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For the next two weeks, the group awaited word from the king. Though both Dusk was preoccupied with unspecified business alongside Milo, who the rest of the group had yet to meet. Until the king finally sent a messenger to Crystal. She headed to the palace with Kasey, Vergence, Genesis, Coby and Hera. Crystal had intended to have Dusk go with them but the dragon was no where to be found.

The six Kalmarshians soon stood in the throne room and watched as King Winterfang rose from his throne and approached them. "Your friend chose not to come again I see." "Yes and I'm sorry as I was unable to find where he went today." Crystal replied. "Regardless he's been pretty busy as of late. I've heard that he's been snooping around the city and asking several questions toward many people including some of the city guard." "Why would he be doing that?" Coby asked. "Keeping you in the dark, huh? I don't know but I plan to find." "How do-?" Crystal started to ask before being interrupted by the doors being thrown open and a pair of guards entering, a cloaked figure restrained between them. "Your highness, we found this man snooping around your quarters." "Remove that hood of his." The guard on the figure's left reached up and pulled the hood back to reveal that it was Dusk. "Dusk?! What are you doing sneaking around the palace? And what exactly have you been doing the past two weeks?" Hera questioned. The dragon remained silent, his gaze more focused on the king. "Well, this is quite the surprise. Seems destiny has brought you back." He remarked as he rose from the throne and started to walk over. "I'm not here for that. As far as I'm concerned that person died years ago." "Please. You have returned and you can soon take your rightful place. The role you were meant to fill." "No, it's not." The air was thick with tension and the whole time, Dusk was speaking in a calm and level tone that was thick with resentment and venomous contempt. "Wait, do you know him?" Coby asked. "I do. Though it seems he's has grown to be less than grateful for all I've done for him." "You didn't do a damn thing. You never wanted me or Lyra. We were nothing more than pawns on a board. You hated us and you hated our mother." "Wait, you mean that...?" Crystal started, the pieces seeming to come together. "Yes." The King replied. "He is my son, Logan." "That's not my name. Like I said, that person died years ago." Dusk retorted as the guards released him. "Nonsense. It is your name and-." "No. I discarded that name and all things considered, the prince under that name is dead." "You mean, all this time you've been lying to us?! Pretending to be someone that your not?!" Coby angrily asked. "Why the hell should you care Coby? You and your dad never truly cared, why would I suddenly trust you enough to know?" The reply was ice cold and razor sharp, actually making Coby flinch from it. "Regardless, we have work to do. Come with me Logan." "No." "Come with me." The King asked again, his tone more forceful and commanding. "No." "You are coming with me whether you like it or not. Guards, seize him and-." Dusk whipped his sword out as the guards started to approach. "Do it and I'll slit your fucking throats!" Dusk shouted, ice magic flaring from his left hand in preparation. Crystal panicked, she wasn't sure what to do and a glance at Vergence and Genesis showed that Vergence had a hand on his sword and while so did Genesis, her other hand was on the male's shoulder as if she was trying to keep him from doing something rash. "Verge, don't." "You expect us to stand by and not help him?" "Verge we have other matters to think of." "Maybe so but if it comes down to it we don't need the help of his sourness." The two quietly conversed. "I'm leaving. You aren't stopping me." Dusk asserted in a cold, dead serious voice. "Huh, got the guards pissing themselves in fear." Hera muttered. Without another word, Dusk turned and strode out of the room, Vergence following after a moment afterward. Genesis turned her attention to King Winterfang and took a few steps forward. "Your highness, I'd like a moment to ask that you perhaps set this matter aside until matters with Uvaris is resolved? During that time I can-." "No. I suggest you stay out of matters that aren't your business." "With how long I've known Dusk, it is my business." "Figures your as nosy as the rest of your family." "I look out for those I care about. And if you really know about my family then you should know how stubborn we can be." The king simply scoffed in reply. "Now with all due respect your highness, I need to be going." Genesis turned and strode out to go catch up with Dusk and Vergence. "Lousy, interfering raptor trash." He muttered. An uncomfortable silence hung in the room, and no one was quite sure how to defuse it. Crystal's mind was a bit a whirl though in face of the revelation that Dusk was really royalty. Though see figured that Vergence and Genesis were more surprised than her since they've known him longer than her, Coby as well.

