The Sea of Leaves was both a literal and a figurative name. The massive trees and treehouses that made up the capital city was no joke. There were tree boughs as far as the eye could see hence the name, but as it turns out, the Folioran thought of themselves like leaves. Each one held the strong belief that the Folioran themselves were the tree and each individual was a leaf that made up the greater overall. The sense of national pride and just posterity was impressive.

“Welcome to the Sea of Leaves, Vampir Darkness, and Ser Ron."

I had to raise an eyebrow at Ron's title. When I looked over at him, he was posing, obviously satisfied with being called 'Ser'. His enormous tongue lolled out of his mouth while he did bodybuilder poses emphasizing his deluded importance. I shot him a look to tone it down, but it couldn't smother the enormous smile on his face. Leyara just hid a chuckle behind her hand as we followed the emissary.

“Thank you for having us and allowing us to be on such good terms with your nation and your hospitality. Are there lodgings we could rent or a hotel nearby for our stay?”

“With your special status here, you would be required to find no housing of your own and it has been arranged that you would stay in the Oaken Palace at the request of Her Highness.”

“Oaken Palace?”

“It is where my father and I live and well any other royal family. In this case Royal guests.”

Leyara's smile could melt a glacier. There was some hesitation around the soldiers and diplomats who like my first camp experience with them, they all had issues with how chummy we were. They, however, could not openly be hostile to a Royal guest. Also, by now they had heard enough and been told enough to know that it wasn't a conflict they could win anyways. With a firm mixture of resentment and fear, they led us to the most massive tree I had ever seen.

"Here we are. Princess Leyara will guide you from here. I did not see any, but do you have any luggage or bags you would like us to see?"

I flashed my magic pocket to him and reached in and grabbed ac old coin. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to tip the guy or not. His eyes widened at the magic pocket and then quickly narrowed in annoyance at the offer of the coin.

“Please keep your coins to yourself, they are not welcome or useful here. You are our guest.”

Maybe, I hadn't realized the impact we had here, but it quickly began to dawn on me the magnitude of the situation. Dark elves were looking down from the great wooden bridges stretched between trees. Olive skin and different shades of hair show through windows big and small as everyone peered down into the front of the Oaken Palace. Turns out visitors were rare, but visitors in the capitol even more so and royal guests on top of it all was a once in a lifetime event.

"My apologies, let us go inside then. Thank you for your guidance on this point."

I bowed to the envoy and once more to the soldiers. I peeked and waved at a group of kids whose legs dangled off a giant tree branch hanging above us. They freaked out bashfully, causing them all to lose balance and one particularly small child to fall off. The young girl was still surprised at the turn of events. Her eyes were wide with surprise as she plummeted to the ground. Right as she realized what was happening, she was about to hit the ground and tears welled up in her eyes. Right before she hit, I dashed over and caught her.

“Are you ok little miss?”

“T-t-thank you so mu..waaaaaaa.”

Her response was cut off by her sobs as she buried her head into my chest and cried. She just thought it was about to all end. The girl could not have been more than 6 or 7 and this was the most traumatic thing that had ever happened to her. Leyara ran up along with a group of soldiers and what seemed like the girl's mom.

“Vampir! Thank you so much!”

“It’s alright, she just needed someone to catch her when she lost her footing from that incredibly high place.”

I smiled at my sarcasm which elicited another glacier melter from Leyara and the child's mother approached and bowed deeper than I had ever seen before. Her nose almost reaching the ground. She then gently and somehow firmly also reached and snatched the crying child and held her close. At first, the child realized who it was and a moment of panic at the trouble she would be in flashed, but then the relief overcame her and she sobbed even harder into her mother's chest. The mother sat the child down and turned back to me. 

Thank you, Sir. You have saved my child’s life on this day and I shall never forget it. Anything I can do for you, please let me know.”

The child had already begun to forget the situation as she began to play with Ron. The dog was swishing his tail back and forth on the leaf-covered ground and right when the little girl was trying to grab it he would wick it out of the way to her delight.

“What is your daughter’s name?”

“Her name is Dusk.”

“What a beautiful name. Duskra, would you like to take care of Ron while we are here in Trunk?”

