Arthur 4 : The return of the prince

Chapter 14

When Eldarion opened his eyes, he saw Selenia leaning in front of him. Her eyes returned to normal and she seemed very worried.

"The Mother Goddess be praised, he has returned to him!" she exclaimed, with her own voice full of relief.

Judging by the position of Selenia, Eldarion realized that he was lying on the ground, and the place where he was now had nothing to do with the ruins of Batilga. There seemed to be animation around him and several other people were standing:

"What happened? Where are we?" he asked, astonished.

"In the fifth kingdom, in Max's bar to be precise," the princess replied.

"By the Mother Goddess, the Kolomassaï..." Eldarion complained calmly before Selenia spoke again.

"You scared me so much, Eldarion"

"I scared you? What do you mean?" asked Eldarion, visibly disconcerted. It did not fail to attract the attention of Selenia, who was always so worried.

"It wasn't your fault, but when we were still in Batilga, you were in spasm, and the blue light in your eyes turned yellow. And then you collapsed in front of me and you started to convulse for a good part of the night. If the Kolomassaï I encountered on the way had not followed me from afar without my noticing, I might never have been able to extract you from the ruins!" told Selenia.

After listening to her, Eldarion began to think. By transposing what Selenia told him with what he himself saw, Eldarion comes to understand that this meeting with the Goddess of forest was a vision due to spiritual distress that led him into a trance state. A vision of his goddess explaining that all hope was still allowed.

He made the decision not to speak immediately of his vision. The idea that the goddess of the forest manifested herself through Selenia when she did not actually feel that she had been under any influence during this time could disturb her.

"I see, and I have remained in this state for a long time?" asked Eldarion before he began his maneuver to get up.

"Yes. Right now, the sun is about to rise. You just woke up right at dawn." replied Selenia, hardly helping him to stand up again.

As he got up, three Kolomassaï were heading towards the two friends. Among the trio was Replay, whom Selenia had met on her way, as well as two other Kolomassaï that Selenia knew just as well. But judging by Eldarion's expression, it would seem that one of the three (biggest) is also familiar to him. It's not surprising, because this is the owner of Paradise Alley. This is Max.

"So, Your Highness, does your nyrilorn return among us?" asked Max casually.

"See by yourself, Max." replied Selenia, pointing to Eldarion. At this answer, Max went towards the latter, and looking more closely at this imposing being as big as him, it seemed that the face of Eldarion was familiar to him.

"Hey, cousin, I feel like I saw you a long time ago," said Max, interrogator.

"We met when I was just a novice in the Nyrilorns armies." confirmed Eldarion. "I was still trying to find the materials to forge my magic hammer."

"Uh, nah, I don't know. I'm sorry I don't remember, but you weren't the first nyrilorn to come to our territory to build a magical weapon before your people gave no sign of life. replied Max, searching his memory.

"At that time I was accompanied by another nyrilorn and the one who would become M the Evil. He paid you to get the information you gave us." adds Eldarion under the surprised looks of Selenia and Max who listened attentively.

"Did you know M the Evil personally before his betrayal?" asked Selenia, eager to obtain more details.

"Yes, we had witnessed the creation of his magic sword after myself and my wife were making our magic hammer and axe respectively. The same magic sword that rests in the central square of your village, princess. The three of us had travelled across the seven kingdoms to gather the different materials that make up our magical weapons, and when my wife and I first met your parents, your mother was already pregnant with you." told Eldarion, which intensified Selenia's surprise.