'What do you mean?'
'One of the prodigy's in the cellblock, a lava mutant, tried to escape last night. We managed to catch him before he could get free, and is set to be executed in two hours. You're expected to be there, obviously, and-'
The young prince stopped listening to his father after that. The prodigy - Preston, if he remembered correctly - had been either brave or stupid enough to try escaping?
Why?

He must not have realized what would happen, if he got caught... Robert thought to himself, resisting the urge to re-adjust his crown while tuning back in to what the king was saying.

'-do it yourself. You need to start proving to the people that you're strong enough to lead this land.'

'...Hm? Oh, sorry father, I didn't hear the last part. Could you please repeat it?'

The king stared at his heir with a tight jaw, a hint of anger flickering in his eyes as he spoke again. 'As I said, you are to execute this monster to prove your worth to the kingdom. It shall occur in the main courtyard, and he is to be hanged for his crimes.'

WHAT?! But he didn't do anything wrong! 'Father, if I may object; What crime has the mutant commited? Surely, just exercising his ability isn't cause for such a punishment.'
As soon as the words escaped Robert's mouth he regretted opening it. The elder royal's gaze hardened, as if staring directly into the prince's soul and picking which part to crush next. 'For centuries, the law of this land has stayed the same; Prodigies are beneath us, and by making use of their abilities it may be a threat to the kingdom.'
'But Mother and I-'
'Enough, Robert. Go to your room, I'll have a maid deliver the clothes you'll be wearing for this event.' The prince, albeit frustrated, pursed his lips and gave a slight nod to his father before walking away.
'Oh, and Robert?'

What is it now.
'Your mother may have been a prodigy in life, but in her heart she was a keeper. You, too, are such: You've been blessed to be born a keeper. You are pure.'

The Cavaloran walked away from his father with clenched fists, silent curses blotting out any other thoughts in his brain.
"You've been blessed."
"You are pure."
"In her heart, she was a keeper."
No, no she was not. My mother was proud of who she was, as was I before she... I need to visit Lachlan. He may know what's going on.

==========
'He tried to escape, and got caught.'
'By who?'
'Ashley and Castor. I think they saw his glow, and they took his down the hall after electrocuting him.' His Astralan friend explained sourly, tapping his fingers against a side wall every few seconds as if trying to banish excess energy. 'He was so close. He could have been free.'
'And I'm the one who has to execute him.'

Lachlan blinked a few types at this information, searching his friend's face for any sign of humour or joking; None. The prince was 100% serious.
'Your dad, right?'
'Yeah. He says that I need to "prove my worth", or something like that, but I don't get it.' Another thing Lachlan noted was that the prince's sophisticated way of speech often dropped away when he wasn't around the castle staff. He found it intriguing.
'And on top of that, when I try to tell him that prodigies aren't what he says he just- Shuts me down, saying that my mom was "A keeper in heart" and that now she's "pure" and I just-'

'Calm down buddy, calm down. Deep breaths, take your anger out on something later. You need to stay focused for now.' The blond instructed, with Robert nodding and running a hand through his hair.
'I don't want to hurt anyone, Lachlan. Especially if they haven't done anything wrong.'
'No good person does, but unless by some miracle Preston manages to wake up and escape within the next hour or so, then you might be forced to kill-'
'He can do it. If anyone can pull off the impossible, Preston can.' The boy to the left of Lachlan's cell - One of Preston's friends, Kenny - piped up. 'He'll get out of there alive. He has to.'

The dungeon fell into silence. All of the trio were thinking of their own separate plans, with none of them coming to a successful conclusion until... This amazing idea, presented by the one and only Rob Latsky.
'What if I just jailbreak you three, and we run? You could go to the forest and camp out for a while until you have a plan.'
'What'll you do, though?'
'I- Uh... Try and distract my dad as much as possible. Just give me a signal when you're all safe, I guess.'

+++
Miraculously, the plan was working so far. Rob had gone off to distract as many of the castle staff as he possibly could, and since he'd given the blond duo the master keys they could go anywhere.
Funny thing is, they had neither a signal or an idea as to where Preston was.
'I still think we should have turned left.'
'Nah, right is always right.'
'Are you sure? 'Cause I can see the exact same window as I did five minutes ago.' Lachlan pointed out, gesturing to the stained glass as Kenny pulled a face.

'Yeah, well, I don't exactly go wandering around castles in my spare time.' The shorter blond shot back indignantly, gaining a quiet snort from the other as they continued walking.
'It's pretty convenient that they have signs in this- Execution chambers. You think...?'

Exchanging glances, the pair looked at the path the sign would lead them down. Dank, dark; Exactly how Lachlan had been living for the past two years, so he could see fine. 'Follow me, and stay close. I've seen what these guards can do.'
'What did they do to you, while you were here?'

The Astralan fell silent, almost feeling what had happened as he recalled some unwanted memories, and Kenny thankfully took that as a sign to shut up. They continued through a thin corridor, occasionally stopping if one of them heard something, but eventually they made it to a door.
'How do we get in? It could be locked.'
'Simple, it looks pretty weak so... Yeah.' Lachlan made a movement to kick it in, but before he did Kenny pushed him away.
'What the Hell?!'
'Dude, I said could. It might not be.' And, by lightly tapping the middle, it opened with a soft creak resonating through the hall.
'Boom, magic.'

'...I mean, I guess.' They continued on their way, a tense silence surrounding them once again. The walls began to change as they walked, somehow becoming... You guessed it, even more dank and dreary.
'I think I hear something. Stay here.' Lachlan muttered, sneaking into the shadows as his companion nodded. Feeling a corner against the wall, he took a deep breath and pressed himself as far into the shadows as he could before moving forwards.

'Ashley.'
'Yes, Castor, what is it now?'
'Why do we have to hurt prodigies? This one doesn't seem to be evil. Neither does the blond one.'
He heard the female guard let out a shrill laugh, and could imagine her leaning closer to her partner. 'Prodigies are evil. It's in their genes, darling, and it's out job to cleanse the kingdom of such creatures.'
'But we don't know who they are! They could have families, Ashley.'
'So do we-'
'Then why must we treat them so cruelly?!'

For a kid, he sure has some guts. Lachlan noted, turning another corner. The pair finally appeared, Castor ranting in some foreign language (possibly Spindelian) as Ashley leant back in her chair with an exasperated expression.
This must have happened a lot.
A dull orange glow caught the corner of his eye, and the blond let out an almost audible sigh of relief. That glow meant that Preston was still alive, though in what condition he wouldn't know yet.
Alright, let's see if my ability will let me do this...
Preston, can you hear me?

A quiet yelp came from the cage suspended in the air, presumably the lavamob thinking that he was already going mad. Perfect.
Preston, this is Lachlan, I'm using my ability to talk to you. Kenny and I have a plan to get you out, but we need to act fast. Move the cage if you understand.

It swung lightly. Ashley glared up at the small prison, swinging her sword into the rusting metal and creating a painful squeak of iron-against-iron.
Ouch. Preston, get ready to run for the hallway, alright?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What did King Latsky mean when he was talking about the deceased Queen? Why was Rob so defensive? Find out in the next episode of dragonball-

WRONG SHOW!

Yikes, my apologies.

(Also school tablets in physics hallo friends I feel lonely)

QOTD - What do you do when you're alone?

AOTC - Sing, disappoint Beyonce, get shanked by an avacado. The usual.