P.O.V. Third

King smiled as he walked down the halls of the palace he lived in. He was on his way to his fencing class, ever since he had unlocked his semblance the others had started to have him incorporate it into his training. Just as the others expected King's semblance had turned out to be very powerful and because of his unusually large supply of aura he could use it almost without limit.

When he arrived King saw all three of his royal advisors looking at him. He disregarded this at first and began to walk to the small rack where they kept his weapons. However, he stopped when he saw that they were still staring at him. "Is something wrong?" King asked as he looked at the three in front of him.

"King, we . . . we have something to tell you," Rain said as he looked at the male in front of him. When he said this King looked at them a bit confused and looked at them.

"What is it?" King asked as he looked at the three in front of him. When he said this the three tensed up and King looked at them. Whatever it was it must have been bad, especially since even Xiantao was a bit hesitant to say what had happened. However, after nearly a minute of silence, Xiantao steeled his nerves and took a deep breath.

"King," Xaintao began as he looked at the male in front of him. "It's about your friend Emma," Xaintao said as he looked at the male in front of him. King became noticeably concerned hearing this and looked at the three in front of him. "Today, her house was attacked, and burned down," Xaintao said as he looked at the male in front of him.

"Wh-what?" King said in complete disbelief about what he had just heard. "Y-your kidding . . . right?" King asked as he looked at the three hoping this was just some sort of joke, even if was a rather cruel one. Xiantao shook his head hearing this and King felt his heart drop as he looked at them. "Well, then we have to do something! Send some investigators! We need to help her while we still have time!" King said as he looked at the male in front of him.

"Please calm down my prince," Xiantao said as he bent down on one knee to look at the child in front of him. "We've already sent some people to help, and even before that, we had some information on what had happened. We think there's a fairly good chance that Ember's still alive, we're doing everything we can to find her," Xiantao said as he looked at the child in front of him.

"Everything?" King asked as he looked at the male in front of him, and Xaintao nodded.

"Indeed, we've already hired a team of private investigators, as well as a team of detectives. We're also flying in some others from out of the kingdom to assist with the matter. At the moment this matter has been labeled as a top priority," Xaintao said as he looked at the male in front of him. King sighed a bit relieved hearing this and nodded, somehow knowing this did manage to bring her some slight relief.

"Can... can I see it?" King asked as he looked at the male in front of him. Xaintao nodded hearing this as he looked at the male in front of him. Xaintao tensed up hearing this and nodded as he looked down at the male.

"If that is what you wish," Xaintao said as he looked down at the male in front of him. King nodded hearing this and the two began to walk away hearing this. As he did the two others began to follow them out of the palace. When they did a small carriage pulled up, King looked at the carriage and Xaintao helped him into the massive vehicle. King then felt the carriage suddenly move forward.

As he did King looked out of the small window that the carriage had and saw several people pointing and waving at him. Despite his rather depressed mood King forced a small and waved to many of the people he saw. Just because he was upset, didn't mean he needed to be rude after all. As they slowly approached the building that Ember lived in King noticed that the sky was starting to darken.

He also noticed that many of the people that had been waving at him no longer looked happy. King also saw something small and black starting to fall from the sky. King felt a bit sick upon this realization and closed his eyes hoping desperately that this was just a bad dream and that he would wake up at any moment. King then slowly opened his eyes and despite knowing that this was reality, he still found himself disappointed to see that he was still in the carriage.

As they arrived King could smell something strange, and while it took him a minute to identify what it is he felt, even more, discourage upon the realization of what he was smelling was something that had been burnt. After some time had passed the carriage that King was in suddenly came to a stop. The door then opened and King took a deep breath trying to steel his nerves before he walked out of the carriage.

Before he had even left the small vehicle King saw some smoke in the distance. King felt himself starting to shake slightly as he walked towards the area that the house used to be. As he did he saw a large smoldering piled of ashes with the ground scourged black from the heat, and only a few pillars of support had managed to survive through the intense heat of the flames. King felt his heart drop seeing this and looked around at what used to be Ember's house, that was now just a smoldering pile of ashes.

