The sun rose once again over the beautiful city of Kings Rose, the sea glittered like a beautiful diamond, the lovely people of the kingdom chattering in the background of this massive iron, stone and wooden city. The air salty as usual, while the sun stroke down an amazing spring warmness to everyone. Red opened his eyes to this majestic sight out of his window. He slowly rose out of bed, his muscles and bones cracking as he did so. A huge yawn emerged out of his mouth while stretching his muscular arms the highest he could reach. He slowly got up from bed while looking out the window, completely nude, the sun blinded his ravaging red eyes and heat striking his glorious blond hair. Red walked over to a cold water basin placed on a tall stool right next to a chair mortals would describe as a throne for giants. He lowered his harsh and cut hands and gently cupped the water. Quickly, he splashed the water onto his face, as he did so, the sun caught the falling drops of water, gleaming as they ran down his cheeks. He grabs a rag which was settled by the basin to clean his face. He then turned to a beautifully made mahogany wardrobe. Red walked over to it, his feet making steady sounds as they walked along. He widely opened one of the two amazingly carved doors, revealing an arsenal of tailor made white clothes with golden accessories. He grabbed a small cloth from the bottom of the wardrobe to cover his crotch. He then looked through it again for beautifully made cotton pants which he obtained from the tailors. He carefully slid them on over his well built legs. Afterwards he looked for a long cotton robe as pure white as his pants. Crouching down, Red reached for some leather and hide slippers, placing them over his feet. Suddenly a knock on his front door grabbed his attention,

"Who could that be I wonder?" Red said gently with his heavy but heavenly voice,

The knocks were quite loud considering they were on the ground floor. Red opened his bedroom door to reveal a long wooden staircase. As he walked down, the sound of his slippers hitting the waxed wooden boards of the staircase echoed throughout the massive entrance hall. As the knocking at the door was increasing, Red burst out,

"Yeah, Yeah, hold on I'm coming" ,

As he walked to the door he heard a young but firm voice coming from what sounded like a small child,

"Hurry up Red, come on!" ,

Red slowly walked to the door raising a smile. He grabbed the iron door knob and opened the door to this beautiful city in which he resided in , below him stood a young female, looking no more than fifteen years old and only stood at about one and a half meters tall, wearing some simple yet fashionable clothes, they looked like something a bar maid would wear,

"What do you want Karla? What time is it?" asked Red in an annoyed tone,

"It's one o'clock you idiot, the Emperor summoned you two hours ago, what were you doing? Have you been out all night again?" Karla spoke with a hurried tone in her voice "Don't tell me you just woke up?" ,

"So what if I did?" asked Red while scratching his head "Oh and also... please stop knocking so loud, I could hear you the first three times" ,

With a big grin on her face Karla said "Well you should get up earlier now shouldn't you?" ,

"You little punk" exclaimed Red while patting Karla on the head,

"Now hurry up the Emperor needs to see you" stated Karla,

"Let me just grab something first..." he responded in a hurried tone whilst heading inside the house,

Red walked up the stairs to his bedroom door, he rushed to a mannequin covered in a red, black and gold armour. Beside it, there hung a sword, which was long but thin, the hilt was black and gold with Latin writing on the edges. He removed the sword from the hook it was hanging on and drew it slowly from its scabbard, as he did so a smooth ringing sound echoed in the room. He stared at the masterfully made blade in which he could see his reflection much like looking into a mirror,

"Come on!" shouted Karla impatiently,

Red placed the sword back into its sheath and headed downstairs. He stepped out the house and closed the front door with him, locking it behind him,

"What did you need to get?" asked Karla with curiosity in her eyes,

"Nothing, let's go" said Red in a stern tone,

Karla took a quick step back, looked at Red and then the sword, Red noticed fear in her eyes and quickly said,

