Dark Dynasty

Andia

Map of the realm is at the top!

Word count: 1454

(POV hasn't changed unless it says otherwise!)

I wake up to a loud knocking on my door. I grunt as I let my eyes adjust to the bright light coming in the room. I sit up and call out for the person to come in. Sapnap enters the room quickly. "George, you overslept. We need to go, like right now." He says in a hurry. I give him a nod and get up as he closes the door. I slip on my clothes from yesterday, putting on all my uncomfortable armor again and slip the robe over my head. My sword was still attached to my leggings, so I didn't have to worry about putting it on every time.

I walk out the room and down the stairs to greet Sapnap and Skeppy at the bottom of them. We head out the hostel together, walking to the public stables. We tack our horses and mount them. On our way out I pass the owner a few gold pieces to pay for the resources they spent on our horses for the night.

I click my tongue as we all start to trot to a bakery near the gates of the village. I give Sapnap 3 gold pieces to grab each a warm loaf of sourdough bread. He quickly hops off his horse, handing the reins to Skeppy. He runs inside and grabs our food, coming back out quickly. He hands us each our loaves, fresh out of the oven. The air around the bakery was surrounded by the smell of fresh bread.

He mounts his horse and as soon as we came, we went again. We trotted our way out of the gates heading more West. My kingdom was far East from where we're traveling to. The kingdom of Simodin is known for being a peaceful dynasty, perfect cover for an assassin. My parents worked a lot with the King and Queen from Simodin, being close friends with them.

I remember being childhood friends with their son, Quackity. Haven't seen him since the passing of my father though. I'll stop by once we arrive there.

We ride for a good 2 hours before we stop and give our horses some rest. They're well trained in endurance, coming from a good bloodline as well. We take off their bridles as we put halters on them with a fairly long rope. The rope then is tied to a nearby tree, letting the horses wander free for a bit so they can graze and drink from a nearby creek.

I, Sapnap and Skeppy sit down and pull out our map. After a minute we locate our whereabouts. We check how far Simodin is from where we are. We eventually calculate it to be another days and a half ride. We notice a village in the kingdom of Walbonia closest to Simodin. We'd get there by sundown, staying there for a good rest. It's about 11 in the morning now so we still had a good 6-hour ride ahead of us.

We took of our horses' halters and put their bridles back on, stashing their halters and the rope away in their saddlebags. We mount them and start our journey to our next stop.

° Time skip °

About after another 2 hours of riding we come to a dense wooded area. We take our horses back to a normal pace walk, finding our ways through the woods. After zigzagging through the trees for a good 20 minutes I hear a loud grunt from behind me. I quickly halt my horse and turn around to see what caused the noise. I see Sapnap laying on the ground with his horse next to him.

"What happened?" I ask worriedly. "A stupid branch flew in my face and knocked me off." He says with a deep sigh, getting back up and mounting his horse again. I let out a small chuckle and continue walking, guiding my horse through these woods. We eventually get at the end after another good 25 minutes. We're now in an open field filled with flower. My eyes go wide as I take in the beautiful sight in front of me. A smile creeps on my face as we bring our horses to a trot and then a nice paced canter, galloping through this beautiful field.

° Time skip again °

After taking a few breaks along the way we finally arrive at the town of Andia. We head inside, placing our horses once again in the public stables. We're quite hungry so we head to a near little restaurant for some quick dinner. We head inside and sit down at a table by the window.

Laughter can be heard from a table near the back of the room. I look up to see who's laughing this unnecessarily loud, slightly annoyed by it. My eyes meet with yellow ones, staring right back at me. Wait what? Yellow? They're probably green, stupid colorblindness. (Same man I feel ya)

My eyes scan the face of the stranger. Blonde hair, tanned skin, light freckles dusting his nose, very defined jawline and cheekbones. He's really attractive. Stop it mind, he's a stranger you've literally just seen for the first time in your live.

The stranger is still looking at me. I look away casually and start some small talk with Sapnap and Skeppy. A waitress comes by and takes our orders. I glance over to the table where the stranger sat. Wait, where is he? I notice the table being empty now. Footsteps behind me as Sapnap and Skeppy jump up, pulling out their swords. My eyes go wide, scared to see who's behind me.

I turn around, seeing that same guy standing there from before. "C-Can I help you?" I ask timidly. He glances at my crown and quickly makes a surprised face. "I'm sorry your highness, I didn't mean to disturb you like this." The man says with a deep voice. "I saw you looking at me before and wanted to come introduce myself. Clearly, I didn't notice your crown. My deepest apology for disturbing you Sire." He says, takes a bow and turns around.

Before I can process anything, my body moves on its own and grabs the man's arm whilst motioning to my guards to drop the stance. "Wait, don't go." I speak. Not sure why but I did. I take my crown of my head and toss it to Sapnap. The stranger looks a bit surprised at my action. "Please don't treat me like royalty, I'm not your king. I want to be treated like an equal." I give him a light smile. He shoots me one right back. "Well then, my name is Clay. A pleasure to meet you...uh?" he says holding out his hand, eyebrow lifted. "George, I'm George." I say and shake his hand.

I end up inviting him to our table, making acquaintances with him quickly.

"So, George, where are you from?" he asks. "Ethilon." I reply shortly. "You?". "Funny enough, I was born there too." He chuckles slightly. "Why did you leave?" I ask him curiously. "I wanted to travel to world, so I left home early and did so." He answers simply. "So, you're King George of Ethilon then?" he smirks.

A pink blush rises to my cheeks. "I told you to call me just George, but yes, yes I am.". "So George, where are you headed? The Kingdom of Ethilon is miles back West." He asks. The sudden question caught me off guard. I'm not sure I should tell him about the whole assassin thing, I should probably make something up.

"Well, I have some royal business with Quackity of Simodin. We're headed there." I reply bluntly, wiping all emotion off my face. As a king you're trained to lie with ease. I feel bad for lying but he is still a stranger after all. "I'm headed there too, actually. I've settled there for a while." He says with a smile. "Perhaps I could accompany you there, George." I feel my cheeks heat up again. A hot stranger I just met is going with me to Simodin? Fuck yes, I mean...Brain stop this nonsense! I let out an aggravated sigh, not knowing it was for the entire table to hear.

"Oh sorry, I could just leave you be. Sorry if that was inappropriate to ask." He apologizes immediately. "No, no. Sorry I didn't mean it like that, I was in my own thoughts. Of course, you could come with us." I give him a warm smile.

After another hour we say our goodbyes and headto the rooms we got in the hostel. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm outstone-cold. Awaiting tomorrow.