It’s just about after noon, as Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige are standing in front of a fence gate, with two guards on each side, as the gate blocks a pathway, leading up to a castle. “Check that place out! It’s so big. Even from just this far away.”, says Saige. “Amazing, I wonder how they built on sand.”, says Mai. “We’re staring at a freaking castle, and your first thought is how it was built?, says Saige. “Alright, and what’s your thoughts on the castle?”, asks Mai. Saige responds, “I dunno, like I wonder how big the inside is or if they’re stocked up well on food.”. “Didn’t you eat enough last night?”, says Mai. “Ahem. So, where’s the king, if you don’t mind me asking?”, says Gregory, just cutting through the conversation, while talking to a guard.

  “Sorry, his majesty is having his nap.”, says the guard. “Still!?”, Mai and Saige say in unison. “But it’s the afternoon.”, says Mai. “You want me to wake him up?”, asks Saige. Gregory just gives Saige a serious look. “What? I won’t hit him. Most I’ll do is yell in his ear.”, says Saige. “Oh, don’t worry, we have it handled.”, says the guard.

  The group then look through the bars of the gate, seeing King Jesse walking up, wearing a soft white robe, with gold trim, and having two guards at his sides. King Jesse, after walking the distance, finally reaches the fence gate. “Who dares disturb my sleep?”, says King Jesse.

  “Are you kidding!? You were sleeping till the afternoon! Talk about being a lazy ass.”, says Saige. Gregory quickly covers Saige’s mouth with his hands. King Jesse now has a surprised face on. “We’re terribly sorry your king, I’m not sure what he’s talking about!”, says Gregory. King Jesse then snaps his fingers, as Gregory jitters with fear, now having a surprised look on his own face. “Guards...”, says King Jesse. Gregory lets out a quiet yelp. “...Where’s my tea?”, King Jesse asks. A guard, behind King Jesse, at the distance, jogs lightly, while holding a tea set on a tray. After managing to reach King Jesse, the guard pours black tea from a tea kettle, into a tea cup and hands the tea cup to him. King Jesse takes in the aroma for a brief second, then drinks from the cup.

  “Haha, love me some tea. Anyway, you should try sleeping in sometime. Want some tea?”, says King Jesse to Saige. “Nah, I’m good.”, Saige responds. “Anyway, what are you doing waiting outside here for, come in. Guards, open the gates.”, says King Jesse.

  After the guards open the gate, Gregory, Kelsey, Mai and Saige come through and follow King Jesse up to his castle. They then enter the castle, and see the inside, as it is generally big and empty, with a grand staircase across the way, from the front. “Wow.”, says Kelsey. “Welcome to my home.”, says King Jesse. “So this place, I wonder, how you built it on sand. It must have been annoying.”, asks Mai. King Jesse responds, “Have no idea. I just know this place has been here for centuries. Served my family for a long while. Now, I’d give you a tour, but you probably want to get down to the mission, right?”. “The mission?”, asks Saige. “Yeah. My head general has it all planned out. Come on, let me introduce you to him.”, says King Jesse.

  The group follow behind King Jesse and the next moment, they notice themselves heading into a basement door and going down a long spiral hallway, with walling made of a tan coloured brick. Upon reaching the bottom, they are greeted by a middle aged bald dark-skinned male, standing behind a table with a map of the island on it. While he has a clear dark blue board behind him, on the wall. “Head General Wade. We got a group here. It’s Saige and his friends.”, says King Jesse. Mai whispers to Gregory and Kelsey, “When did we become Saige’s entourage?”. “Anyway, tell em what we’re dealing with.”, says King Jesse.

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  Wade then speaks, “Nice to meet you. Anyway, we’re dealing with a serious series of events. We have demons ruining our fishing trade, demons causing our beaches to close down, demons...”. Mai cuts him off, “Wait, doesn’t this castle rest on a shoreline? How are the demons not getting here?”. Wade responds, “We have good defenses. Trust me on that. Namely, guards standing on point at each hour of the day and turrets as well. It’s different for our public beaches though, because they don’t have proper defenses setup. Just guards on point right now.”. “That sucks.”, says Saige.

