Kai wasn't sure if he should keep pretending to be asleep or get up and ask Marius what was going on. From the way his shoulders were squared and his form was tense, it was clear to him that Marius had sensed... whatever it was too. The invisible dome thing. He wasn't sure what it was yet or what to call it.

He decided it was best to find out what was going on; this was his house and his mother was sleeping a few doors down. If there was a threat imminent, he needed to know about it. He probably wouldn't be able to do anything about it, but it was best to stay informed.

He removed the duvet off his person and slid out of bed.

Even though he was still standing on the balcony, Marius detected the movement immediately. He turned his head to the side. "You're finally awake," he said.

"What's going on?" Kai asked. At this time in the morning, the tiles were cold to the touch. A chill went up his legs then spine the moment his feet touched the ground.

Marius turned to look at him and eyed him strangely. Finally, he said, "So, you sense it too." He sounded impressed.

"Yeah. It feels like we're trapped." As always, Kai wasn't sure how he'd sensed it, but he had. He still could.

"We are." Marius confirmed.

Kai scanned his face and was met with a stony wall.

"It's a... dome... thing." At the quirk of Marius' eyebrow, Kai shrugged and elaborated, "I don't know how to explain it, but I feel some sort of invisible cage entrapping us. We can't leave the house, can we?"

Marius nodded, once.

"How were we found?"

"You were tracked."

"I have a tracker on me?" Kai swept his tongue across his teeth, feeling for a tracker embedded in a tooth without his knowledge.

"It's a magical tracker."

"Of course it is." He stopped probing his teeth. And then Kai asked, "Who's tracking me?"

"It's your people, your Highness." Marius said with a touch of annoyance in his voice.

Kai blinked. "General Ryodan?"

"Who else?"

Indeed, who else. He doubted King Zolban would come for him.

And if it was a magical tracker, then the mage Erasmus had to have something to do with this. He'd had every opportunity to plant a tracker on Kai's person while he'd laid unconscious in Erasmus' stone castle after being knocked out by a brutal test. He'd gone to Erasmus with the hope of understanding his power -and his destiny. He'd hoped to learn a few things about himself, his father and the fearsome power he inherited. The mage had revealed a few truths, but not everything. Well, he probably would have if Marius hadn't snatched him right back into his grasp via the Master's Chain.

"Couldn't you sense the tracker on me?" Kai asked, and then tauntingly he said, "I thought you're all powerful."

Marius' eyebrow twitched. He faced the sea again. "It's not a literal tracker implanted on your person. It's a spell that uses Blood Magic. It can be cast from anywhere in the world, and no matter how far you are, it can find you and lead the caster to your location."

"Oh, so kinda like a location pin on Google Maps."

If Marius understood what he was referring to, he made no indication.

Kai stepped through the glass door and onto the balcony. A few feet away from where Marius was standing, he leaned against the glass rail as he'd done countless times before and looked down at the familiar view.

He drank the morning mist into his lungs like a starved wolf, and it was more refreshing than anything he'd ever experienced. He'd missed this breathtaking view, this revitalizing tantalizing scent almost as much as he'd missed his own mother. To Kai, not even the greatest perfume was comparable to the smell of the sea in the early hours of the day. In the distance, he spotted the fishing boats setting out for the catch of the day. By nine at the latest, the fish markets would be full with the freshest fish.

In a few hours after that, Hakan would drive up their gravel road and honk for Kai until Kai's mother kicked him out the door herself. He briefly wondered how she'd explained his disappearance to Hakan. Surely his best friend was missing him, considering they'd spent everyday together dueling or messing about up until a few weeks ago.

"What are we going to do?" Kai asked, watching a seagull successfully snatch a fish out of the water and soar high into the sky. Another seagull glided out of nowhere and snatched the fish right out of the seagull's beak. The gulls fought for the fish like eagles until it slipped out of their beaks and dove back into the sea.

He scanned the cliffs for any signs of Ryodan and Erasmus.

A part of Kai was thrilled by the rescue mission mounted by General Ryodan, but the other part was beginning to get very, very worried. For Ryodan and Erasmus.

He stole a glance at Marius. From this angle, it was difficult to see all of his face, but what he could see wasn't too reassuring. Marius didn't look too happy about being trapped by the enemy. In fact, He could sense a horrible storm brewing underneath the calm, collected facade. There was an eerie darkness in his blue eyes, like a black pit had replaced his pupil. Marius was looking out to sea, but he got the distinct feeling he wasn't really seeing the sea.

Kai hadn't forgotten what happened the last time he and the General crossed swords. Despite being shoved into the tunnel's portal to Nostraza's Palace before he could see the result of their fight, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Marius had won. And before that, Marius had single-handedly and effortlessly annihilated an entire squad of soldiers as if they were nothing but a slight nuisance.

The Conqueror was an accomplished fighter. Okay, Kai was severely underestimating him. From what he'd heard and seen so far, Marius was a warrior of legend. And he was very, very old, and usually that equaled experience. Something told him Ryodan, though an immortal himself, wasn't even half Marius' age.

He hoped Ryodan brought an army with him. He was going to need it.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

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