Chapter 9: Emperor Gerald Admonishes His Son
The dragon dashed towards Zheng. The soldiers weren't going to intercept at the right time to prevent Zheng's death.
Zheng, who lay on the ground, stranded, was a hairbreadth away from being crushed by the maw of the dragon. The dragon seemed to have an obsession with wanting to munch the prince in its jaws. But this line of action was a mistake.
Emperor Gerald smack-landed two feet on the upper jaw of the beast, shutting its maws and saving his son from death!
The emperor kicked the dragon in the opposite direction, which sent the beast flying towards the eastern stands. The soldiers behind the beast had to duck to avoid being caught by the hulking mass. The dragon crashed into the east stands, obliterating half of the seats.
Zheng had dropped the crystal and orb when he dived away from the flames. Emperor Gerald walked to the magical objects. The dragon moaned in a daze of anguish. The emperor drew runes on the ground with the crystal in his left hand while holding the orb in his right. When he finished drawing, he said,
"Soul of the dragon, you are mine to conquer. Nunc captivus meus es!"
The slumped dragon dissipated into black smoke, and the smoke rushed to the orb in the emperor's hand, assimilating into it. Silence came to be in the theatre. The soldiers sighed in relief.
Emperor Gerald directed a questioning glare at the soldiers. The soldiers bowed, kneeling on one knee.
One of the soldiers spoke up, "Forgive us, my lord. We were incompetent."
"Forgive us, mighty emperor," the other soldiers chimed in in unison.
The prince was dumbfounded that the soldiers took the blame. The reality behind their action was that they were afraid of Emperor Gerald's might to tell the truth, and they felt the truth wouldn't change his mind.
"This ruckus was the prince's doing," a voice from the south end said.
The men turned their attention to the source. It was Muller. He was approaching.
"I don't know what got into him," Muller continued, "but he thought he could still succeed after his first failed attempt. The soldiers had the beast restrained and ready to slay, but he swooped in and ruined everything."
The fury in the emperor's heart grew by a steep leap, but its target changed to his son. His face didn't fail to show that he had become madder.
Zheng was on his feet when his father turned to him and shrieked at him, "Why?"
The velocity of the sound flung the prince into the barricade that demarcated the stands from the arena. The emperor angrily closed in on him.
The soldiers were startled and frightened by the emperor's reaction. One of them couldn't hide his concern and asked in a low voice,
"Shouldn't we help the prince?"
Muller honestly advised, "Just watch and do nothing."
The emperor controlled himself and only slapped Zheng. The hit was so hot that his handprint was imprinted on the prince's face.
"Why did you act so foolishly?" Emperor Gerald barked, "Despite the advice I gave you. Dragon taming is a topic that is learned under strict obedience to a guardian. Yet you went out of your way to put not only your life but the lives of our most trusted men in danger."
"You are aware of the implications if you and these men died in here. This secret place and its purpose could be made public, and the trust of the people in our family would wane away from us."
The emperor let his son be and walked out of the arena and into the dugout. The dugout tunnel led to the exit and entrance points of the theatre. The tunnel was not big enough for creatures the size of elephants or bigger to pass through.
The tunnel opened into a lobby. The lobby was half as vast as the theatre arena. The façade of the floors, walls, and ceiling was a beautiful combination of red and white that depicted different gladiators and powerful beasts posed in action.
Metres away from the tunnel end was a portal formation, the only way to get in or out without busting through the walls or climbing through the sewage. The portal formation was the size of a basketball court. The formation consisted of a marked-out rectangle court that softly glowed white; one ten-foot-tall red cylindrical pillar was at every vertex of the court. Small faces with gaping mouths were etched on all the pillars from top to bottom, giving it a mystic vibe.
Emperor Gerald walked out of the tunnel and straight into the portal formation. He halted inside the court, and the glow's intensity increased. He said,
"Exite."
The gaping mouths on the pillars exuded a white light that engulfed the emperor for a few seconds and then vanished. The emperor vanished with the light; he was now somewhere outside the building.
Inside the theatre arena, Muller, Prince Zheng, and the soldiers were clueless about their next line of action. Two soldiers helped Zheng to his feet by pulling his arms.
Muller said to the prince, "You better go and hang around your old man. When you think he has calmed down, you apologise for your foolishness."
Zheng nodded. The handprint was still on his face, swollen and red.
Zheng was a 22-year-old prince. His golden irises, golden hair with a black hue, and shredded muscular structure were the highlights of his sumptuous figure. His face had a diamond-shaped jaw line, which completed his absolutely masculine physique.
"How are we going to inform the emperor about the damaged seats?" One of the soldiers implored.
"Don't worry," Zheng said. "You don't need to remind him. He has taken note of that."
The men walked out of the arena after ensuring that they didn't leave any equipment behind.
Zheng looked around the arena and asked, "Did anyone see my orb and crystal?"
The other men replied in unison, "His Majesty took it with him."
That was the last sentence said. The men exited the building in silence.
….
Zheng noticed the weird gazes on him from the servants trooping through the general courtyard. He felt embarrassed because he knew that the servants were looking at the bruise. Also because he knew that they knew his father was responsible for the bruise. He increased his pace and walked into the lord's hall.
The Lord's Hall was the central-right building out of the four towering buildings in the castle. The Lord's Hall was designed to have a gigantic conference centre on the ground floor and the emperor's office on the top floor.
The conference room's height was over fifty metres. The room was more than 120 metres in length and width. It was a gigantic wonder.
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