Darkline

{God's Gifts}

Sora and Daro begin their rocky adventure to the castle that belonged to the Three Kings. They journeyed there by caravan that belonged to Vlad. Their travel was sure to be lengthy, so to ease his boredom, Sora initiated a conversation with Vlad by tapping his shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey, uh... " he took a quick moment to remember his name. " ...Vlad, was it?"

Vlad made an agreeing murmur. "Vlad Kassius, just in case you've forgotten," he said with a mellow tone of voice.

"Who the hell are these 'Three Kings' that you told us about? I've never heard anything about them before in and out of town," Sora asked dementedly.

Daro listened in on the conversation to be sure he missed no important details.

"Despite the authority they're presenting over you, they aren't that titanic in fame and recognition. They're men who have been gifted powers by God himself to combat the forces of Hell itself."

Sora scoffed at the idea of God giving a chosen few of people some of his own strength. Even looking outside the caravan and seeing starving children was making him even more skeptical about it.

Vlad apathetically shifted his eyes to Sora. "You mock the notion that they were endowed with abilities by an almighty being?"

"I'm just saying, it sounds laughable that a 'God' would let a few guys with a stick up their ass do his dirty work for him, don't you think?" he'd say with a chuckle lying underneath his breath. Daro slapped him in the back of the head for his blasphemous answer. "For Christ's sake, Uncle! What the hell was that for—"

"Like it or not, Sora, but there are certain things that many people, even God himself doesn't need to do, such as handle problems that we can easily clean up. We're not children—or at least, two of us in here aren't," Daro sternly scolded his nephew.

Vlad smirked at their bickering. "You have quite the rowdy nephew accompanying you, Sonki Daro... " the suspicion of him knowing his name without asking raised Sora and Dora's heads in confusion. " ...I hope he'll be able to contain himself when we're inside the castle."

Just moments after, the group arrived at the castle of the Three Kings. They got out of the caravan one at a time and walked past the guarding knights with Vlad.

"Lower the wall!" Vlad yells out to his comrades, which they'd comply to and do so. The inside of the castle was beautiful. The chandeliers were gold, the lighting was luminescent, and the furniture was perfect.

Sora looks around at the scenery and starts to shake his head in disgust. "You would think with a place like this, they could end world hunger," he jested.

As they walked down the long halls, the throne room was finally in front of them.

"Once you go beyond this point, you must comply with every demand that the Kings give you. If you wish to leave here with your heads still stuck to your skin, of course," Vlad warned.

There was no need for Daro and Sora to speak a word. They'd only narrow their eyes at Vlad, being very cautious of him. He showed them inside to the Three Kings, who sat on their rose-gold colored thrones with smug faces of no remorse.

"My lords, I've brought two visitors who insisted so dearly that they meet you," he respectfully told them.

"I thought it was quite clear that we told you we weren't accepting any visitors today, Vlad," one of the Kings said in annoyance.

Before Vlad could speak, Sora marched in front of him with his chest puffed out. "Yeah, well, we came here because we need to talk to you about moving into our town."