The king felt like dropping his sword out of fear. The presence the masked men were emitting was nothing short of terrifying. Just looking into the lifeless eyes of the black skull was sending a chill down his spine.

"Who the hell are you guys?! Who allowed you all in this palace?"

They all slowly stopped.

"Allowed? Do we need permission to traverse through a world that is ours?"

The king seemed to gain the courage to hold his sword towards the masked men.

"Leave this area at once! Or I will be forced to sentence you all to death."

"We simply wish to recover something you took from us, king."

"And what would that be?"

A skeletal hand lifted through the cloak and pointed right at Jacob.

"The boy."

The king looked at all of them with awe. Seeing the bones of a hand appear through a cloak was never something he’d thought to ever see in his life.

"Why do you need him? What is with that mask you are all wearing? What’s with the mark he is branded with?"

"Ah... so, you are able to see it? It is no wonder you feel so threatened by him."

"Answer me!"

"We do not owe you an answer. However, why resist us taking him away if you are planning to kill him?"

The king hesitated.

"Everyone else needs to see what will happen when they threaten Iron Kingdom."

A dark chuckle reverberated under the cloak.

"How foolish. Mortals never cease to amaze me with their ignorance. Let us leave with the boy. I will not say it again."

Suddenly, Jacob seemed to gain monstrous strength and break through his shackles. He darted right towards the king. However, instead of trying to attack him, he grabbed the golden sword right from his hands.

Before Arthur could even say anything, Jacob pointed the blade at himself and looked him in the eye.

"Stay strong, Arthur."

Using all his might, Jacob plunged the sword right into his own heart. Something was hurting his throat, making it bleed. He couldn’t hear anything, but something weird was happening with his mouth. Without even realizing it, Arthur was howling out in grief after what he witnessed.

The dark figures surged forward and grabbed Jacob as he fell to his knees, turning pale. With a light touch, he slowly dissolved into darkness. The only sounds left in the throne room were Arthur’s soft sobs as he curled into a ball, clutching his head.

The king was completely frozen at what just happened. He didn’t know what to say or what to command his guard to do. Before words could leave his mouth, the masked men slowly dissolved into nothingness as well. Rose saw Arthur curled on the ground and ran over to him to comfort him.

She lifted him up to a seated position, kneeled down, and tightly embraced him. She started crying too as he lightly sobbed while clutching on to her dress. The shackles made it so he couldn’t hug her back, but holding on to her in some capacity was enough for him to make him feel slightly better.

Rose was crying not because she felt bad for Arthur, nor because she witnessed her close friend die. She was crying because she could feel the anguish emitting from Arthurs very being. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. It was as if a piece of him was slowly dissolving out of his soul and passing through her before disappearing for good.

All she could do, all she knew how to do, was to be there for him when he needed it most. She held the back of his head as he screamed and cried into her shoulder.

"I’m sorry, Arthur. I’m so sorry. This was all my fault. I shouldn’t have let you guys out of your cells."

Without knowing it, the kingdom had lost its purest soul, marked with the darkest mark that day.

Arthur stayed in his cell, patiently waiting for the king to come back and deliver a final decision about his fate. He didn’t know if he would be put to death, kept in his cell his whole life, or something much worse. Finally, the doors of the dungeon opened. The king slowly walked toward the cell where Arthur stood. He grabbed a chair and moved it in front of the bars before sitting down.

"Sorry about the wait. I think I need to ask you a few more questions before I make my final decision."

Arthur simply nodded.

"Good. I must ask, did you really not see anything on your friends back? Did you even know he had the mark?"

Arthury slowly shook his head, then he let his raspy voice escape his throat.

"I didn’t know. I didn’t see anything. I never did."

"I see... Do you know who those masked people were?"

Again, Arthur shook his head.

"They were really scary."

Strangely, the king seemed gentler after hearing this.

"I agree. Sorry, just a few more questions. You have quite the physique. Are you strong?"

Arthur took three moments to himself before responding.

"No."

"Do you want to be strong?"

"No."

"Let me rephrase what I just asked." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The king threw his hands against the bars of the cell, causing Arthur to jump and stare at the king in his face. To his surprise, the king’s expression looked desperate.

"Are you willing to become strong?"

Arthur looked at the king curiously. He didn’t know why, but the king looked scared.

"I... I’m not sure. How do I know I won’t always just be weak? I mean, look at everything that’s happened in my pathetic life. I haven’t been able to protect a single person I care about in this world. Can you really see someone like me ever becoming strong?!"

Arthur started getting angry at himself and repeatedly started punching the stone wall in front of him.

"Well?! Do you?! Look at how weak I am! Look at me! I’m one pathetic bastard who can’t save a single person he cares about! I can’t even escape from a stupid cell without a key! Strong? That’s nothing but a dream for weak people like me to chase! It’s not that I’m not willing, it’s that I will never be strong no matter what, you stupid bastard!!"

Without realizing it, Arthur had broken his hand on the wall in front of him, causing it to bleed severely. However, there was no wall in front of him anymore. It was completely shattered into pieces, allowing some dirt to spill into his cell.

The king’s face looked more composed than it did before Arthur’s outburst.

"Can a weak person break through reinforced stone with nothing but their bare hands?"

Arthur didn’t respond to this and simply kept looking at the broken wall.

"Listen. After what I saw, I need strong people now more than ever. I’m going to give you training, and you will be worked to the bone day in and day out until you become so strong, events like what happened today, will never become so much as a thought anymore."

The king coughed into his hand.

"... and my daughter seems to have taken a small liking to you. But I stress the first point more than anything. So, what do you say?"

Arthur started pacing in his cell.

’Stay strong... stay strong... stay strong.’

He looked at the king in the eyes.

"Please unlock the cell."