24 CHAPTER 23 (1/2)
Rex stood up frightfully. He turned in a three sixty degrees just to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. The crowd was still chanting amid his confusion. Nobody but him had noticed the old man.
”Where did he go?” Rex wondered. In his dilemma, his eyes went to the king's throne which was at the opposite end. It was far enough not to make out the face of the person sitting there, but with the Extractor power, he adjusted his eyes for a long sight. At least my long sight didn't go away with the rest of my speed. Rex thought. Just there, sitting next to the king, were beautiful copper eyes staring directly at him.
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Rex's world melted away, the thought of the old man and the mysteries surrounding him had lost its track in his mind. He held the gaze with the queen, battling with a part of him that warned him to avert. He knew he couldn't, even when he tried his eyes won't obey. They stared intently at the beautiful queen. Rex felt some kind of connection, as though everything that had happened was meant to be, as though he was meant to fall in love with this woman the moment he saw her. The eyes of the queen were welcoming and encouraging, but behind the glamour of her eyes, fear and sadness were written boldly.
All eyes turned to the blue sky as a troupe of air Tripler filled it. It came first like a humming song, like a fleet of birds migrating to a favorable weather, like a swamp of locust seeking for green vegetation. The sound became more fervent and loud as it came nearer. The people in the stadium all gasps, with a cloak of fear wrapping itself around them. Some who couldn't withstand the noise fled to their respective abode, and others whose legs were too heavy to carry the weight of their body, watched with clapping teeth.
The air Tripler, with an A-shape; all landed inside the pit ring, which was now empty. The wing creatures and the twenty men had all disappeared.
Off all place to land Zack, you chose the arena. Why are you always a confident fool? Rex murmured irritably, he couldn't tell if it was because of the fact that the general's appearance had brought him back from his trance with the queen, or the fact that he was suddenly jealous of the captain general.
The whole place was quiet and the people watched with fear. The king's knight made to stop the intruders, but backed down when the king gave the signal.
The captain general in his brown uniform stood tall, with his helmet covering his face. Three others in black and white stood beside him, and the keepers - the robots - stood behind them with shocker guns ready.
”Greetings to you my lord” The captain general said as his helmet folded into a plate and covered his right ear. ”How great is your kingdom, may your reign be forever.”
The general and his companion knelt with one knee touching the mud, facing the king's throne. The once tensed crowd was now returning to its state of rest, as it saw no course for alarm.
Rex was impressed, he never knew the captain general as a lamb. They had fought together for years, but all those years that had forged them into men, the captain's behavior today, was nothing compared to what he once was.