family held incredible strength, but he didn't have such talents. He lived in sha all throughout his life, but when a horde of bears were incoming, his villagers cowered in fear and locked their hos.
He was the first one to go out of their house and used all his strength to punch the bear in the face. Inspired by his greatness, his family and his neighbors fought with him. This earned him the second palace and the title of King of Strength, later to be the King of Crimson Palace.
The third king had a disease attack in their village. He was only frail and he was sickly, yet he was the first one to rescue his people and fight his way for everyone to be cured. He would he later beco the first healer and earn the third palace.
His title was the King of Resilience, and he would later beco the King of Purple Palace. Once his magic healed people, now corrupted and would only poison any creature out of his domain.
The fourth boy was from a remote mountain village. Their village was held hostage by ravagers and it seed like all hope was lost. But the child was the brain of the rebellion. He was already talented when he was a kid, being able to think and calculate rapidly.
He freed his villagers and earned himself the fourth palace, and the title King of Freedom, later to beco the King of Grass Palace. He was also the first great tactician in Terra, therefore the Grass Palace has a unique defense chanism within its walls.
Finally, the fifth boy was from a village where he was abandoned. He lived in the streets all his life, barely having any food for himself. Yet when he reached a certain age, the boy adopted abandoned children and animals alike. He gave them shelter, food, and hope for another chance at life.
He then earned the fifth palace and his title, King of Emotions. He will then beco the King of the Azure Palace, a kingdom of love, now a kingdom of endless coldness.
The five kingdoms lived harmoniously for centuries. That was until the Abyss shifted and the kings were corrupted.
They do say that the brighter the light, the darker the shadow. And when the light shoned brightly, the darkness got darker. In a day where all the five kings would co together and celebrate, darkness clouded over them. It rained its wrath among all the five kingdoms, corrupting its people and its kings.
The attackers were no one but the Seven Deathly Sins. With their overwhelming strength, they overpowered Terra and spread nine days of only darkness.
And before each king beca fully swallowed by the darkness, they pulled their Virtues and returned them to the Almighty.
Devastated, the Almighty purged the Abyss and the Seven Deathly Sins. He got ahold of them because one of the Seven betrayed his kin. When everyone thought he was the most ruthless one of them all, he was actually the kindest.
No one knows which sin betrayed them. Only that clue was left with them.
"That is a better version of it," Elliot said after Lance had finished. "I only got to know about how the Almighty favored them but I never knew how they grew up or any of the other details."
"The Alorde library has a secret royal section. It has better versions of the myths and I can get you there if you like," Lance offered.
This made Elliot smile. So, ther was a secret stash of books in that library. That was why he could only access basic information. He knew that The Manual and APRIL had sothing to do with them. APRIL seed to be inspired by these stories, so he has to know what happens so he could see how he'll do anything in the future.
"We're here," Hope spoke, gently diving down on the ground and landing.
The other four hopped off of his back and watched the barren lands.
"Let's go," Elliot said. "To the Purple Palace of the King of Resilience."
"Honor thy existence," Lance said. "That was written in an arch in the Alorde library. You're honoring their previous existence."
"All of them lived a sad life," Elliot said. "And it wasn't their fault they were corrupted. So, yeah. I'm honoring their existence."
"Good," Lance said proudly. "That's very good. Now let's kill so Guards."
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