King swallowed hard seeing this and looked around as he moved forward. He felt sick seeing this but continued to look around, as he did he felt himself begin shaking at the thought that his closest friend had probably just died. King gagged slightly the sick feeling in his stomach starting to be a bit too much for him to handle. King covered his mouth despite knowing he wasn't going to vomit however doing so made him feel a bit at ease.

King then looked around and spotted Xiantao, when he did he saw him talking to a group of people. King walked up to the group and began to overhear their conversation. "Unfortunately we have found two bodies, they belong to mister and misses Empa. The whereabouts of their daughter, however, is still unknown," King overheard one of the men that he was talking to.

"I see, is there anything else you discovered about the situation?" Xaintao asked as he looked at the male in front of him, causing him to nod in response.

"Yes, we have found out a few things since the initial investigation," The male said as he looked at the male. "As it turns out, several people reported seeing several different men and women spotted in the area wearing masks, suggesting that they be with a cult of some kind, or possibly a new and as of yet unknown organization," The male said as he looked at Xiantao. When he heard this King began to look around the area that surrounded them.

He didn't really care about what he was seeing but he had to make it look like he wasn't eavesdropping on their conversation. "I see, anything else?" Xiantao asked as he looked at the male in front of him, causing him to nod.

"Indeed, we recently found out that one of her friends was also staying with her. A young boy named Javon. We've contracted his parents and alerted them of the situation," The male said as he looked at Xiantao when he said this Xiantao nodded and began to look around for King. As much as he thought King should know about the situation he didn't want him to worry about his friend due to the fact that Xiantao knew he had a slight crush on the girl.

"I see, please send them our condolences as well as some gifts. I'll have to write them a let of course so the gift seems more genuine, however, I believe that's the least we can do while their child is missing," Xiantao said as he looked at the men in front of him. When he said this the small group that he had been talking to slowly disperse and began to disappear from sight. When they did King sighed and walked up to Xiantao.

"I think I'm ready to go home," King said as he looked up at the male in front of him. When he said this the elder male nodded.

"If that is what you want then I'll be more than happy to take you back home," Xiantao said as he looked at the male in front of him. King nodded hearing this and Xiantao smiled as the two began to walk away from the scene. "I think you'll also be happy to know there is a slight update with the situation on your friend," Xiantao said as he opened the door to the carriage for King.

"Oh?" King asked pretending not to know anything about what he had just heard.

"Indeed," Xiantao said as he shut the door behind King and walked to the small seat up from with the driver. "It would appear as if Ember's mother and father didn't survive the attack, however many of the staff reported seeing someone grab Ember while the building was burning," Xiantao said as he turned back to look at King. When he said this King looked up more than intrigued by what he had just heard since he didn't hear him discussing it with the man from earlier.

Then again Xiantao did say that they hired several investigators, and he was only speaking to one of them. So it was very possible that one of the others had told him that while King wasn't around. "Really?" King asked as he looked up at the male in front of him. Xiantao nodded hearing this as they continued to ride back towards the palace. "And no one thought that it was strange?" King asked as he looked at the male in front of him.

"Apparently most of the staff don't know each other, kind of how our kitchen staff doesn't know most of the guards," Xiantao explained as he looked at the male behind him and King nodded hearing this. "Plus with all the panic and confusion going on, the few that did see Ember and her kidnapper most likely just thought that it was someone just doing their job and trying to help her out of the fire," Xiantao explained as he looked at the male in front of him.

King nodded hearing this in understanding, it did make sense. As for why someone was willing to do something like that to her family. It was simple enough that even a child like King could figure it out. It was because she was rich, and was the heiress to one of the most successful company's in all of Remnant. King sighed hearing this and turned to look to the side as they continued to go back to the palace.

When they arrived at the palace King looked out the window and to the sky and saw that it was starting to get rather dark. The carriage soon came to a stop and King walked out of it with a sigh. King wasn't the type of person to sulk, however, at the moment it was hard for him to be in a good mood knowing that his closest friend was in danger. So at the moment, he found it a bit hard to smile, even if it was a forced one.

