Chapter 13

Whipping around Rex quickly got himself at the ready for another possible fight.

"Calm yourself young prince, I come with no intention to fight, my deepest apologies I am late." The stranger said, looking at Iris with deep sadness on his face.

"Who are you? And you called me 'young prince'?" Rex said relaxing at little.

I really need to work on being aware of my surroundings Rex thought himself, he was really getting sick of how easy it was for people to get the jump on him.

"Yes, that is your title, I will explain it all to you soon, we were supposed to all be travelling together while Iris and I were going to give you a history lesson on our way to Calrend " the man said, lifting Iris up and carrying her to the middle of the yard, "let us free her soul before we continue, it is important."

"Ok, I'm missing so much of who I'm supposed to be, what I am, where I'm from..." Rex started off, he was tired of being in the dark when all he wanted was answers.

"All in good time young one, come and hold this, it's called an ek'real, used with a relative of the deceased, it is a conduit for the soul to travel onto its next life from this one." The man said digging into the satchel he carried across his shoulder and handing it to Rex, it seemed to be a white cylinder shaped object with gold writing down the side.

"Who are you? And what do I do with it?" Rex said turning it around and looking it up and down.

"Come close, take a hold of her hand and with your other hand hold the ek'real, because of your family bond, the answer will be clearer." The man said.

More cryptic nonsense Rex thought, how am I supposed to use this stick to 'set her free' and how will holding her hand make it easier. Rex knelt down beside Iris, noticing she still had a slight smile on her face, he could help but start to feel his need to begin crying, he already missed her so much. As soon as he took her hand he felt a sudden rush of warmth fill his body, he could hear the man start to say something, he couldn't make out the words even though he was close to him. 

Looking down at Iris he noticed that the ek'real in his hand had sprouted a fire on the end, like a candle! 'Blow on the fire youngling, it's time' That was the same voice that cane to him at the river! This time the voice was much clearer than before, the sound was very deep and he could feel the weight on the words that were spoken.

Once again trusting the voice, last time it spoke the truth he thought, he took a breath in and blew on the candle. The flame flicked a little and then lifted off the ek'real and starting floating towards Iris. Once it reached her chest, instead of setting fire to her like Rex thought it would, it instead went into her and the light it created died off. 

After waiting a few seconds, he looked up at the stranger thinking maybe he done something wrong, but the man just smiled at him and nodded back at Iris. Looking back down he saw that the light started to fill up her entire body, once her entire body was consumed the in the light, her body begun to disintegrate into little light specs, starting at her feet and travelling up her body, it quickly engulfed her and shortly after the specs formed the shape of a tiny dragon before dispersing.

An incredible sight to behold. And that was the end of the legacy of Iris, or was it?

"Now young prince, I believe introductions are in order." The man said.

"Yes it is" Rex said standing and facing him.

"My name is Markus Veilspinner, I was Lady Iris's contact in Dracoterrum and was to come tomorrow morning for our formal introduction, but Iris sent me a message using telepathy to come right away, I apologise for my delay, I hope I can make amends" he said bowing at the waist at Rex.

"So, you call me 'young prince'" Rex asked once Markus had stood up straight again.

"Yes, your name is Rex Magnus, son to Rector Magnus who is the current emperor of the northern lands of dracoterrum, so that would make you the prince." Markus said.

The news sent Rex reeling! He had always considered himself a nobody, and this man was telling him he was a prince! "So you're telling me I'm royalty??" He said crossing his arms, "if I'm the prince of some drangoter whatever you called it, why am I here and not there?" 

"I know you have questions, and we have 3 days ride to Calrend, so let's not get it all out now and have nothing left for the rest of the trip" Markus chuckled.

Seeing he wasn't going to be much more tonight Rex instead asked Markus, "so what's next?"

"Now we leave this place." Was his reply.

"Well let me grab a few things." Rex said about to run off to pack a few pieces of clothes and his phone.

"Not needed, come now" Markus said beckoning him to come with him.

"What!? 3 days in the same clothes??" Rex complained.

"No, we are not savages, we have everything you will need already packed and awaiting you, come now" Markus said.

Theres that cryptic s**t again Rex thought, there is nothing left for me here, he concluded before walking out to the front of the house with Markus. 

Once inside, Markus closed all the curtains and shut the front door, walked back to the plain part of the wall, moved a picture frame off the wall while mumbling, this will do nicely, to himself. "I will take us close to the gateway using this portal, I can't get too close, because the gateway negates all magic in a radius around it" he said, taking out a black piece of chalk. He started drawing symbols on the wall and once he was done, he drew a large oval. Once the oval was complete a purple wave rippled from the centre and filled the oval. "Come Rex" Markus said beckoning him to go into it "I will be right behind you."

Rex took one last look around at what had been the only memories he had ever created in his short span, sighed, and walked into the portal.

Instantly Rex felt weightless being suspended in the purple ocean inside of the portal, then without warning there was a strong pull that grabbed him and dragged him off at a dizzying speed, Rex had to close his eyes from fear of being sick, and then just like that, it stopped and Rex found himself on solid ground again, standing inside of a candle lit room, it seemed his mind was still reeling from the speed of the portal and the room begun to spin and the sick feeling started to find him again.

"If he spews you owe me 5 dactrem."

"Deal"