Chapter Three: The Other Kingdoms

The next couple of days went by slow and painfully. I still hadn't gotten the sword-fighting down yet, and I was desperately thinking of just taking the death sentence. Siphe, however, wouldn't let me quit. Which was good, because if my parents had quit on me, I wouldn't have made it to graduation.

"You honestly mean that there is no other weapon in the Kingdom of Light?" I had asked Siphe the other day.

"Honestly," he said with a nod, "although you can always go to another Kingdom to train. They have different weapons in other Kingdoms."

"There's more than just the Kingdom of Light, and whoever those Dark Demons belong too?" I asked him, confused.

"Of course!" Siphe seemed jovial after being so tired moments before, "there are two types of Kingdoms. Some have The Power of Element, while others don't. My Kingdom here does not, although we do fight better during the day. My Mother would say it was because we had poor night vision. The Kingdom that is opposite of us is The Kingdom of Darkness, and they fight better at night, although they are not a Kingdom with The Power of Element. Other Kingdoms such as The Kingdom of Fire, or The Kingdom of Rain do."

"So how do you know if they do or not?" I asked, "say for someone like myself walks into The Kingdom of the Moon, how would I know that they have The Power of Element?"

"Well, firstly, there is no Kingdom of the Moon. It is only a myth- a story of sorts- that Mothers would tell their children," Siphe said matter-of-fact like, "but to answer your question, you cannot always be so sure."

"Lame," I stated as I looked around, "so what's so great about this Darkness dude that's trying to take over your world?"

"The King of Darkness is a vile, and crude King who had terrorized over many other Kingdoms for centuries," Siphe explained.

"Centuries? So like his father started it? Or his grand-daddy?" I asked him.

"No, The King of Darkness is well over three hundred years old," Siphe told me like it was obvious, "he found an ancient scroll used by the Sabthze Firsts that told of a way to remain alive for centuries. Nobody has ever seen the scroll, as it is said that The King of Darkness had his son put it in safe care."

"Wow," I was amazed by this, "and how come no one has been able to defeat him?"

"Everyone is to scared too. That is why you are here, and will save the world!"

"Did you ever stop to think that I could be scared too?"

"No," Siphe stated before picking up his sword, "enough talk, we only have two days till the end of the week."

"Right," I groaned as I picked up the sword, still not use to the weight.

Now it was the end of the week and it was late. The moon was out in full view, all seven of them. The constellations in the sky were much different from Mudville, and there was one that stood out in the sky greater than any other, and it lied between the moons in the sky.

"Sipherius," Siphe said, appearing near me, "The Protector."

"What?"

"The constellation between the moons is Sipherius; The Protector," Siphe explained, "I thought you might be a Star Gazer and would like to know."

"Oh, yeah. So Sipherius- are you named after him?"

"Oh yes, my Mother wanted me to be the Protector of my Kingdom and of the one that would save this world," Siphe explained, "I was born to ensure that you will defeat the King of Darkness, Piper."

"You're right," I nodded, finally comfortable with the choice we had decided, "so we're going to leave now?" Siphe nodded and I picked up the bag that was on the ground next to me and shifted it onto my back before facing Siphe, "let's go."

***

"There were five original Kingdoms on the planet Sabthze, there was the Northern Kingdom, the Southern Kingdom, the Western Kingdom, the Eastern Kingdom, and the Central Kingdom. The five Kingdom grew old over time, and in this day, stand as ruins. It is said that something special is about the ruined Kingdoms, and only when they have come, will the secrets be revealed. Many have tried, and many have failed. No one knows who it is that is to arrive at the five Kingdoms, but it is said they will gain ultimate power.

"Do you think that you could be the one that can awake and gain the ultimate power, Piper?" Siphe asked as he read out of a scroll that he had taken out of his fathers' study early that day.

"Probably not, but we can always try," I shrugged, "there are so many in's and out's here that anyone can do anything."

"Not always," Siphe said, "we are still a Kingdom, and we still have classes. You've only seen the Royal house of my Kingdom. There are peasants, and middle class," Siphe continued, "although we try not to associate with them on a daily basis due to their lack of intelligence."

"You'd be amazed how much a peasant knows. You may know something about Object A, but they know more about Object B," I pointed out, "you can't just judge them by their class."

Siphe took this into consideration while we continued to walk, "I'm not sure if you're right about that, Piper."

"Oh, that's one thing I know I'm right about," I said proudly, "but speaking of peasant, we can be running around the world dressed like this."

Siphe and I looked at our clothes. He was still wearing the white and gold royal uniform and I was still in my checkered shorts, checkered shoes and plain black top. I would stick out just as much, if not more, than Siphe. He nodded and we made our way to the furthest peasant districts of the Kingdom of Light. Many of the peasants looked at us, a Prince in the poorest of districts.

"Do you have some money, Siphe?" I asked and he dug into his pocket before pulling out a sack of coins, "thanks, I'll go get us some clothes, and be right back. Wait here."

He looked like he was going to protest, but I left before hearing it. I entered a withered down looking store that had clothes spelt on the front door. It was dirty and dusty inside, and looked unoccupied. I looked around at the white and gold clothing that hung on the walls or lied on the counters.

"And you would be?" croaked an old voice. I turned quickly to see a hunched over woman who looked like the woman that owned the candy house in the fairy tale.

"H-hello, um- I was hoping to buy some clothes," I said hesitantly, trying not to stare at her abnormally large nose and her nearly black hands.

"What would you like?" she asked, "your clothing now says you're not from this district."

"Oh, I'm not," I said honestly, "but I'm going to be travelling and I need better clothes."

"Well, let's see what we've got," she bustled over to the counter and pulled out a faded white dress, "how is this?"

"No, I'm not much for dresses. Do you have anything with pants?" I asked.

About twenty minutes later, I finally got a pair of white pants for myself and had Siphe come in to get a pair that would fit him. They were loose, and pretty soft. The only downfall was the filth that covered them. Siphe had received a tank top of sorts, with a gold belt to hold it close as it overlaid like a Japanese Kimono. The shirt that I got was similar only it had longer sleeves, and there was nothing else my size.

I gave up my shoes and placed them into my bag, knowing that if I wore them, I would stick out like a sore thumb. The shoes they did hand me were old, and I could see my big toe in my left shoe. They were white with gold bands over the top and around the back. This was never my style, and I prayed that it would never be it again once I got out of these clothes.

"Thank you," I said with a smile as Siphe and I left after paying, "have a nice day!"

I pulled my hair, which I actually noticed was just as blond as Siphe's, into a bun on the back of my head and covered it with a white cloth, tying it close with a gold band. Now that I was thinking about it, Siphe and I could probably pass as cousins. The only difference being that I had brown eyes and he had blue. I found it funny at the thought, but didn't think to share it.

Siphe tied on his sword onto his back once more and shifted his bag on his back while I pulled my bag onto my back, my sword tied onto my lower back, one of the hardest positions to pull out the sword, but Siphe had a blacksmith make me a small lighter sword, so it wasn't that hard to pull it out now. This was when I also realized that the shoes I was now wearing did not keep in any heat, and that I was going to freeze during the rest of night.