Red, Blue, Vio and Igneous arrive in front of a palace, which a massive mountain looms over.
"This is my home; I can't wait for you guys to meet Mother."
The prince smiles cheerfully as they enter through a pair of beautifully decorated doors with a huge phoenix on the front and back of them.
Inside of the palace, the throne room's interior is various shades of crimson with a gentle touch of gold. More of the phoenix design is seen as they walk towards the throne. On the other end, sitting on the golden throne, a woman is weeping over something.
Her hair is a light blonde, long and silky. Upon her head, a golden crown sits, encrusted with big rubies and small sapphires. She wears long pink gloves with a frilly red lace at the end of each. Her gown is varying with a dark red, pink, and some white. Around the pink frilly corset along with a white ribbon is a lovely sapphire amulet with a gold rim.
In addition, she wears ruby earrings, which fit right in with the outfit. Finally, there's a white bow in the back of her gown. Igneous worryingly steps forward, "Mother...are you ok?" The mysterious lady lifts her head slightly, her eyes are a vivid hue of red, tears soak her gentle face and the sounds of crying are apparent.
"Mother, what's wrong?" The prince goes to his mother's side and tries hard to console her sadness.
"Oh it's absolutely terrible Igneous! Something horrible has occurred!" She hugs him tightly as she sobs over his shoulder.
Igneous hugs back and comforts him mother by rubbing her back, "Mother, what happened?"
She whispers something in a low voice, "I don't want to talk about it...now at least" Her son nods as he continues to comfort her.
After a few minutes, she calms down a little.
She notices Red and the gang while she wipes her tears away, "Oh, I didn't know we had guests. Now I feel terrible for completely ignoring them." She tilts her head and smiles cheerfully. "Well, I'm Ruby, Queen of the Fire Kingdom. What are your names you cute munchkins!" She giggles happily.
Blue stares awkwardly thinking, "Oh goddesses she's Red as a woman...!"
Vio bows respectfully as he starts his introduction, "It's an honor to meet you, your highness. My name is Vio."
Red chirps in cheerfully, "Hi, I'm Red!"
Ruby giggles happily, "And I'm going to guess the blue one is Blue."
Blue stammers a bit after she points him out, he blushes slightly and falls over.
"Oh goodness me, I'm sorry if I surprised you." The queen laughs so innocently.
Vio hits himself in the face and sighs, "My goddesses you're an idiot..."
Then the short-tempered hero lunges at the smart one and they start to have an all out fight.
The small hero tries to stop their fighting but it's futile, they won't listen.
"Oh dear, they have such energy." Ruby remarks happily and then she jumps in playfully.
The prince in utter embarrassment mutters nervously laughing, "Mother...it seems even when something...bad has happened, and you seem to forget...when there's something else to...do."
He watches along with Red as the threesome continue to roughhouse in what seems now a playful way.
"Then again, you're always good in keeping the peace...even if you do get involved in trouble doing it..." He laughs a little as his mother continues her little games with the boys.
After a few minutes of rough housing, everyone has rid of themselves of the unnecessary behavior out of their systems and Ruby's now sitting once more on her throne. Igneous is now retelling the events about Lynstrum and the heroes to his mother.
"He then fled before I could even finish that monster off! Then, I found them who were hurt somewhat badly from that bastard's attack. It's like Lynstrum has a bone to pick with them Mother." The Prince looks worrisomely at Queen Ruby with his soft crimson eyes.
Her highness turns to Red and the gang and asks, "Do you know Lynstrum?"
They shake their heads as nervousness enters into the room, filling it with a slight sense of dread.
"Well, it's obvious that he has something against you."
Vio nods slightly, places his hand under his chin in a contemplating motion.
He starts to ask out plain curiosity, "Why were you crying earlier? It seemed that you were grieving over something...serious."
Ruby starts to tense up fast with uneasiness, shaking silently with unsettling fear, as if the question has stricken a nerve.
"It seems you're rather...anxious about this subject, am I correct?" Vio gestures respectfully to the noble.
Prince Igneous quickly intervenes, "Mother's really nervous and she doesn't want to discuss about it!"
He tries to shove the heroes forcefully when her highness speaks up, "Igneous...please stop, if they want to know...why hide it...?"
Her voice is soft yet firm. "Understand that it's a little nerve racking to say the least to talk about but...I think I should try to talk about it..."
Vio nods silently, "Ok then, your highness, tell us what's happening." His bluish mauve eyes stare with slight curiosity at the ruler.
Ruby sighs with a deep breath before starting her explanation, "Recently, there's been strange and unspeakable occurrences in this palace...Most of them had happened while no one was there it seems..."
The purple hero gestures her to continue quietly.
"As I heard, people are disappearing and haven't been heard since. It's almost like...something is taking them...away. Some say it's a monster, others say it's a witch...but most of them don't know..."
She sighs tiresomely as she starts to finish her story. "Ironically, it all started when one of my advisors had...died."
She starts to sob a little; her son tries to console his mother. "Mother...please, it'll be alright." Igneous looks at the queen and comforts her more.
Vio starts to think about the situation at hand, "It's like the time back in Hyrule when all of the children...disappeared without a trace. There must be something in the works...or someone."
Red also tries to calm the ruler down, "Maybe we can help? I mean, we could at least try."
Ruby looks at the young boy with an unsteady gaze, "Are you insane? Most people who tried to help ended like all the others...gone!"
Blue snorts a remark, "Listen, we're tough and can handle anything, no freaking ghosts are going to stop us" He shakes his fist passionately.
Igneous nods and smiles with slight courage, "I guess if they going to help, I might as well try to assist. Mother, maybe we can find out what's really happening."
Ruby stops crying slightly and calms down a bit, "All right, do your best..." The heroes and the prince leave to look around.
The Queen notices something with the shadows; it looks like some sort of ...lonesome specter. Her eyes widen in fright as it wanders aimlessly, without even glancing towards her, it moves silently.
She whispers softly as fear builds up, "Oh god...Vladimir...what has become of you?"
The specter then vanishes as soon as she murmurs these words, leaving only an eerie echoing laughter.