  “Yes it does “suck”, as you say.”, says Wade. “So what’s the plan to take down these demons?”, asks Saige. “...I was just getting to that.”, says Wade. “Don’t let me stop you.”, says Saige. Wade gives Saige an annoyed look. “Don’t mind Wade, he’s just always sour.”, says King Jesse.

  Wade responds, “Hmph, no I’m not. Anyway, let me get to the plan. We’ll scale a full assault on hoverbikes.”. “Hoverbikes!?”, Saige questions, with a delighted look on his face. “Don’t interrupt me.”, says Wade. Saige just fixes his face back to a neutral expression and goes silent. Wade then continues, “Yes. We have enough of them. You see, our target is a single tower in the middle of the ocean. The problem is, we don’t have weaponry that can assault far enough and we don’t have airships.”.

  “That can’t be true. This country has no airships to attack?”, asks Mai. “We do, but the tech on them is outdated and most have broken down out of not being used for so many years.”, says Wade. “But didn’t you use airships in the Human and Demon War. They can’t be that worn down?”, says Mai.

  Gregory explains, “Actually, in the Human and Demon war, demons never attacked Aurum Kingdom. Since the kingdom was so far out in the seas and, at first, demons weren’t aware Aurum Kingdom even existed. So it remained as a safe haven.”. “Wait, but why do you have attack air ships, in the first place then, if you never needed them?”, asks Mai.

  “They were used in a war before the Human and Demon War. Long ago they were used in the war of Five Kingdoms.”, says Wade. “War of five kingdoms?”, asks Saige. “You never heard of it?”, asks Jesse. “No.”, Saige responds. “Me neither.”, Mai responds as well. King Jesse then goes on to explain, “Well. In the world there are five kingdoms to go from. First we have the Sapphire Kingdom, the kingdom of practicality. Second, Aurum Kingdom, the kingdom of fun.”.

  “The kingdom Of fun, eh?”, says Saige.

  Jesse continues, “That’s right. And then, the three other kingdoms. Third, the Emerald Kingdom, the kingdom of peace. Fourth, Diamante Kingdom, the kingdom of regality. Then fifth, the Ruby Kingdom, the kingdom of hard work. Long ago, much before the Human and Demon War, the kingdoms were at war. And no one could cross into eachother’s territory without getting killed.

  “Damn.”, says Saige. “Really? Gregory, how come you never told me about the war of the Five Kingdoms?”, asks Mai. “Didn’t seem important to explain.”, says Gregory. “Anyway, that is it. There was a war, but then it got resolved.”, says King Jesse. “May I ask how it got resolved?”, asks Mai.

  King Jesse explains how, “Mainly with the kingdoms agreeing to team up to stop the Diamante Kingdom in the end, since they had the biggest army and cruelest tactics. The Diamante Kingdom still isn’t keen on how the war ended, but they still agreed to a peace treaty.”.

  “Or were forced into it.”, says Mai. King Jesse retorts, “Either way, we all live in peace now, despite the aftermath of the Human and Demon War.” Wade then cuts in, “Yes. Much happened in the past. Now, would you like to hear the plan?”. “Yeah, go ahead.”, says Saige.

  Wade goes into the plan, while turning around and using his finger to write in light blue on the board behind him, drawing out the plan. “Thank you. The plan is we all assault the demon tower with hoverbikes and take on the enemy in a crane formation, while surrounding the tower. Meanwhile, Saige will stay in the back and after we get close enough to the tower, he’ll come out to the front and assault the tower with us.”

  Mai raises a hand. “Yes?”, says Wade. “So is this a suicide run? They still control the sea life, somehow.”, asks Mai. Wade further explains,”The hover bikes can fly high well above the ocean to avoid any surprise attacks. If we were using boats, then it’d be more suicidal.”

  “So I get to ride a hoverbike?”, asks Saige. “Yes.”, says Wade. “Whoo!”, Saige responds. “One problem. Excluding me, this group has never driven hoverbikes before.”, says Gregory. “So then we’ll have to train them. Come on. Let’s get you three on hoverbikes.”, says King Jesse. Saige just grins from ear to ear and follows behind King Jesse to the hoverbikes.