"Don't worry Karla..." ,

"Okay..." mumbled Karla staring at the ground,

"Now come on, let's go see the Emperor" Red replied with a smile,

"Yeah" agreed Karla,

They both walked together, through the beautiful quartz paving whilst appreciating the amazing atmosphere, as they walked, they passed town merchants, traders, money converters, tailors and even stables. The town was vibrant and cheerful, full of colour with not even a single hint of misery,

"Good morning Red! Oh? Karla with you today?" a voice shouted from behind them,

Karla turned around and yelled "Oh! Gália!",

Red stopped and turned, behind him stood a black man with a bald head and a small goatee. His eyes were as brown as walnut, his nose was short but elegant, his face and hands full of dust. He stood just taller than Red by a couple of inches. He was wearing a black apron with some simple red pants and brown boots. In his right hand he held a small black hammer with a wooden stem.
"Gália. Yeah she's with me today, we're going to see the Emperor" said Red " How are you anyway?",

Red firmly reached out his hand for a handshake and Gália's met his. They both shook their hands as if too see who was stronger, their hands were gripping as if in fearful conflict,

"It's been too long Red" Gália said with a sweet tone in his voice and a smile on his face,

"Longer than it needed to be" replied Red with a smile of his own,

Gália's eyes looked down to see the young girl. The smile he had quickly disappeared and a concerned look emerged onto his face. Karla looked up at Gália with a confused look,

"Is e...everything okay Gália?" asked Karla,

"Karla, are you sure you want to walk with Red to the castle?" questioned Gália,

"Yeah, why? Is there something wrong with that?" replied Karla with another question,

Gália's eyes averted to Red. Red's smile disappeared from his face.

"Red, if I were you I would go alone. Karla is just a child, you know how the guards will react when she turns up there with you, they'll turn her away" Gália was very sharp with his words "Listen, leave Karla with me, I'll look after her until you're back" ,

Karla quickly jumped up and shouted "What, why? Why can't I go with Red? What's going on?",

"Karla listen... Do you remember? That day in the Great Ruins?" asked Gália,

"Yeah... of course, how could I forget?"

Red turned to Karla and a sudden blank look over came his face. He entered into deep thought.
It was about eighteen months ago, he was part of an expedition to the Great Ruins along with Gália and a couple dozen men to recover an old Grimoire known to contain ancient scriptures of an immortal man. The weather was horrible, thunderstorms, rain falling harder than rocks, the ground was so muddy that it felt like walking in glue. The expedition was not a success,

"Red, hurry up and gather the horses!" shouted Gália,

Red struggled to grab hold of the reins. He was full of mud, the water from the rain was covering him from head to toe. His blonde hair flat and dull, his eyes glowing redder than blood with the anger and struggle,

"Gália! Throw me a rope!" screamed Red whilst wiping the rain from his eyes,

Gália's hand reached into his bag and took out a long, thick rope. He turned to Red and threw one end to him, he then threw the other end to the rest of the soldiers. Red grabbed the rope and wrapped it around the reins of the horse,

"On three everyone pull" shouted Red to everyone "One..... Two.....THREE!" ,

Suddenly every single man there started to pull with all their might. Shouting and screaming "COME ON!". The horse's legs slowly emerged from out of the mud, whining and struggling as it did so,

"ALMOST THERE!" shouted Red,

With a last push, the horse was free and galloped over to the rest of the soldiers. Red turned to Gália and said,

"We're heading back, the horses can't take anymore."

"Agreed" replied Gália, he then turned to the rest of the men "Men we're heading back, prepare to depart."

After everyone gathered their items, they headed back the way they came, however, because of all the mud, the dirt trails were no longer existent.

"Damn, Gods forsaken weather" cursed Red, "Let's keep heading North and we should be just outside Kings Rose's gate."

