The Missing Piece

Chapter 1

7 days, technically a week, to find the royal prince of Cardiff. Sounds like an easy task, right? Not when there's a ticking time bomb in your chest, literally! That's what Knight Nicholas (well... just Nick) Kendall was facing. Why did he put himself into this situation you might ask. He didn't. Yes, it sounds like a suicide mission but Nick knew what he was up against when he "signed up" to save the prince. No one else would've done it of course, so Nick might as well give it a try. It was now or nothing.

But now that he was out of the mainlands of Cardiff, Nick was already regretting it. What if there was no prince at all and it was a trick to just kill off another civilian (if Nick could really call himself that). Nevertheless, he knew what he got into.

One thought that stuck with him the whole way there was, was this really worth it? He already knew that he was doomed for life, thanks to his damned family tree. But maybe this will change it for better? Who knows.

Nick tightened his grip on the rope of his horse, Ligero. What a damned fool you are for doing this. Risking your cursed life for someone so... it was difficult to find the right word to describe someone that he's never met.

Ligero suddenly stopped, causing Nick's thoughts come to an end for now. As he glanced up to see what was ahead, unfortunately, it wasn't anything. Just a lot of burned, dead forestry. Nick wondered if they had the same burden curse that he held him. Shaking his head and a deep sigh, Nick moved his horse forward even though it was hard to look at the image before them.

"By this time, all of Cardiff will eventually be gone," Nick whispered to himself.

Steady and slowly, Ligero continued to stroll through the muddy path, but Nick could feel chills go through his spine. He knew what dangers were around, so he was high alerted the whole time. But nothing came forth, nothing was around. Nick had to take a deep breath. 'Just focus...' he kept telling himself. But before the steed could take another step, the ground started to rumble. Nick's eyes shot open, noticing that the ground was cracking, with a bright orange seeping through. The heat came instantly as Ligero screamed, making him jump onto his hind legs.

Trying to keep his horse steady, Nick trashed onto the rope to make Ligero quickly jolt and sprint forward. Nick's heart was pumping at the same time as Ligero's hooves made contact with the ground. This was a problem, Nick needed to calm down at this rate but the moment he saw a spark of lava spirt out from the ground, his heart lurched, making him suddenly gasp in pain. But as he tried to continue to look out in front of him, more lava was sprinting out spontaneously. Luckily, Ligero tried to avoid them, just dodging the sudden bursts. Nick's heart wasn't slowing down, probably caused by that damned curse. He could feel his chest burn inside of him, probably the same burning from the lava.

Regardless, Nick pushed Ligero faster to try to get out of this collapsing trap. But it felt like it would never end as they continued to spring forward. Ahead of them, Nick could see that the ground was once around them has vanished into the lava underneath. The heat rising up started to make Nick sweat on his face, or was it from his nerves getting to him? Shaking his head, Nick tried to refocus but it was even harder since steam was fogging up the area in front of them now. Clenching his teeth to hopefully not breathe in the smoke, Nick eagerly made Ligero run faster. But Ligero suddenly rose upon his hind legs, making Nick grip onto the rope more tightly so he wouldn't lose balance.

Ligero was frantically running around the broken ground at this point, unsure where to go, since there was so much smoke in the air. Nick tried to steer his horse in the right direction but which direction was right at this point in the middle of a smoke cloud? With his rapid breathing, mixed with the coughing Nick wondered if he'll ever get out. But then, out of nowhere again, Ligero let out a shriek as they stopped suddenly, flinging his rider out of the saddle and forward onto the ground. As he rolled onto the burning ground, Nick could feel fire strike onto him. Catching his breath, he looked up to see where or if his steed made it. To his shock, Nick saw Ligero frantically prance near the edge of where the lava pit divided them. Nick struggled to slowly rise up but never broke contact with his friend.

"Ligero, it's okay. Just focus!" He said, but maybe it was more towards himself.

Ligero's prancing started to slow down as he snorted at his owner. Nick took another deep breath, but the chemicals in the air near him turned into coughing. Ligero neighed furiously. With a stomp of frustration, Ligero backed up enough for a sprint towards his destination and started to run forward. Nick watched with excited, wide eyes but was quickly changed as the smoke, followed by a wall of lava rising from the gap between them, burning his companion into ashes.

Then, there was silence.

But all Nick could hear was the shriek of his long lost friend. He also felt wetness on his face, probably from the sweat or tears of being a failure. No, he wasn't a failure though, he was still here, alive, well barely. There were some crackling noises, but he wondered if that was just from his heart. It took a while for Nick to collect himself. He felt like the forest felt when all was lost, nothing. As he slowly rose to his feet, Nick knew that he had some broken bones and cracked ribs but at this point, he didn't care. He still had a task to do, and that was to find this damn prince and put this curse to a final end.