49 Kingdom (1/2)

”Maya are you alright?” she felt rough hands on her shoulders as she heard Will's voice. Maya opened her eyes to see a tangle of brown hair hovering over her.

Will was crouched over Maya as she lay on the blanket of grass. The sun had already started to rise for yet another day. ”How long was I out?” Maya mumbled as she rose to a seated position. She looked around to the battlefield and noticed black scorch marks on the ground with the absence of bodies.

”Just a few hours.” Will said as he got to his feet and stretched. ”The awakening must have taken a toll on you.” he said as he brushed himself off. ”Cainus said you were one of a kind.”

Maya looked down at her left hand. A gold ring rested on her finger with a gem she hadn't seen before. It was an onyx gemstone with a golden outer edge. The gold seemed to glow in the rising sun. All of that was real? She thought as her eyes went from the ring to Will's eyes. ”Was Jake really there? Where was that throne room and how did we get back here?” she had so many questions forming in her head, she barely had time to process them before they came out.

Will raised a hand to slow her down a little. ”Cainus must have transferred your consciousness to the throne room, it's not that bad there. You might be able to go there yourself now. Yes Jake is there, just not the Jake that tortured you.” Will scratched his head innocently as Maya rose to her feet slowly.

Maya stared at him with her mouth ajar. ”What do you mean not the same Jake? There's only one and yes he did torture me.” she couldn't wrap her head around why Will would keep something so important from her.

”Jake is being controlled by the corrupt flame, much like you were not even a few days ago.” Will gave her a look that told her not to interrupt him. ”He is my biological brother, and Cainus is the first king of Ebonhart.”

”The throne room,” Will continued before she could respond. ”Is in my head.” he pointed to his temple. ”It's where I've been training on my off time. It's how I learned to fly, as well as how I was able to teach you.” he said as if it were a normal every day conversation.

”So you've got a dead king and your brother living in your head?” Maya looked at Will with an eyebrow raised. ”I thought I had problems.”

Will sighed inwardly. ”You know the times I was just sitting in the dungeon meditating?” he asked as he looked through his bag for some food. He silently thanked Leo for leaving it before he left. ”I was in the throne room. Cainus taught me a decent amount of things besides flying.” he brought out a pack of jerky and a few canteens of water.

Maya wrinkled her nose as Will gave her a strip of dried meat. ”Don't you ever get tired of eating that?” she looked at the jerky in her hand. ”Also, we only had a few hours of rest time, I can't imagine you being able to do much within that short amount of time.”

Will tore off a chunk of his beef jerky and thought of how to reply. After moments of chewing, he swallowed and took a swig of water. ”Time works differently within the throne room.” he said as he looked down at his food, thinking how best to describe the difference without sounding insane to Maya. ”How fast do you believe thought travels?”

Maya thought for a moment before responding. ”Are you talking about forming a thought, or finishing the thought?” it seemed she wasn't grasping the concept all too well.

”If I were to describe it, I would say the time in between.” Will said as Maya remained confused. ”A few minutes within your mind is almost a few hours.” Will played with the idea of telling her about dragon ball z but stopped. I've already confused her enough. He thought as he couldn't suppress a half smile. ”In the few hours a night I spent in the dungeon with you, I spent weeks within my own mind.”

Will thought of the weeks he spent with Cainus. His mentor ensured he had the right amount of power within his aura to lift himself off the ground. That had been at least the first week.

The second week was learning how to glide through the air. He had to learn how to move forward before he could learn left and right. At that point, he was already wishing for an owner's manual for his own body.

When he grasped the concept within his mind, he still had to adapt his body to the changes he learned. He could still hear Maya laughing at him while he ran into trees, or flew too high and fell on his rear.

It took even longer to teach Maya the concept of flight. He had his fair share of laughs as she learned the concept through trial and error.

Will was snapped out of his thoughts as Maya held up her empty pack of beef jerky. ”Earth to Will,” she said with a hint of playfulness. ”Do you want to get something actually substantial to eat?”

”Where would you like to go?” Will had been in Crystallia for almost a year, yet he hadn't seen any dining areas around. ”Is there a McDonald's around here or something? I haven't seen any locations we could actually sit and eat at before.”

”That's because every second you've been here has been a second of training. Do you even know what the wildlife is like here?” Maya rolled her eyes at Will. ”What's a McDonald's?”

Will shrugged. ”There hasn't been enough time to do much else.” he said as he put the food away. He purposefully avoided the last question. He would avoid fast food the rest of his life if he had anything to say about it.

”Do you even know what towns are in Ebonhart?” Maya asked skeptically.

”I know of Ember and Crystal Cove,” Will put the bag on his back. ”What else is there?”

”Ladies and gentlemen, the Prince of Ebonhart.” she said with a mock bow and a sigh. ”We are going to Holtz, it's the hunting town that's in charge of gathering game for the kingdom.” Maya said as she grabbed his hand. ”Maybe you can introduce yourself while we grab some actual food from the market.”

They both leapt into the air and flew off from Ember. ”You need to get better acquainted with the population of Ebonhart if you ever want to gain the trust of your people.” she practically dragged Will behind her.

”Fine.” Will started as he flew next to her. ”I'll step into the spotlight if you come with me to my world after.” he looked at her tattered black dress. ”I really wouldn't mind seeing you in some of our clothes.”

”Just don't dress me up like Bianca and we'll have a deal.” She said with a smile.

The two laughed and talked as they flew over the woods heading northeast of Ebonhart. Will had no idea how big the kingdom actually was. They flew through ten minutes worth of forest before he saw a small clearing in the distance.