King then made his way to his room and sighed as he walked over to his bed. He didn't even have the motivation to work out tonight. King simply laid on his bed with his eyes open, he wasn't thinking yet for some reason he still found it incredibly difficult to sleep for some reason. After nearly an hour had passed King sighed and rose from his bed. King then walked to the bathroom and after relieving himself he washed his hands and walked to the small balcony he had.

As he looked out at the city he couldn't help but sense dread as he did. He had always known Trigelph to be a peaceful kingdom, and anyone who knew Ember knew that she was a kind and caring person. So at the moment, he was having a hard time thinking of how someone could do something like this to someone like her. He, of course, knew why, they did it, but even so he still found the matter complicated, he just didn't understand how others could be so cruel.

King then looked down at the several guards that were around his building and felt overridden with guilt. He had several bodyguards that surrounded him at any given moment, and Eclipse hired someone every month to try and "kidnap" him every week to make sure their defenses weren't getting weak. He could have easily hired one to keep an eye on Ember and her family so that nothing would happen to her.

King then walked over to an isolated part of the balcony and began to sit by himself. He wasn't sure why he felt so terrible about what happened but he did. He knew there was nothing he could have done to stop what happened, but even so, he couldn't help but blame himself for what had taken place. As if he should have seen it coming for some reason, despite having no information about it previously.

After roughly another hour had passed King sighed and stood up as he began to walk down the halls of his palace. As he did he heard two voices in the distance talking to each other and began to walk towards them. It wasn't until he got closer that he recognized whom the voices belonged to. King came to a stop a corner that would have to lead him directly to the two that were speaking but for some reason chose to remain hidden instead of showing him.

King then slowly peaked around the corner and just as he thought, he saw both Rain and Xiantao talking to each other. "It seems like those private investigators were a lot better than I gave them credit for, either that or this cult is just really reckless in how they do things," Rain said as he looked at the male in front of him causing Xiantao to nod. "So where are they?" Rain asked as he looked at the male in front of him.

"They're in held up in Fairbell, staying in an old abandoned building that's beside the town Bazaar. How quickly can you assemble a task force to attack them?" Xiantao said as he looked at the male in front of him.

"I could just go myself, and have it done before the night is over," Rain said as he looked at the male in front of him. When he said this Xiantao shook his head hearing this and looked at the male in front of him.

"No, these people are clearly dangerous and unpredictable. They have both Ember and Javon with them, and if they force you to choose I doubt even you could save both of them," Xiantao said as he looked at the female in front of him. Rain sighed hearing this and nodded knowing that this was the truth. He was rather good at shadowing people but when it came to actually use stealth to infiltrate somewhere he was sorely lacking in that department.

"In that case, I can a team assembled as soon as tomorrow morning, and we'll be ready to attack around noon," Rain said as he looked at the male in front of him. Xiantao nodded hearing this and sighed.

"If you don't mind, I'd rather we keep this matter away from King. I don't want him getting his hopes up just in case the mission goes south," Xiantao said as he looked at the male in front him. Rain nodded hearing this and the two began to walk down the halls together. King stood where he was hearing this. They weren't going to do anything? They knew where she was, and they weren't going to do anything!

King felt his hand slowly clench to a fist as he thought about this. How could they do something like that, to someone as kind as Ember? King gritted his teeth and began to walk back to his room unknowingly using his semblance as he did, with all the windows that he walked past cracking violently on the edge of completely shattering and littering the floor. King then let out a sigh when he reached his room, however, he never had the chance to make it to his bed.

When he entered he saw two men in the middle of his room looking around. King reached into his pocket to press the small button that Rain had given him however when he did King realized that it wasn't in his pocket. King gritted his teeth realizing it must have fallen out when he had been walking around his palace. Before he had the chance to call for help the two men dashed towards him. King jumped back seeing this and while he avoided one of them he wasn't able to avoid the second.

