Will of a Prince

Slimo stared at the mysterious figure carefully.

"What the hell are you doing in my house?! Who let you in here?!"

"I let myself in here! Nice place you got!"

Slimo looked at Enki dubiously.

"Anyway... what’s this plan that you have?"

"We need you to convince the Queen to escape this kingdom with us. You need to tell her what this kingdom really is and hopefully, she will be inclined to help us."

"There’s no way she would listen to us. That queen is mad!"

"You are right. She will not listen to us, but she will listen to you."

Slimo couldn’t tell, but he could feel Enki smirking from under his dark robes. Slimo’s heart suddenly grasped the meaning of his words.

"What? Oh no. Oh no no no no. No way."

"Come on! It’s our only chance!"

"There’s no way I’m doing anything to gain that queen’s favor."

"Well, how about we still have you do it, but you won’t be doing anything?"

"What? How does that make any sense?"

"Well, let’s just say it’s going to involve a little bit of sacrifice from you and Miss Lidia. I think I can make just the charm for your troubles!"

Slimo walked up the palace steps slowly. His composure was unusually different as he walked. The guards stopped him at the front gates and stared at his menacing broadsword.

"You are going to have to leave that weapon out here. No weapons allowed inside."

Without making a sound, Slimo picked up the sword and laid it on the ground gently. The guards studied him for any hidden weapons before allowing him to finally pass.

He was escorted by two guards towards the iron door of the throne room and allowed inside. The queen was sitting on her throne with her usual aloof attitude.

"Oh, my dear Slimo. What brings you here on such a lovely day? Did you really miss me that much? And where’s that woman you’re always with?"

Slimo cleared his throat before answering.

"As a matter of fact, I did. As for that woman, I’m through with her."

The Queen stuttered before answering again.

"You... really missed me? You aren’t messing with me, are you?"

"I would never mess with someone so infatuating, my Queen."

Pops, who was standing by the Queen’s side, walked up to Slimo angrily.

"No one speaks to the Queen like that! I will escort him out, my lady."

"Halt, Pops. I’m interested to see where this goes."

Pops stopped and looked up at the Queen apologetically.

"Please forgive me! I didn’t mean to go against your interests!"

"Just sit by my side, will you?"

"Of course!"

Pops walked back to his spot and stood tall, glaring at Slimo menacingly.

"So, you said you were through with that woman? Why?"

"Ever since I laid eyes on you, I was instantly infatuated. Your demeanor, your grace, and your voice are all things that run through my mind when I’m away from you. Please, my lady, I want to be yours."

The queen started blushing severely.

"W-Where is this coming from?! Is this really the same Slimo?!"

"I’m as real as it gets. I also have some urgent news, my beautiful queen. This kingdom we are living in is a leviathan. I suggest we make a path out of here as soon as we can."

"A leviathan? How do you know?"

"When we were sent to investigate the disturbance below your palace, the walls themselves came alive."

"How did you escape?"

"I used that woman as live bait to make my escape. I needed to see you once again so I could tell you how I feel, my queen."

"You mean... that ugly woman who was crazy about you is gone?! I’m all yours?!"

It wasn’t obvious, but Slimo seemed to furrow his brow slightly upon hearing the insult sent towards Lidia.

"Gone for good. I made sure of it, my lady. Now we can be together forever."

The queen put her hands on her red face.

"This is so sudden! I-I don’t know if I’m ready!"

Slimo walked up to the queen slowly. The queen allowed him to approach. He brought his face close to hers, staring into her eyes.

"If you get us out of here, I will show you how ready I am."

"I-I-I still don’t know if I should believe you! It’s just so sudden! How do I know you really like me!"

Suddenly, Slimo grabbed the queens jaw with his hand and quickly kissed her on the lips before walking away slowly. The queen was so stunned she sat on her throne in a deafening silence. After three moments, she finally came back to her senses.

"So... how do we get out of here again?"

"That part will be easy. There’s someone in my group who is good with charms and enchantments. We may be able to use that staff of yours to help us escape. Please, follow me."

"But... there’s a mass killer on the loose by the gates. I thought it was Pops, but he told me it wasn’t him this time! If someone that powerful is hiding in our kingdom, I need Pops to go with me for protection."

Slimo looked over at Pops.

"Of course. I was going to offer for him to come along anyway."

"Very well. Let me gather my things."

"Pack lightly. There’s no telling how far we have to travel through the barrier to break free."

"Very well."

After a few moments, the Queen and Pops followed Slimo towards the front gate. However, instead of Slimo’s group being the only people there, it seemed like everyone from the education center had gathered with them, including Professor Jenna. Lidia, however, was nowhere to be seen. The Queen took notice of this and smiled slightly.

"I forgot to mention, I warned most of the others about this. They want to escape too. You’re our only hope, my gorgeous Queen."

The queen flustered and cleared her throat.

"Let’s go towards the barrier. Lead the way."

"Before we do that, I need you to wear something for me. Pops too."

