Episode 7

The following day, before anyone could wake, Theodore tried to sneak out of the palace. He quietly left the room and walked towards the end of the hallway. He pushed the door and tried to peek, but just as he thought he was clear, a pair of hands suddenly grabbed him from behind and pulled him back. "You think you can make a fool out of me? You are still a kid to me, stupid." He was startled by being found out by his sister, again. "Theo, you need to find something new to try. Well, I assume your Great Escape is unsuccessful today." Nicholas walked past them with a smile. "I was this close, if not for you." Theodore glared at his sister to which she pulled his arm, due to a sharp pain he felt he twitched and made her let his hands go by force but failed. "Look at you, all energetic and excited, and for what? You can't go if I don't want you to little brother" Merida replied with a despicable laugh.

"Will you stop all this noise in the morning? Merida, you at least!" As Evan spoke she let him go, suddenly making him slip and fall to the ground. With a loud bang and a squeak afterward, Theodore was pinned to the ground. Both the King and Merida burst into laughter. There was quite a commotion. To see what was going on Jason along with his daughter walked towards the hallway, where the King and others were. As they closed in, they found an angry person on the ground. With a red face, Theodore pouted and gave a sharp glare to his sister. "You did it on purpose, right? Hmm, now watch me." As he said, he took a strange looking ball out of his pocket and threw it on the ground. "That's…" Before Vivian could finish, there was a burst of smoke. "Seriously? Idiot!" Merida yelled in a louder tone making the in-house guards run towards them. As the smoke vanished, there was nothing on the ground. Evan was furious and to his surprise, suddenly Jason burst into laughter saying, "ha hahaha! That reminds me of when you escaped the king's gathering when we were young Evan." Hearing this he replied, "This isn't funny. Search him, guards! Why are you standing still?" To his command, all the gathered guards scattered. "Let him be father, that idiot would get a piece of beating one day. That day he'd listen. Look at my dress! Damn, how dare he try to pull such a prank on me? Hmm! I'm not going after him. Leave him on his own." Saying this Merida walked out of the hallway stomping her feet. "I hope he doesn't get into any trouble. Well, I should send in a few guards after him, not that they'd find him, yet…" Saying this Evan walked past Jason. "Well, now that the commotion is over, shall we?" Jason asked his daughter who was looking at the end of the hallway in concern.

She suddenly felt a piece of paper in her pocket. "When did it… What? I can't believe it! How dare he left me behind? This time I'll give him a piece of mind, I swear." Vivian spoke to herself, somewhat irritated. In that piece of paper, he wrote, "I apologize as I'm leaving right now. Don't worry about me, I'll be safe. Just forgive me this time Vivi." "He promised we'd go together… God" Thinking of that made her blush. With a red face she walked past her father who was curiously thinking of, how did Theodore escape? In a corner, as he watched everyone leaving, somewhat relieved Theodore jumped out of the window. At the edge of the castle walls, he cheered himself as he said, "No one can stop me. Ha Haha! Here I come to my talking statue, oh wait, it's not mine yet. Who cares? It surely will be. Still, I feel bad for leaving her behind though but, if what I read is true, it's dangerous out there. Umm-hmm, what's done is done. Let's get going." Excited of the adventure he carelessly jumped into the woods and rushed to the ruins.

The Arboria was in a rainforest zone thus had vast forest regions. Towards the neighboring nation, Etherblade, there was a widely spread forest known as 'The Forest of Wisps'. Locals believed there were fairies living there who protected the locals from strange beings and dangers as well. Theodore also was running through the same jungle. After running for a while, it became clear that no one followed him, thus he slowed down. It took him about 3 hours to reach the deep region of the forest. He stopped a bit to look into the map for further directions. "Damn, these old maps are really difficult to understand. As much as I can decipher, it should be further down this way." Saying this he put the map away and started walking in the direction. Just as he was walking by the road he heard some noises from the bushes nearby. As he looked at the bushes, his complexion turned pale, and started running fast, "It can't be…!"