The male continued to run towards him with King jumping back on the wall behind him and jumping over him. The male however stopped and grabbed King's foot before he could get away. The male pulled him down to the ground and pinned him down on the ground burying his elbow in King's back. "HEL-HMPH!" King called out only to be cut off by one of the males shoving a piece of cloth in his mouth.

The male then grabbed King's arms and brought them behind his back. The male then tied his hands and feet together and the male easily picked King up and tossed him over his shoulder. "Come on, let's get out of here before someone sees us," The male said as he walked back into King's room walking over to the balcony, and jumping off the balcony. The two then began to sneak across the yard.

When they did several loud sirens began to be heard all around them. If it wasn't for the piece of cloth that was currently holding his jaw open King would have been smiling. It hadn't taken his guards long to figure out that he was missing, and now they were on high alert. The two panicked hearing this and the two quickly jumped over the large wall that separated the palace from the rest of the city.

When they did the two began to run through the city taking routes that they knew were less populated than others. King continued to struggle the entire time, as he did bruises began to form around his wrists and ankles from where he was struggling. As they did King eventually noticed that they were walking towards the section of Trigelph that Rain had said they had tracked the people that had kidnapped Ember were staying at.

Once King released this he stopped struggling, despite every part of his body telling him that he should try to escape, he kept himself still. He thought that if he could see Ember then maybe given enough time he would be able to escape with her. If nothing else he could at least help her escape, after all having a prince hostage was far more valuable than Ember would be. "It's about time you stopped moving around," One of the male's said as he looked at the male.

As they were walking King noticed a few men wearing the same type of masks that the men that had captured him were wearing. King looked at the building they were heading towards, it was old and in less than desirable condition. However, King could also tell that some effort had been made to clean the place a small bit. He could see a few guards around the building most likely just there to wait for the return of the two men that had captured him.

As King approached the building he quickly realized just how old it was as the musty smell made its presence known almost immediately, the foul stench only becoming stronger as he grew closer to the building. It was a mixture of mold, drugs from a hospital, and what appeared to be some type of toxic waste. King was a bit happy that the cloth in his mouth was there as it did prevent him from vomiting, however, that was little comfort as they approached the building.

When they opened the door they tossed King onto the ground and he was horrified by what he saw. In the middle of the room was a male that had been bound to a massive jagged rock with barbed wire. The rock itself had been suspended in the air between two massive spires causing the wire to dig into the male's skin. However, it seemed as if he wasn't lucky enough for his cruel punishment to end there as he also had a strange helmet over his head.

King wasn't sure what purpose the helmet served however King knew it couldn't have been good as blood was flowing from the male's head down his body and eventually making it's way down the rock before stopped and dripping down into a basin that funneled the blood into an elaborate system of cracks and crevasses, that lead to a pool that looked like it would be used to wash someone's hands or possibly their face.

King had a hard time processing what he was seeing, he just couldn't understand how people could be so cruel to someone. While he was taking in the sight two of the members had been discussing what to do with him. King's view was cut off as one of the male's picked him up and began to take him across the room to another door. When he opened it, King saw a dark stairway that led down to some sort of basement.

The male carried King down the stairs until eventually, they reached the bottom where King saw another large room, this one being noticeably dirtier than the one he had just been in. The room also contained several cages that had been rusted by both time and blood. In each cage, there was a small amount of hay for someone to sleep on, a thin and rugged cloth that looked like it was barely enough to cover someone, a few chains with cuffs were on the wall, a small stool, and small bucket.

King then heard one of the cages raddle behind him. "Put him down!" He heard a familiar female voice demand. When he looked in the direction the scream had come from King saw Ember staring at them. Her clothes had been torn in several different places, and King could see a few cuts and bruises on her. The male gritted his teeth hearing this and tossed King into the cage next to hers slamming him into the wall as he did.

When he did King gasped and had a bit of trouble breathing a few seconds after the initial impact. Ember rushed to his side seeing this her hands gripping the bars that separated them looking at King with concern as the male that had tossed him shut the door and locked the cage. After he did King gasped finally being able to force himself to breathe before coughing slightly and panting heavily as he tried to get some more air.