Slimo walked up to Enki who was passing out a strange ring to everyone. He took three rings from him and brought them towards the queen and her jester.

"Enki is the charm person. He made these for us to help protect us in case this plan doesn’t work. Make sure to never take this off until we reach the other side."

The ring was silver with a small green gem placed inside. Slimo slid a ring on his index finger before handing the other two out. The queen studied it carefully.

"This just looks like an ordinary ring. How do I know it’s enchanted?"

"Enki is a master of his craft. He’s able to make enchanted items without the hue giving off its enchantment."

The queen slowly slid the ring on her finger. She instantly felt a small change in her being.

"Fascinating..."

The queen looked over Slimo’s group suspiciously. Each one held a somber expression on their face, as if they had lost someone close recently.

’It’s true after all... Slimo’s all mine!!’

"What does this Enki fellow need me to do?"

"Let’s try and group at the barrier first. I think he could explain it better than I ever could."

As everyone walked towards a large forest outside the kingdom, Enki started checking over everyone’s rings to make sure they were working properly. Then, he walked up to the Queen and bowed.

"Your highness."

"No need for formality. Tell me what I must do."

"Well, can you confirm something to me first? Does that staff you have reverse time done to something?"

"Indeed."

"Well, I need to you tap everyone’s ring with that staff, including your own. The enchantment I added should harness some of the power contained in the staff when you do that."

"How will that help us cross the barrier?"

"Because that will be the only thing keeping us alive. So please, if you would, hit everyone’s ring with the staff."

"Wait, are we simply going to brute force our way through while our bodies constantly get torn up?"

"Well, when you put it that way it sounds crazy... because it is crazy! However, with that staff of yours, all the damage done to us will be reverted to the state we are in, in this moment of time."

"Won’t that be painful?"

"Well, it would be, but I took precautions so no one will feel a thing!"

The Queen looked at her ring again.

"So that’s what this is for... Very well. I will do as you say."

The Queen walked around the large group of people and lightly tapped their ring. Each time she did, a small spark of magic seemed to glow under the rings surface for a few moments.

Enki slowly prepared to lead the group outside the barrier.

"I’ll lead the way and test it. Everyone, stay back."

Enki slowly walked forward as the large group watched curiously. As Enki passed a certain threshold, his arm suddenly shriveled to dust, his head crumpled slowly and his body seemed to twist... however, in an instant he was brought back to his normal state, as if nothing had happened all. He looked back at the group excitedly.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! That didn’t hurt a bit!"

A flame of hope burned inside everyone’s hearts. Jacob was the first to follow Enki, then it was Maria, then Steel. Soon, everyone had started trudging their way through the dim forest, constantly being torn apart and brought back together. However, the Queen noticed something strange when she entered the barrier.

"Slimo? I thought you were up at the start with Enki?"

"Oh. I was?"

Suddenly, another Slimo appeared far ahead to her right. He looked back at the second Slimo with an embarrassed expression.

"Welp, it looks like we’ve been caught!"

Then, both Slimo’s ran ahead of her.

"Wait... you-"

Suddenly, a deathly pain pierced through the Queen. She fell to the ground watching her arm shrivel into dust. She screamed out in pain. Similarly, Pops had shared the same fate. Both the Queen and her Jester were stuck on the ground, screaming their lungs out in agony. Not only that...

woosh

The Queen and Pops were teleported back to the start of the barrier while everyone else trudged ahead. The trap that Enki had meticulously set up for them had been a massive success.

The Queen howled in anger as the group continued to run as fast as they could through the forest. Jacob looked back in worry as he ran with Maria.

"Can’t they just take off the ring?!"

Enki started manically laughing.

"I made it soul-bound! If either of them breaks their ring or takes it off, they die! Quite a clever drawback, huh?"

Jacob looked at Enki with an impressed, but slightly fearful expression. He whispered over towards Maria.

"Remind me to never piss off an enchanter."

After what felt like an eternity, everyone around each other stopped being mangled and disfigured. Enki made them wait three minutes before he allowed anyone to take of their ring.

"I think we’re good, folks! You may take of the ring now!"

Everyone around them sighed in relief.

Suddenly, two Slimo’s walked next to each other. One of them pulled off their ring as well as a small necklace that was tucked deep under their amor. Upon taking it off, something strange happened to their body. It was as if they were molding into another person. Soon, Lidia had appeared right next to the real Slimo. She wiped her mouth and spat on the ground.

"Crazy homewrecker really thought she stood a chance. I’m never doing that again."

Slimo embraced her tightly.

"You did great. Thank you for agreeing to our crazy plan."

Slimo stared back at the kingdom through the thick brush of woods. He quietly made a promise to himself.

’One day, I’ll come back for you guys. I promise the memory of you will return to this world, along with all the poor souls who shared your fate.’

Enki looked over the group quietly.

"Alright, well I’m glad you all made it, but there’s one tiny issue here.

Jacob was the first to respond.

"What is it?"

"Anyone know what year it is?"