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POV Dusk

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It had been a struggle for me to keep away from the king while also supporting Crystal as I had no intention in revealing myself to him. Perhaps I got too overconfident in my investigation. Regardless, what's done was done. He knew I was back in Aurora City and Crystal and the others knew I was really royalty. I sat on the palace wall and stared off to the south toward Kalmarsh and tried to calm myself as I got too worked up in the throne room. "Here you are." I didn't bother facing Vergence as he sat down next to me. "So, royalty huh? Could've fooled me, do act the part." "Act the part more than you do." "Heh. Could you imagine me as royalty? It'd probably be a disaster." "No argument here." There was a brief silence for a few moments before Vergence spoke again. "How come you never told me or Gen?" "Honestly, I planned to do so a couple days before I left Coastal City." "So why didn't you?" "You guys had enough on your plate dealing with angry nobles and an angry father who had found out his daughter was seeing the one person he had explicitly forbidden her from seeing." "I suppose so. It wasn't that bad though." "Verge, the best way to endear yourself to the father of your girlfriend is by not letting him catch you having sex with her, much less actually having him walk in on it." "Never going to let us forget that are ya?" "Kane and Mariko aren't the only ones, remember? Me, Coby, your Mom, River, and Seth have as well." I had a feeling he was rolling his eyes at me. "Besides, what's the best way to approach your childhood friends and tell them you originally lived as a member of royalty and that the name they've known you by was one they gave themselves?" "I admit there isn't, but honestly as far as I'm concerned your not actually a blue blood. You're a commoner like me and you've lived your life as one." I was glad he thought as much and I had a feeling that Gen felt the same. "Thanks Verge." "Sure thing Dusk." The two of us stood up and I pulled my hood back up. "Suppose we should head back to the inn and await the bombardment of questions." Verge remarked. "I guess so." We headed back for town, running into Genesis along the way and after giving her an explanation similar to the one I gave Vergence, she expressed her belief in me and that she didn't think any different of me, planning to stay by my side same as Vergence. Once back at the inn, the others were waiting at a table with Hera gesturing for us to come over. Once sat down, Crystal was the first to speak. "We all have questions about what happened earlier Dusk, but you don't need to discuss it unless you want to." "Its fine Crystal. Ask away." "How much of things were true and how much wasn't?" Coby asked, his tone still sour. "None of it was false. I simply didn't talk about it all." "So what you told me about your sister..." "Was true Crystal. We were sent out of Dragis to Kalmarsh, where we were attacked by bandits. Our escorts were killed and the two of us were separated. I ended up in the orphanage in Coastal City not long after." "Why where you headed to Coastal City in the first place?" Hera asked. "In the beginning I had no clue. But my investigations here in the city revealed that while it was my father's decision to send us out, mom choose where we went. She was sending us to stay with an old friend of hers that lived in Coastal City." I turned to look at Genesis. "Who turned out to be your mom, Mariko." "Seriously?!" "I was pretty surprised to find that out too. Even found a letter she sent to my mom than said how she'd be more than willing to let me and my sister stay with her till things settled down, mentioning that we'd be able to keep her daughter company who was the same age as us." Genesis was speechless, thinking that we could have easily become playmates and friends a few years earlier than when we did and that her mother was friends with Dragis royalty. "But wait a minute. During your time in the orphanage, how is it that we never crossed paths? Only one orphanage in Coastal City and given I ended up there as an newborn I would have been in a position to cross paths with you sooner than we did." "I think it's mostly because of the other kids not wanting anything to do with, that and after what I went through, I would have chosen to keep my distance from everyone. Then at the ripe age of six I was adopted." "And the name change?" Kasey asked. "Something I decided on in the orphanage. Even if I technically wasn't an orphan, I was still getting a new opportunity for a new life so I figured a different name was necessary. All things considered, I consider the old me to have died the same day those bandits attacked, quite possibly alongside my sister." "Dusk..." "Either way, it's like I said. Nothing about me was false, just simply concealed and if he thinks he intends to plant a crown on my head then he's got another thing coming." For a few minutes, nobody said anything, most likely digesting everything that they just learned. Kasey soon decided to speak, breaking the silence. "What do we do now? Today's events will make things more complicated for us." "Hence why I was staying as far away from him as possible. Didn't want to risk him finding out my identity." I replied. "What should we do then Dusk?" Crystal asked. "Personally I'd suggest leaving and heading to Outland or returning to Kalmarsh and finding resistance groups who can help us. But if you truly want to secure help from Dragis then we'll stay." "You sure about that Dusk? You know already that the king isn't going to help us until-." "I know Gen. Crystal I'm leaving that task of convincing him to help us to you. Vergence, I want your help." "With what?" "Finding mercenaries and other individuals willing to fight with us. Don't want to rely solely on convincing the king and to at least have some extra help beyond what we have." "Well if you think I can be of help then I'll tag along." "Are you sure though Dusk? I doubt he'd want to negotiate with us and even then, there's only one thing he'll want." Crystal remarked. "I know Crystal. We have little choice though, we have few options available to us so we need to do as much as we can." "Okay, I'll do the best I can."

Later that night I headed out of the inn to roam the streets. My mind was a whirl with thoughts and as such I was having trouble sleeping, not it was really anything out of the ordinary for me. '*Sigh* Of all the ways I wanted to tell Vergence and Genesis about my royal origin, what happened today was not the way I wanted it. I had knew it was a risky decision to come to Aurora City but we didn't have many options available to us at the time since it would have been riskier to head to Outland from Scarlet City.' "Can't sleep?" I glanced to my left and saw that Milo had started walking alongside me. "Not that it's anything out of the ordinary for me, though I've also got a lot on my mind." "I know how that feels." "You plan to actually talk with her now that you'll be traveling alongside us?" "Dusk we've been over this already." "You seriously need to speak with her and let her know that-." "Dusk, I can't. You know I can't, besides what point would there be in doing so? It's not as if she'd actually remember me." "You don't know until you try Milo." "*Sigh* Should I keep looking people to join the fight with Uvaris?" "Yeah. Me and Vergence will be doing so as well come tomorrow. If possible find us more archers, mages, and healers. As it stands Me, Vergence and Genesis are the only ones with skill in magic and Gen's the only one with healing magic." "I'll see what I can do, though can I ask a favor of you?" "What's that?" "Provide me with some training in magic, as you recall I have the potential for it." "I do. Though depending on what element of magic comes to you, you may have to train with Verge or Gen." "I'd feel more comfortable training with you in all honesty." I was able to figure the reason was related to being a dragon as other than a natural affinity for magic, we also have a natural resistance to it. "Gen would still be a good fit as she half dragon." "I'll pass. In any case I'd better be going. I suggest you head back as well and get some rest." "Alright Milo but we aren't done discussing this." "If you say so."