The male then walked out of the room seeing this and Ember glared at him as he left. "King, are you okay?" Ember asked as she looked at the male in front of her clearly concerned about the male in front of her. King hearing this, however, he stayed on all fours for several minutes finding it rather hard to get up after hitting the wall as hard as he did.

"Yeah, I'm fine," King said as he slowly rose from the ground. "What about you? Are you okay? They didn't hurt you did they?" King asked as he looked at Ember. When he asked this the female felt a few tears build up in her ears and King moved closer to her. When he did Ember reached through the holes in the cages that separated them and brought him into a hug being sure not to pull too hard since she didn't want to hurt him by accidentally forcing him to hit the metal bars.

When she did King smiled and reached through the holes to return her action. "I knew you'd come for me! I was so scared, and these people are so mean! But I knew you'd come to save me! I knew it!" Ember said with some tears in her eyes. King smiled hearing this and continued to return her hug smiling at the fact that she was okay. However, their reunion was cut short by the door once again opening. When King turned to look at who was entering the room he saw another masked figure carrying a child.

The male then walked over to the cage on the other side of Ember and tossed him into it. It wasn't until he hit the ground that King realized whom he was looking at. It was Javon, King remembered one of the investigators had mentioned that Javon had been abducted as well. However, if he was being honest he was far more concerned about Ember than he was about Javon, while he liked the male he never spent that much time with him.

However, Ember visited him every week and typically stayed multiple days when she visited. Not to mention the times that the two had fallen asleep while they were doing something and would wake up in the same bed often cuddling next to each other. When the male tossed Javon into the room he noticed that he was in much worse condition than Ember was in. While most of Ember's wounds seemed to be superficial most of Javon's were far more severe.

The gashes on that covered him were deep and it was obvious that if they did manage to heal they would leave scars behind, and it looked like his most recent wound was on his hands. The tips of his fingers were bleeding and his nails were cracked and missing chunks of his nails, suggesting that they had just used something to smash his nails.

King then turned to look at the male in front of him. "Why are you doing this? What could your organization possibly have to gain from this?" King asked as he looked at the male in front of him. When he asked this the masked figure turned to look at him.

"It's a simple matter, the Empa family needs to pay for all they've done. They've advanced technology to an unnatural state. Humans were just fine the way they were before all of this, and we're here to return humanity to that state. A mere child such as yourself could never understand our goal," The male said as he looked at King. It looked as if King was going to speak for a moment however before he could King bit his tongue and looked at the male in front of him as he left the room.

King sighed seeing this and turned to look at Javon who was curled up into a ball whispering to himself. King was about to ask him if he was okay, however before he could Ember reached for his shoulder and shook her head. "He's been like this ever since yesterday. I don't know what they did to him but he doesn't want to talk about it," Ember said as she looked at King.

When she said this the white-haired male nodded and looked around. "Do you know why they brought us here?" King asked as he looked at the female in front of him and Ember shook her head.

"All I know is that they hate me for some reason," Ember said as she curled up into a ball and began to rock herself back and forth slightly. "I don't know why I've never seen them before, I try to be nice to whoever I meet. So I'm not sure why they'd hate me," Ember said clearly losing some of her hope. "And if they hate me, then why would they hurt Javon, and kidnap you? It just doesn't make sense," Ember said with a sigh as she looked at the male next to her.

King nodded hearing this and began to think the situation over, he was a bit older than the other two so he understood the situation a bit better, even if it wasn't to a massive degree. However, the simple answer that King came up with was that they were using some form of physiological warfare again Ember by making her witness them torturing and killing them so that when it was her turn she was already mentally broken.

King was brought out of his thoughts by Ember grabbing his hand. When she did King turned to look at her hand before turning to look at her. He smiled slightly seeing this and returned his gesture slightly. "H-how are we going to get out of here?" Ember asked as she looked at the male in front of her.

