Maria came out of her room donned in her favorite steel armor. She saw Lidia passed out on the floor and rushed over to help.

"Miss Lidia, are you okay?"

Lidia was mumbling to herself as she was regaining consciousness.

"The prince... he’s a pervert... I-"

Maria put her ear closer, unable to hear the ramblings.

"What? I can’t really hear you, Miss Lidia."

Maria looked at Jacob.

"Did you say something to her that made her faint?"

"All I talked about was the nice picnic that we had and how you loved the food! I even offered for her to try some if she would like. Next thing I knew, she was passed out on the floor mumbling to herself!"

"You can go get changed, I’ll help her get back to her normal self. My bedroom should be at the end of the hall on the left."

Jacob nodded and carried his amor to the bedroom. Upon entering it, Jacob studied its surroundings a bit. He thought the decorum was very unique, but nothing he would have expected from Maria to live in. Brushing away his thoughts, he closed the door and started putting on his armor.

Doing one final look in the large mirror, Jacob left the room at a steady walk. When he came out to check on how Lidia was doing, Maria had her laying down on the table with a cold cloth on her forehead. She was fanning her with her hand.

"She’s just in shock. A little rest and she will be okay."

Jacob felt guilty even though he didn’t know what he did wrong.

"Sorry about that."

"It’s okay, I’ll move her over to the living room in a moment and we can head out."

With that, Maria effortlessly picked up her adoptive mother and laid her on the sofa of a royal living room.

Jacob and Maria spent the rest of the time at the palace gathering items such as food, water and a few weapons. They put everything in a large sack that Maria was going to carry on their trip. Before leaving the palace, Jacob made sure to say bye to Joseph and Eden. When they passed through the kingdom, they both gave their goodbyes to Sarah who seemed to get emotional at the incentive that they would be gone for a while.

"I’ll have some great meats for you when you guys come back, so stay safe out there!"

"We will, thank you!"

The day was once again beautiful as they travelled westward. The slopes were rough and unforgiving if you slipped. There had been a few times where Jacob lost his balance and almost tumbled down a hill. Luckily, Maria was there to catch him each time.

"My debt to you is only increasing. At this rate, I’ll never pay it back!"

Maria chuckled.

"You don’t have to pay me back. We’re friends!"

"Easy for you to say. You know you would be trying to do the same if you were in my shoes."

"Hm... Maybe I would be."

After an entire day of travel, Maria and Jacob had made it to the forest. The trees were astonishing. They reached so high in the sky, he couldn’t tell where their tops were. Small critters were feasting on assortments of nuts that were scattered around the ground.

"This place seems rather peaceful. No wonder my uncle decided to come here."

"It seems like he’s not alone either. Did you hear what Mr. Katra was talking about? He fought an army using the full extent of his ability and was crushed. Something that had to do with duplicates."

"Duplication? That sounds interesting. I wonder how that would work."

As they walked through the forest, the pair noticed something that made them stop in their tracks. There was dried blood that painted the entire ground of the area in front of them for miles. Whatever happened here was extremely gruesome and costly.

"What the hell? How many people were killed in that battle? I don’t see an end to this blood anywhere."

"That’s not even what we should be worried about. Where are all the bodies?"

Jacob paled and searched the area. Maria was right. There were no bodies anywhere near them. If Katra really did go on a mass slaughter, the number of bodies had to be incalculable. To make them all disappear in such a short time was nothing short of bone chilling.

A small glimmer caught Jacob’s eyes through the thick branches of trees.

"I think I see something. Follow me and stay close."

Maria nodded and followed in Jacob’s shadow.

Far ahead of them, Jacob saw a large lake in a clearing. If there was anywhere his uncle was going to be, it was there.

"I see a lake. My uncle must be close."

Suddenly, a strange whistling noise started echoing from the top of the trees. Then, another one came from another tree. Soon, they were both surrounded by deafening whistling from multiple areas. A large man jumped from behind a tree and slowly walked towards them.

Maria and Jacob immediately prepared themselves for battle; however, the man lifted his hands and got on one knee.

"I mean you no harm friends. Are you two lost?"

Jacob eased up a little and slowly put his sword down.

"No. I’m looking for my uncle. I believe he lives in this forest somewhere by that lake."

The man slowly pushed himself off the ground. Maria still held her hands up ready to fight, her eyes stayed sharp, not letting the man leave her sight.

"Can your friend stand down? I promise I don’t want to hurt you guys."

The man reached his hand out, offering it to Jacob. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"My name is Monty. And you are?"

Jacob gestured to Maria to stand down. Slowly, she put her arms down at her side, but her face was still stern and full of suspicion. Jacob reached toward the man and shook his hand firmly.

"My name is Jacob. Jacob Vice. I am the prince of Iron Kingdom."