I knew he had just been cleaned for the funeral, but I couldn’t help but see the obvious enjoyment Duskra had while climbed on top of Ron who was doing his best to pretend to be a battle destrier. She was ready to ride into battle on top of this demon dog.

"Can I?"

"If he wants it of course."

“That would be great Master and I won’t have to be around when you make kissy fac-…”

I used a bit of telekinesis to close his mouth before he could finish his sentence in front of all of these people. I had no idea the status of our relationship for one, but I wasn’t sure the Folioran’s policy on Princess’s dating the undead, so I thought it better to keep in on the proverbial down low.

“Well the Duskra, I trust you will take good care of Ron while we are here. He needs lots of baths and enjoys beef bones. He also knows if he gives you any troubles that he will never see another bone in his life.”

I said the last bit with a look at Ron that clammed him right up. I pulled out some bones from my magic pocket from our past excursion to Betrapall. I also handed her a tiny wooden box.

“What’s this?”

“That is a little magic trick I put together. If ever you need help or if Ron needs something you cannot handle then just open the box and say my name. It will tell me where you are and I will come right to you to help.”

“I will help her take this responsibility seriously Sir. Thank you again for saving her life.”

"It is my pleasure. You kids are careful up there."

I looked up at the group of kids on the high branch as I said that last part. They squirmed again, but none fell this time. I turned back to Leyara.

“Ready, Your Highness?”

“Oh, stop that Vampir.”

She chuckled and led me to the grand front doors of the Oaken Palace. We entered the doors and inside was truly impressive. There was a simpleness that added incredible charm. The entire palace was carved out of the tree trunk, but the tree was alive and well. Little flowers and branches were growing out of the walls and the ground was plush grass, but nothing took away from the grandeur of the palace.

We walked down the main hall and then turned into another set of double doors.  Inside was the longest dining table I had ever seen. There were tons of empty chairs along its length and sitting at the very end with an annoyed look on his face, was the king of the Folioran. Rulard Royce de Folioran was a large man with light olive skin, a wicked purple mohawk, and what could only be described as a chiseled, handsome face. He was around my height and much more developed. He was wearing what looked like a mix between a Roman toga and battle armor. 

“You are late. Can’t be bothered to even show up on time with a Royal entourage?”

Hold up, this guy is coming at me sideways already?! He was annoyed and at me. Leyara just rolled her eyes and directed me to sit to the left of the King and she walked up and kissed her father on the cheek and sat to his right. I bowed to him before sitting down.

“Pleasure to meet you, your Majesty. Thank you for your hospitality. I apologize for delaying your meal, there was a child in danger outside.”

“Child in Danger?! I promise that the only danger here is you…”

The look on Leyara’s face froze him in place. Visible beads of sweat formed on his forehead as Leyara’s aura seemed to incarnate itself.

“Leyara my darling! I hope you had an excellent mission. We will debrief tomorrow morning about your mission to Betrapall. You are looking so cute today also.”

I wasn’t sure if he was a tsundere or a doting father. Either way, dinner turned out to be amazing with some kind of meat, potato, and vegetable combination that left me rather satisfied. The steak was essentially raw, but I wasn't going to complain as I noticed Leyara's and the King's steak was cooked through. I figured they were trying to be sensitive to my kind. Shit, steaks taste good even raw. Bwahahahaha.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Vampir Darkness

Date of Birth: Reign 23rd in the year 3015

Title: Undead Lord

Race: Vampire

Hair: Black

Eyes: Red

Current value: 239.9 million Gold Coins, Approx. 149 trillion Gold Coins worth of Invisibility Potion, Resurrection Token

Magic Pocket: Pretty much one of everything (verified), Vampir’s Diary, Magic Jar of Dog Urine, Undead King's Crown, and Sword

Powers: Voice Mesmer, Animal Transmutation, Super Strength, Mach 3 Speed, Immunity, Regeneration

Magic: Source (Custom) Magic, Folioran Magic, High Magic

Weaknesses: Holy Water, The Sun, Angry Fathers

Strengths: Sword Fighting, All Magic (Except Holy), Casidhe’s Magic (Sometimes), Dog, Leyara, Bellant, Saving falling children, making new friends