King looked down hearing this and sighed as he tried to think of something he could do to try and get them out of this situation. If he hadn't lost his button then it would be easy, he could just push it and Eclipse, Rain, and Xiantao could just come to save them. However, at the moment, he didn't have that so King was being forced into a situation he hadn't properly been prepared for. King gripped the bars of his cage and began to shake them in a desperate attempt to escape.

This attempt of his failed, and he sighed as he released the bars part of his hands being stained an orangish-red color from the rust on the bars. King then began to walk back and forth trying to think of something he could use to escape. King then stopped and remembered what he had been trying to use for the past few months in training. He looked at his hands for a moment before once again walking back over to the bars and grabbing them.

The others had been encouraging King to use his semblance, King typically tried to avoid using it in a fight because he didn't think it was fair. If it could stop a spider-droid from killing them then maybe it could help him escape. It was at least worth a shot, right? King closed his eyes trying to use his semblance with his body becoming covered in a thin white layer of aura. As it did his aura spread to the cage, and slowly began to cover it.

When the entire cage was covered with King's aura several of the bars bent violently before the entire cage shattered sending the fragments of the cage in all directions. King was a bit surprised seeing this dropped the two pieces of metal he was still holding. Out of all the things he had been expecting his semblance to do, that wasn't one of them. King then walked over to Ember's cage and was about to do the same but stopped himself being a bit afraid that he might accidentally hurt her in the process.

"What do we do now?" Ember asked as she looked at King through the cage bars.

"I don't know," King answered honestly as he looked at the female in front of him. However, before he could try anything else the door opened and King turned to see another male in a mask holding a whip. He looked at King surprised seeing that he had somehow not only managed to escape his cage but completely destroy it.

"You little," The male began as he reached for his weapon, being a weapon and swung it towards King expecting it to hit him across the face. As he did King held up his hands to defend himself, however, when he did the whip stopped a few inches before it hit King and was sent back at the male at nearly twice the speed causing the whip to strike his face and leave behind a cut on his face. The male seemed surprised by this and once again raised his hand in an attempt to strike him.

However, this attempt was met with the same failure as before with the whip stopping and being turned against him. However unfortunately for King, the loud cracking of the whip had gained some attention and some more men and women rushed into the room and saw the male with two cuts on his face. Without thinking they also pulled out their own whips and began to try and strike King with them.

King looked at the men in front of him a bit scared and once again raised his hands in defense. At this rate all he was going to do was keep them away from him, he'd never be able to save Ember let alone escape. King could hear Ember crying behind him and thought about the things they were doing to Javon. The male went to once again swing however as he did King's hair began to glow a bright white.

As it did six solid pure white wings appeared behind King that seemed to be made out of a strange fiery energy, and a ring of the same color and energy took place above his head. However, these unusual features faded as soon as they appeared. A little known fact about the Trigelph royal family was that their blood was indeed special, it granted them power in times of need. King had unknowingly only used this unique ability once in his life.

This, of course, being the day that he was born, and it had helped him develop a strong aura signature, and King had just unknowingly tapped into this power once again. However this time the "power" that it granted him was very different from before. His aura signature hadn't increased, and his physical prowess was as frail and weak as before. The ability that it had granted King this time was far useful, and arguably even more dangerous. His blood had just granted him the capability of being cruel to someone else. 

A/N: Alright everyone so I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Now I also received a question about King's and the others age in this book. I didn't explain this before so I may as well explain it now. King was seven in the prologue and his age advances by year every chapter (Until he leaves to become a huntsmen) So at the moment King is eleven and in the next chapter he will be twelve. Now that we have that cleared up, for those of you that are still curious I am still currently accepting OC's for this story so if that's something you're interested in then please PM me, and if you have any questions then please let me know and I'll try and answer them either in the comments or in the next chapter. Now I hope you're all read because the next vote of the series is about to begin. 

What happens in the next chapter?

1. King throws a festival
2. King studies in the Trigelph library
3. King goes to a concert
4. King gets sick
5. King visits hunters haven
6. King takes a literature class
7. Another kingdom visits Trigelph
8. King attends an art class
9. King goes to a fortune teller
10. King takes a cooking class
11. King holds a tournament
12. Other (suggest what you want)