Father & Son 5: Shards Of A Color Drained World

Queen's Crown

It turned out that nobody knew anything about whatever the hell Orchid was after, despite Purple and Dark being trapped in there for hours, and Second posing as a guard for that exact time period.

And despite Purple being in a vision that could've potentially told him something, most of it Purple spent being an angry, sobbing disaster.

Not that anyone blamed him. He was forced to watch his friends and family die.

And despite Purple being told hundreds of stories from Orchid, something about a crown holding power and a rock formation were not one of them.

Which sucked, but that meant they came up with a plan that couldn't go as wrong as they really hoped.

They'd sneak back into the base, which Second learned had a giant library, and find a book on whatever the hell Orchid meant by a rock formation, and use that knowledge, and hopefully a map, to find it and stop Orchid before the whole world went to shit.

But with their standards, and the condition of the boat when Orchid attacked them, it was gonna be a while.

Thankfully, they had spare wood from building the boat, so Dark worked on fixing the boat when they got to the base while Second and Purple ducked into the base and searched for the library.

"You remember where it is?" Purple whispered as Second tossed a cloak at him.

"Vaguely. Now, these cloaks will conceal our identities, but try to refrain from taking too much. They'll know exactly who we are, so try to stay quiet and out of sight. Got it?"

"Got it."

Second and Purple ducked every time they heard guards pass by, which wasn't as surprising as they thought. Following their escape, guards had to be crawling around the base so that they didn't sneak back in to stop Orchid's master plan.

And with Second being known to be hiding under a cloak as a disguise, it wasn't going to be very hard for them to get caught, knowing Second was known by the guards as a traitor.

As if they knew he wasn't actually a guard.

He stared down another corridor, which had what he was pretty sure was the library, and ran down it.

"Second! Careful! There's guards crawling around this place like the plague!"

"I'm aware, but what guard would just be randomly sitting in the fucking library while literal mayhem ensues?"

"True. But still! The guards could still be around so that we can't get in!"

"Well, they're doing a horrible job. And we're just in here to see if there's anything in here about a rock formation so that we have a vague idea on what Orchid's after."

"True."

"And she didn't say shit to you about this?"

"You think she was going to tell a 5-year-old that she was going to rule the damn world with a crown?!"

"Good point."

Even after hours of searching, they still found nothing on the rock formation. Maybe Orchid had just set it up as a base of operations if things went wrong.

Or maybe Orchid just wanted to use it as a setup for whatever she had for a master plan.

Since there was nothing in there about a rock formation like the one Orchid was talking about, or even anything in that watery area, it probably wasn't even real.

"Are we sure this thing is real?" Purple asked.

"I don't even know, but all I know is Orchid is heading there, and we've gotta beat her to it."

"How?"

"True...we've wasted enough time, and Dark could be in trouble. Let's get out of here as fast as we can to help him out."

"Right."

Second peeked around for any guards in the vicinity and quickly ran down the halls, looking for a way out.

There had to be some sort of exit that couldn't be breaking through a window in this place! It literally looked like a castle!

"Come on...a door, a balcony, I don't care what it is, just show me an exit!"

"Sec! Look out-!"

Second would've smashed through a window if not for Purple shouting at him. He stopped, barely missing the glass by a few inches, and felt Purple tug on his arm.

"Hurry. We have to get out of here!"

Second had the sensation that guards were on their way, and it wasn't a good one.

"Well...it's our only shot at getting out of here alive, I guess." With every ounce of his strength, he smashed the window and threw Purple outside, him following suit.

Once they were both on the ground, the ran for where Dark had been with the boat, where he still was, noticing the increase in activity.

"Come on! We've gotta get to the formation! I figured out where it is!" Dark exclaimed.

Second and Purple jumped onto the boat, noticing the increase in guards heading in another direction.

Towards the city.

"Shit."

"I've got the guys heading for Chosen and the others, you guys just get to the rock formation, fix the crown, grab it, and get back to the city as fast as possible." Dark said, already set to fly towards the others.

"Right!"

"And be careful!"

Dark flew off to ambush the other guards, while Second kicked the boat into overdrive and sped off towards the rock formation.

They might not have a map, but Second had seen Orchid's hand-drawn map she had made god knows how long ago, so he had a vague idea of where they were going.

He just hoped that it wasn't misleading and a dead end, which would've led them straight into the end of the world.

Barely an hour later, Second felt the boat hit something.

Sitting up from a sleep he had fallen into not that long ago, he stared up at the tall rock in front of them.

"Did we..get there already?" Purple must've fallen asleep as well.

"I think so? Hey, look! The crown!" Second pointed up at the center of the area.

Golden yellow shined from the center.

"Let's get this piece in as fast as we can. Before Orchid gets here!" Purple flew up towards the center, ignoring Second's shout of warning.

"Purple! Look out!"

An energy blast cut between Purple and the crown.

"What the-!"

Orchid flew down into the area, an evil aura around her so strong Purple felt it.

And it scared him.

"Hello, son."