Jacob woke up from another long night of sleep. This time, it seemed his mark didn’t want to talk with him. There were many questions that still plagued his mind about its origin and purpose, but there was currently no way he or Maria could go to anyone for help. Not even his professor could help since he didn’t bear a mark himself. Regretfully, he had to bear another day of its dark presence.

Another thing that weighed on his mind was the impending attack. The only signal that was going to be given to them was the approach of a storm. That alone was a chilling thought. However, the kingdom hadn’t had bad weather in a very long time, so the chances of a storm coming were only increasing with every passing day.

Jacob got out of bed, put on fresh clothes, and grabbed a small paper waiting for him on a table. He needed to start his talks with the Katra Clan today to plan something with the Rose Clan to increase their relationship. Not only this, but it had to be later in the day because the Rose Clan needed to work the fields.

’Ugh. When did my life become so busy? Take me back to yesterday when I didn’t have to worry about this.’

Walking down the hall, he saw a familiar face cleaning the windows of the palace.

"Eden, you look lovely today. I hope you are feeling well."

"Young lord! It’s always nice to see you. When can I beat you up again? I miss doing that!"

She started laughing, but Jacob could tell she was completely serious.

"You’ll be the first one I let know when the time comes. Do you know if any of the Katra Clan are busy today? I need to meet with them about something."

"Hm... I know that Mr. Katra is out dealing with a few issues in the public with his wife, but I believe everyone else should be in their rooms."

"Thank you Eden. Tell Joseph I said hi if you see him."

Walking towards the familiar wooden door, Jacob knocked on it. A tall, red-haired woman opened the door with a bright smile.

"My my, if it isn’t Mr. Prince! What are you doing here?"

Jacob recognized the woman as the girl laying on the couch, injured the other day.

"I was wondering if I could talk with all of you about possibly doing some bonding of sorts with the Rose Clan. I think it would strengthen our relationship a lot better. You’re Zoey, right?"

"That’s me! And we already did some bonding yesterday, why do we have to do more?"

"I just think it’s never a bad idea to be friends with someone who you may have to fight side by side with one day."

A small fire burned behind Zoey’s dark red eyes.

"Very well. I guess I could get everyone together to hear you out. Besides, I already made a friend from the rose clan! Her power compliments mine like no other! Her name is Serena if you’ve heard of her."

"That’s very good to hear. Let’s try to create more relationships like that between the clan. Then we’ll be totally unstoppable."

Jacob followed Zoey in. As they walked towards the famous dining room table, or the now designated meeting spot for the clan, she called out everyone’s names individually. The first one to show was a plump man with slick hair. He wore extremely fancy attire for a seemingly casual occasion.

"Good morning my glorious Prince Jacob. I am the humble, yet elegant, Gabriel Katra! It is a pleasure to talk with you, but it’s an even greater pleasure to talk to me."

He winked at Jacob after finishing his statement.

"Oh... you seem... unique?"

"Why does everyone give me that tone?!"

Jacob ignored him but offered up an empty seat next to him for the man. Despite his remark, he looked really excited to sit next to the prince and ran over to him as fast as he could.

"Say, if you ever need a bodyguard, let’s just say... I’m something of an expert."

Gabriel carried a smirk on his face looking at Jacob.

"No thanks. I already have one. She could probably knock the teeth out of you."

Grabriel just stared at the prince at a loss for words. Two more younger men walked in the room. One of them was skinny and had short black hair. The other was dirty blonde and a bit shorter than his friend. The black-haired man spoke up to Jacob.

"I’m Slade and this is Harold. We’re practically brothers even though we aren’t related."

"Nice to meet you both."

Harold seemed rather quiet, as if intimidated by the prince in some way.

"Harold is a bit of an introvert, but he is one hell of a fighter. I’m sure he’ll open up to you eventually."

The next to enter were both women. One of them had beautiful, long blonde wavy hair that laid on her shoulders. She wore a white dress with blue tassels hanging off. She carried a sereness that followed her around and calmed everything she touched. This was someone Jacob recognized personally as Syndey Katra, Mr. Katra’s daughter.

The woman next to Syndey had short purple hair that fell just below her ears. She was short but always stood tall as she walked. Her steps seemed so light that they hardly made any sound at all.

"Hello Jacob, long time no see. This is one of my friends, Maddy. She has a big crush on you."

Maddy’s face turned bright pink, and she started punching Sydney weakly.

"Why would you tell him that you jerk?! Why would you do this to me?!"

Syndey started laughing.

"I’m just messing with you. You will be alright!"

Both of them took their seats at the table as well. Maddy refused to meet Jacob’s gaze out of pure embarrassment. Surprisingly, Jacob wasn’t really affected by any of this.

"Nice to see you both. Thank you for sitting down with me."

Sydney looked a little shocked.

"Hm. You’re different. I remember you being much meaner whenever we had classes."

"A lot has happened since then. I’m trying my best to change."

"That’s good. I would’ve been upset if you married Maddy and were still the same grouch you used to be."

Maddy interjected.

"I’m never telling you a secret ever again!!"

Three more people walked in the room. One of them seemed to be an older gentleman around Lidia’s age. The other two seemed slightly older than Jacob. The older gentleman was bald and had a weird looking mustache above his mouth. He came over to Jacob and shook his hand.

"My name is Bryce Katra. It’s a pleasure to see you today, young lord."

"Please, just call me Jacob."

One of the young men looked creepy to Jacob. Half his head was shaved but the other half still held short black hair on it. His face seemed to have thin scars all over it. As he talked, it sounded like he was anticipating something to happen.

"I’m Steel. This other guy is Lee."

"Hello there."

Lee seemed like the most normal guy in the whole group. His hair was neatly parted to one side; he seemed to be dozing off but mostly gave Jacob his attention. His muscles were very prominent, almost looking like he never skipped a day of lifting heavy things around the kingdom.

Jacob started counting all of them. He knew that Mr. Katra and his wife were not supposed to be here, but there was still one more of them missing.

"Where is the other one?"

Zoey was the first to speak up.

"Bo is already here. He’s sitting in that seat at the end."

Zoey pointed to an empty seat at the end of the table. Out of curiosity, Jacob threw a small cloth at the chair, which was stopped by an invisible force and hit the floor. He heard a man’s voice.

"Hey, what was that for?!"

’Invisibility ability?! Whoever is giving out these powers has to be messing with me. What did I do to not deserve a power!!’

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were here. Let’s get started."