“What did you want to speak about?” Lacey asked, turning towards Markus as they walked towards the horses that were tied up on the edge of the training grounds. “It is about something a wise man told me not long ago, about your future” Markus replied with a huff, Lacey could see what he was about to pass on weighed on him heavily, “Let me start at the start.” Their conversation lasted right up to them reaching the castle walls, the guards bowing and saluting moments before Markus passed them, bowing his head back, Markus followed by Lacey continued riding their horses right up to the palace, Markus noticing Marcia’s skylark perched up high on the roof. ‘Lucky man’ Markus smirked to himself, still looking at the magnificent bird, knowing that no male has ever ridden on a skylark in over 500 years, especially on Marcia’s skylark of all birds, also feeling a little jealous wishing it could have been him. “What’s on your mind father?” Lacey asked, seeing the look on Markus’s face. “Oh

Following Lacey closely, Rex was able to see how the city was structured, close to the palace, the buildings were quite elaborate and the further away they got, the simpler they seemed, Lacey seemed to notice Rex looking at these new buildings differently and was like she read his mind. “These houses belong to the people who do not work at the palace or families who are not merchants or officials, these are everyday folks, like farmers or miners” Lacey said, while they walked down the road leading away from the palace, not a few days ago, Markus brought them up this very road, but Rex had failed to notice the change in living conditions. They had made it a few blocks away from the main south gate when Lacey said, “The shortcut is through here, it will save us an easy 30 minutes of walking” and shot off to Rex’s left through an alleyway. “How will cutting through here save us 30 minutes of walking? How far away is this bloody market?” Rex questioned, to him 30 minutes of walking mean

Rex woke suddenly to a voice that sounded very familiar to him, ‘Fafnir!’, he said excitedly, then realized this was not possible, that curse blocked him out, so he was curious as to what was happening, he had the same sensation of being in the magical space when he and Fafnir used to train and speak, so to ensure he was not dreaming, he performed the age-old trick, he pinched himself, ‘Ow, yep I must not be dreaming, so how am I here?’ he questioned, looking around. He noticed he was not in the same place they came to before, that time he was in a black marbled walled circular space, with sand at his feet, this time he was inside of what looked like a room in a palace of some kind. As he was studying the stone walls, he heard the deep voice again coming from the next room, walking over he leaned around the corner and took a peek in, he was not sure if he was able to be seen or not while here, seeing the coast was clear, he surveyed his surroundings, there was a large golden bench, al

“Well, I am actually…hang on…Nessa?” Rex exclaimed, quickly recognising the voice. The moment Rex said her name, Nessa came out from the shadows, stopping a few feet away from him, a stern expression on her face. “Ever since you have come here, it’s like you have forgotten us” Nessa said, her voice breaking a little, almost like she was on the verge of tears for a second, Rex instantly noticed the change in the tone of her voice and felt terrible. “I am sorry, so much has happened so quickly, my head has been all over the place, I had already told Markus that I wanted some free time to come and visit you, but I have been confined to the palace, something is wrong with me” Rex said at the same time as moving towards Nessa. “Who the f**k are you?” Lacey said from behind Nessa, pushing the tip of a sword into the middle of her back with just enough pressure to let her know she was serious, this making Nessa raise her hands into the air to show Lacey she was unarmed. “Lacey wait!” Rex

Looking up at who was waiting for him, Rex saw General Chris was sitting at the main table, cup in hand wearing a large smile. As he approached Chris, Rex asked, “Why are you looking for me?” “We have only officially met, now it’s time for the not-so-official meeting, where we actually talk about important subjects about each other, not topics bureaucrats want to talk about” Chris said, clapping Rex on the shoulder. “You don’t like politics, do you?’ Lacey asked sitting next to Rex, who was sitting next to Chris. “Nope, hate it all, hate the conniving, hate the backstabbing, the s**t talking behind backs, I am a straight shooter, tell you what I think type of person, I don’t belong in a place surrounded by these people” Chris said, his face showing disdain. “Ah, always the gloomy one” Markus said with a smirk, “How fares the Phoenix army?” “Finally, a worthy topic!” Chris roared, his voice becoming elated, “We are doing well, constant fighting, but they are always trying to push