Enderverse: The Void Lord

Chapter 4: "First Portal"

The new Lord, his father and their faithful servant stood in front of yet another large and expensive-looking door, after a long walk through the palace from the Ritual Room. On opposite sides of the door stood two armored men, standing up straight and and narrow looking ahead of them. Even though that their Lord was standing mere meters away from them, they didn't move at all. The jet black iron helmets the armored men wore covered their faces, hiding their emotions from plain view. With a person of the highest authority possible just meters away from them but not acting to give a salute or greet him, Ender knew that they were loyal, and they perfectly understood and followed their initial orders, which was to stand guard at this particular door. That was their only order, they did not dare to move from their position, or do anything else. They just stood there in silence.

"So Ender, do you know what this room has?"

Tarion spoke up to break the unnatural silence around them. Ender acted quickly to answer his question.

"This is the Portal Room, if I remember correctly. Inside the room is a structure that lets the user to teleport to various locations within or outside the city for a fast method of travel."

Tarion slightly gaped his mouth open for a moment.

"Yes, you're exactly right."

He didn't expect his son to give him such a detailed explanation. This was because as a child, Ender was not allowed to enter the Portal Room. However, the young prince was curious and intrigued about the room, so he asked each and every single staff member what was inside. He collected enough information to pinpoint the exact purpose and contents of the room.

"Anyway, let's make our way in, shall we?"

Tarion stepped forward and put his right hand on the door handle and pushed forwards. Despite the apparent large size of the door, it was quite easy to open. Tarion thrust open the door, leaving a large gap for him to walk through. He took a few steps forward into the room, then looked back at his son, who was still standing where he was.

"Come on in. I think you'll like this."

Tarion gestured Ender to come into the room, and then walked further into the room, disappearing from Ender's sight. Ender turned to look at Kingsley.

"Kingsley, are you coming?"

Kingsley expressed a slight face of surprise like he had done something wrong.

"No, my lord. I must stay within the palace and tend to my other duties. You must go with your father."

Ender felt a small sense of regret for asking that question, but could understand Kingley's point of view. In fact, he always did.

"I see. Well, I'll see you around, Kingsley."

"Until we meet again, my lord."

Kingsley raised his hand up to his chest and bent over to bow, to show his allegiance to Ender. He bowed for a second, then stood back up again, giving Ender a quick nod before turning around and walking back along the hall. Ender stared at Kingsley as he walked further into the distance, heading towards a set of doors.

Ender turned around to see that the guards still haven't moved a single inch ever since he arrived here. He looked at the guards directly and nodded to them, as if mentally saying they were doing a good job, then he turned his head to look at the ajar door in front of him, inspecting it from top to bottom.