A few hours after turning back, the group stumbled upon a tree on the side of the trail. Beneath the tree branches stood a young girl, bruised and torn up. Tears were falling from her eyes but she was as silent as the night. Red stopped and looked at her, with a confused look, he started walking towards her. Gália stopped and looked towards Red wondering what he was doing, he then noticed the little girl,

"Halt! Everyone hold on!" said Gália to all the other soldiers.

Red got close to the girl and knelt down, into the mud and water covering his clothes even more,
"What are you doing here? Are you okay?" asked Red "Hey? Can you hear me?"

Red raised his hand to touch the girl, suddenly the girl jumped up and hugged him with a tight grasp.

"It's alright, you'll be okay. Let's find your parents..." said Red comforting the little girl "Have you got a name?"

The little girl looked up and with a whimpering tone replied,

"Karla, my name is Karla."

"Karla... that's a beautiful name" stated Red.

Red slowly got up from the mud, while doing so he reached for Karla's hand. The small hand of the little girl was totally engulfed by his. He walked her to his horse and asked,

"Is it okay if I pick you up?"

The girl said nothing, just nodded at him. Red took his hands and placed them under her arms. With little to no effort he raised her just high enough for her to sit on the horse. Afterwards he grabbed the horse's reins and pulled himself up onto its back with Karla in front of him,

"Hold on, it might get bumpy" said Red with a sweet tone.

"Alright everyone, last push and we'll be home" shouted Gália.

The thunder and the rain slowly died down, the sun striking through the clouds making rays like lights from the heavens. As the horses galloped along, Gália eased off and matched the speed of Red's horse with his own,

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Gália,

"Yeah, I'm fine, just want to get home" replied Red,

Gália averted his eyes to Karla, and with a quiet tone asked Red,

"What are you going to do with her? We can always leave her in the next village, somebody there should know who she is right?"

"We need to find her parents. I'll ask around the village, in the mean time, you get the men and the horses home... oh and, her name is Karla. See what you can find" said Red with a look of protection in his eyes.

"As you wish" exclaimed Gália as he bowed his head " I will see you at the Kingdom. See you soon Red, goodbye Karla"

The girl looked up at Gália and nodded,

Gália and the rest of the expedition group headed North towards Kings Rose, Red and Karla headed East to the nearest village, Drainhill Village.

"Red, Red! Hey are you listening?" shouted Karla,

"Huh? What?" responded Red as he snapped back into reality. He noticed Karla's hands pulling on his robe and Gália's left hand on his shoulder.

"Hey you alright?" asked Gália with a concerned look.

Red turned to Gália and replied with a smile "Yeah of course, just daydreaming. Anyway we got to get going, the Emperor is waiting for me."

Red turned to Karla who was still pulling on his clothes and knelt down on one knee, while doing so Karla removed her hands from his robe. Red slowly placed his left hand on her head and ruffled her hair. He looked straight into her eyes, with a smile that could bring joy to anyone, Red said,

"Karla, thank you for coming to inform me about the Emperor but please stay here with Gália",

"Wha...." as Karla was about to speak she got cut off with Gália's voice,

"Karla don't worry it'll only be for a couple of minutes".

Karla looked down at the floor, you could sense the disappointment in her. Red reached in and whispered into her ear.

"I won't leave again, I promise". He got up and turned to Gália and with a stern tone he said "Look after her".

Red started walking towards the castle in which resided the Emperor, as he was walking he turned to look behind him and saw Gália with a confused look and a disappointed little girl with eyes that wanted to cry. He continued walking down the street and the further into town he got, the more expensive and glamorous the scenery became. Around Red people were walking with stylish clothes, some even had dogs and cats wearing outfits, life in Kings Rose was for the wealthy and the lucky. Before he knew it he was standing in front of what looked liked the stairs to heaven, they were made of a shiny pearl white marble, not even a spec of dirt was in sight. Red closed his eyes, took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, he then opened his eyes and stared up at the castle with an angered look. He slowly raised his left foot and placed it on the first step, as he climbed the stairs he mumbled to himself,

"I hate this place",