"Tell me you got rid of that prince? Where is his head?" Griffin’s question echoed through the place but Gareth just stood in place as if he had not heard what he had been asked. A distant look settled on his face and he instinctively let his sword fall on the floor, its clinging sound now replacing the silence between the two.

"What’s wrong with you Gareth? I ask you a question and this is how you behave?" Griffin asked now with clenched fists. He searched for an emotion on Gareth’s face and all he could see was fear and disbelief. Fear! He chuckled darkly at that. Never for once had Gareth ever shown fear. That, he had taught him since he was young. This added to the odd feeling he had earlier was driving him crazy. He wanted to choke some words out of him.

"Never in my entire life did I imagine I would meet with him. All... all this time! How could I have failed to notice it," Gareth said, now confusing Griffin to the core. He knitted his brows together in a confused daze. Who exactly had Gareth met that he looked so hypnotized? Damn! He cursed for the nth time today. He didn’t like to be given half - truths and Gareth was just good at it.

"Tell me Gareth, whom did you meet with?" He enquired at last. Not that he wanted to but Gareth’s silence after his first statement made him to. And since Gareth had added nothing to his statement, it made Griffin curious to know who this person that Gareth had met was.

Gareth’s gaze shifted to Griffin and with just one look, one could tell Gareth was not alright. His eyes were as wide as saucers, his face, the perfect definition of a doubting Thomas. His hair looked messy from the previous fight with Alexander and his lips were pouted, like someone who had seen an apparition. His eyes bored into Griffin’s as if what he was about to say was a secret untold in ages.

"He is real!" He said in a whisper. Griffin felt like choking the words out of him. Damn! This guy was just good at leaving one in suspense. He wouldn’t need qualifications to become a drama movie cast!

"The One is real Your Majesty. I met him today!" He added in exhilaration.

Griffin just stared at Gareth blankly. Was this guy even normal? The One was supposed to come from the Crescian Royal Family’s lineage. And as far as he could remember, he was the last male who had attempted to unbuckle that book. He, and almost everyone else, believed the one would be a male. Even the seer told Griffin that. So what nonsense was Gareth spitting?

Griffin let out a sinister laugh at that earning a frown from Gareth. He knew Griffin wouldn’t believe it, just as he had not believed it at first. But the fighting experience he had with Alexander proved it all, coupled with the odd feeling he experienced while around Alexander. He just felt like he was around some god, and he would do anything that Alexander would instruct him.

"And who is this... The One you’ve met?" Griffin asked between his laughter. He couldn’t believe just how naïve Gareth was to even believe he had met with the one. The One wouldn’t just appear randomly, and to someone like Gareth to begin with.

"Alexander! He is The One," Gareth said without batting an eye.

Griffin paused on his laughter and looked at Gareth indifferently. A frown settled on his face but got replaced quickly by a smirk, followed by another laughter. Gareth just stood there as he watched His Majesty drowning in laughter. Not for a second did a doubtful look appear on his face. He was as sure as he would say his name that Alexander was indeed The One.

"And what made you think Alexander was... The One?" Griffin asked after some time. To him, the chances of Alexander turning out to be The One were nearly zero. To begin with, Alexander was not even Crescian in the first place. But again, Alexander wasn’t just a normal Valorian prince. That’s what the ’pigs’ had said. A frown settled on his face when he thought of it. Could it be that it was... true?

’No! No! No!’ He refused both in his mind and soul. That could not be possible. He simply could not believe it. Not until he had fought with Alexander himself, something that was nearly impossible.

Gareth just let out a deep sigh for he knew even if he would explain, Griffin still wouldn’t believe it. Nevertheless, he decided to tell what he believed was true. Never had he been so sure of anything before. Those eyes coupled with the immense power that was leaking from Alexander that not even Griffin’s would match answered it all. But what made him have doubts was the fact that Alexander was Valorian.

"When I went into the Valorian palace to fight with the prince earlier today, I experienced something I’ve never seen or felt before," He began.

"I challenged Alexander into a fight to the death duel which he gladly accepted. I had regained the upper hand in the duel for a while when something unexpected happened. I just can’t find the right words to explain but I felt like nothing in front of Alexander."

’And I got defeated but Alexander spared my life,’ Gareth wanted to add that but refrained from it. He knew Griffin well and the damned king wouldn’t hesitate to have him executed coupled with the fact that he had actually failed in his mission as well.

"And just like that, you believed Alexander is The One? You judged that from a mere duel?" Griffin asked sarcastically. He let out a breath. He had gotten enough of this ’Alexander’ nonsense and he was not just going to blindly believe testimonials from his knights.

"You don’t understand Your Majesty, and never will. Not until you experience it yourself," Gareth said with shrugged shoulders. What was the point of even explaining it to him when he himself couldn’t find the right words to describe it? It was a feeling that no words could be fit to describe it.

"Are you suggesting I challenge Alexander in a duel as well?" Griffin asked with a stern look on his face. That was hurting his ego. How could he, a king, the strongest man in Crescia, duel a crown prince, a human at that? He would become a laughingstock of his own country.

"No, not at all Your Majesty!" Gareth blurted out. The last thing he wanted today was to confront an angry Crescian Royalty. He had already neared death today and he didn’t want more problems.

"But it is the only way to find out," he added in almost a whisper. Griffin just shot him a hard glare but to that, he said nothing.

"You are such a disappointment Gareth. You got defeated by a human prince," Griffin said after a while of silence. He let out another sigh.

"You may leave," he added. Gareth looked at him confused. Was he going to let him go, just like that? A punishment or execution was the least he was expecting when he came back. It was unlike him to just let a knight who had failed on a mission to go unpunished. He watched silently as Griffin slouched back on his seat and poured a cup of wine before his gaze shifted back to Gareth with a stern expression on his face.

"Are you deaf or what?" He asked a confused Gareth. Gareth tried to say something but no words left his mouth. He pointed at the door before he said,

"I’ll be taking my leave, Your Majesty," he said and retreated towards the double doors of the hall. And with one last look at his uncle, he left the place. ’How’s Isadora?’ He had not seen her for a while and he wondered if she was fine. Maybe it was the high time he visited her and made up for his mistakes. Would she forgive him? That, he didn’t know.

Griffin rose from his seat after he had drunk all the contents in the jug. He swayed off and almost lost his balance before he fell back on his seat. He looked at the cushion gratefully. He would have hurt himself had it not been for the seat. Why was he overthinking about Alexander? Could it be true? Was Alexander The One? No! That would never be true.

And if it turned out to be true, then that meant the prophecy was misinterpreted. And with that in mind, he needed to see the seer. He needed so many things to be clarified in that prophesy. He had not lingered on the prophesy but now that the topic came up, he had to find out what it entailed just to be on the safe side.