"What the hell are you doing?" Arthos roared in a furious voice.
"We are rescuing you." Wain replied weakly realizing how foolish that explanation sounded.
"We are stopping these assassins." Princess Elencia replied with authority.
"STOP…both of you STOP!" Arthos yelled.
Looking at Percy he said, "Percy, lower the knives…this is a giant misunderstanding."
Percy held the knives for a moment, then lowered them…releasing Kay from his death grip.
Arthos shifted his attention to Kristan and the Princess, "you too, please lower your weapon."
"I don't take orders from you." The Princess replied in a battle-crazed voice, adrenaline coursing through her veins.
"Princess Elencia, this is the Verdant Knight…he is an ally, we can trust him. Drop the weapon." Kay said softly.
"Sister!!!" Prince Luceran shouted as he ran toward his big sister.
"Luceran! Oh, thank god…thank god you are ok…you have no idea how worried I was…are you hurt? Are you ok?" Elencia said as she dropped her sword and hugged her little brother in a tight embrace.
"These two knights saved me! They both fought really cool!" The prince replied with a playful smile.
Rising off the ground, Kristan rushed toward Arthos followed by Wain. The three hugged tightly and talked at the same time. Their voices blended together as they all said, 'I'm glad you are ok…I'm glad you are safe…etc.'
Hector and Percy joined too. Arthos hugged each individually.
After a while Kay asked, "What's going on here?"
"It's a long story…this was all a misunderstanding…thank god we made it in time…you guys could have killed each other. Anyway, everyone here is a friend and ally, let's go inside and I will explain everything." Arthos said.
With some distrust, the group slowly walked into the village main hall.
"Umm…Arthos…who's the girl and why are you holding her hand?" Kristan asked.
"Oh…that…that's a long story too. Can you bring us some hot water…we are stuck like this." Arthos said with a somewhat embarrassed tone.
[…]
[One Hour Later]
Arthos, Kristan, Wain, Percy, Hector, Nevariel Arden, Kay, Princess Elencia, Prince Luceran, and the village elders gathered in the village's main hall.
After a quick introduction, Arthos explained the events that occurred after he was knocked into Castle Avalor. He explained about the avatars (which he referred to as sleeping warriors), the orc attack on the village, along with the orc army that killed Eterna guild's strike-force.
"Is it ok to talk about the sleeping warrior in front of Nevariel Arden?" Wain asked nervously.
"She already knew the truth…about them and where they come from." Arthos replied.
"What?" Kristan and Wain said in surprise, at the same time.
"Last night we discussed matters…one topic led to another…and it turns out she knew already most of the story." Arthos said somewhat casually.
"You spent the night with a beautiful girl? Lucky dog." Wain said in a semi-whisper.
Arthos blushed slightly and replied, "No…I didn't mean it like that…it's just that we were hiding from the red orcs…and the prince was there too…so you know."
The prince laughed and made loud kissing noises which made Arthos and Nevariel blush.
"What do you mean 'lucky dog'…you and I shared a hotel room together too." Kristan shot angrily at Wain…clearly offended and somewhat jealous by his remark.
"What?" Hector and Percy asked, shocked by the sudden revelation.
Wain blushed like a tomato and quickly interjected, "no…noo…nooo. It was not like that. I mean nothing happened. The NAVA plan was a bust and we need to escape quickly…we had to flee in a hurry and ended up staying at a small town with only one hotel. There was only one room left so we had to share it…but its not like anything happened. Well, maybe I did accidently see her undressing…but come on! Have you seen her? My god…she is so hot…I mean. What I mean is that I respect you Kristan and value you…hehe."
"Hopeless." Kay said softly.
"More like idiotic." Percy replied.
"So, these are my new guild mates? They are a lively group. I can already tell this will be an adventure." Nevariel Arden said with a beautiful smile of approval.
"What? New guild?" Kristan asked surprised.
"Can we talk about that afterwards? There is still much to discuss." Arthos said as he redirected the conversation.
"As some of you may know, my family, the Arden family, is one of the richest families on earth. They own and operate a vast empire of real estate, manufacturing, health care, but we specialize in robotics and tech development. Years ago, when Marlin Ashford and Morgan Novaris founded NAVA and Avalor, they needed substantial funding to build and secretly maintain the truth about Avalor. The founders were afraid to seek government funding…fearing the government would cease control of their incredible discovery. Instead, they approached my family along with two other wealthy families with a proposal which resulted in the funding of NAVA. In exchange, the three families have known the truth since the beginning." Nevariel said with precision.
"Wait, your explanation does not agree with our understanding of history." Princess Elencia interjected.
She continued to explain her doubts, "our scholars have recorded in the history records that Avalor was founded by the First King…the most powerful of all kings…the one who came from beyond…the last Dragon."
Shock and whispers filled the room.
What did this mean?
Who was this First King?
Avalor existed even before NAVA?
Kay cleared his throat and spoke, "both accounts are true. Avalor was originally founded almost a thousand years ago by the First King. As some here know, Avalor was destroyed during the Great War 50 years ago, during which the First King was defeated. The country and city remained desolated until roughly 5 years ago when it was rebuilt."
"So, who sits on the throne now?" Elencia asked perplexed.
"No one," replied Arthos.
He added, "I have been to Castle Avalor and seen for myself. The castle is empty. The throne room bare. There is no king."
"So, who rules then? Who commands the warriors from Avalor?" Elencia asked.
"Morgan Novaris does. After NAVA was established, his partner Marlin Ashford disappeared. Morgan is the sole owner of NAVA and oversees its vast empire. I never met the man in person, but from my family's dealing with him, I can say with confidence that he is highly dangerous. He is cunning, patient, intelligent, and only cares about one thing – money." Nevariel answered.
"History lessons aside, can we talk about the orc army? What have you learned?" Kay asked.
"I scouted west of here around the swamp through here. Nevariel and her party traveled in this direction where they encountered the army here. Prince Luceran, on the other hand, traveled from the northwest along this route without encountering any traces of the orcs. That means that the army is marching along this route." Arthos explained as he traced lines on a map.
"That would mean the orc army is heading into Camarax." Elencia gasped.
"Yes, I think so. They will have to pass through Ray village first." Arthos said.
"How much time do we have?" Kay asked.
"Three days." Arthos replied.
"Then we have much to do in three days." Princess Elencia replied.