Whatever happens, remember that rays of hope will always shine... funny last words, Dad... considering that I'm about to set off for the northernmost part of Middleworld... where it's ALWAYS COLD. Or so I've heard. Honestly, it should be an interesting expedition... if I could ever come back from it. At least my little brother can stay in the kingdom... the little rascal, hopefully he'll be fine - Many thoughts ran through Shard's mind as he boarded the carriage that was meant to take him to the city of Ice Spikes - the northernmost point of Middleworld... a prison for "minor" criminals.

  Yellow month, day 16. Today is the celebration of the birth of Onyx... the second son of king Horwann. There are 8 months in Middleworld, each lasting 45 or 46 days. The winter months are black, white, and the coldest is light blue. Then it starts to warm up. Green, blue, red, and finally yellow, which is the warmest. The last month is brown, when the heat ends and cold weather begins again. Since right now is the yellow month, it's the best time to celebrate!

  "Quinn... look, everyone is arriving, I have to put on a smile and act like nothing happened yesterday and the day before. I think I can do it, but after today, I'm going to hide in my room and not come out for a few days..." - Horwann watched from the castle tower as the first guests arrived to celebrate his son's birth.

  "Yeah... just today, and then we can both mourn. Horwann, if you don't mind, I'd like to skip the party."

  "It's okay, Quinn, I understand. I would do the same if I could. After all, my son probably won't even show up... he went to the pub with his friends... I need to talk to him. He let his emotions out yesterday, I need to know how he's doing."

  The kingdom of black Crystal was located in the east of Middleworld. There are three kingdoms around it. The kingdom of yellow Crystal to the south is called Desert paradise. The kingdom of red Crystal to the west is called Lava lake. To the north was the Sea road, and it was the kingdom of blue Crystal. The kingdom of black Crystal is actually the name of the city where the king resides. The entire territory of black Crystal is called Black earth. Closest to the city is the Sea road, and the ruler of this place... Aqua IV, has already arrived. His daughter and a few members of the elite marine unit arrived with him. Horwann went out to welcome them.

  "Aqua, welcome! It's been a while since you've been here, hasn't it?"

  “Yes, yes. It’s been some time indeed. I’ve brought plenty of fish, by the way. My elite unit will prepare them for you shortly.”

  "Great! Thank you very much, Aqua. Now tell me, who is this little girl here?"

  "My daughter Drop... haha, she's already three years old! She was really looking forward to this, I hope she likes it here."

  "Hello, Your Highness...m-may I see the baby?"

  "Of course! This gentleman will take you to her." Horwann sent one of the guards with Drop to see Onyx. Guests began to arrive and the celebration got underway.

  Gold IX arrived from the Desert paradise. He is the leader of the Desert paradise. Only one person accompanied him, his right-hand man Sand II. The two brought some gold with them. Desert paradise is the only place where gold can be found.

  Flame V, the leader of the red Crystal kingdom, arrived from Lava lake. He brought his two daughters with him: the older, twenty-year-old Ash, and the younger, fifteen-year-old Spark.

  Later, the ruler of the Stone world - brown Crystal, arrived, as did the ruler of the Great north - white Crystal.

  When Horwann saw so many rulers in one place, so much fun at his son's celebration, so much laughter, he finally felt a little relieved after two long days. Everyone settled into their seats, and Horwann was able to begin the speech he had prepared. The celebration had seventy invited guests, who brought a total of another hundred and fifty guests with them. The capacity of the celebration was slightly exceeded, but it was not the end of the world.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "Thank you... Thank you all for coming! The last few days in the kingdom have not been easy, but today... today is a big day. Today we celebrate the birth of my son, Onyx! I wish his mother were here too, but unfortunately she will never be here again... unless I took the black Crystal and turned her into a walking corpse, HAH... but I definitely don't plan on doing that. This is no time for jokes, but this is the reality. People come and go, Onyx is a new member of my family, but even he won't be here forever. People... enjoy the time you can spend with your loved ones, you never know when the clock will stop ticking. Please... let's raise a toast to Onyx and his mother!'' - The news of Horwann's wife's death spread quickly throughout Middleworld. Before Horwann's speech, everyone asked him how he was doing. Horwann decided to tone it down.

  THE CELEBRATION WAS IN FULL SWING, with food, games, drinks, and revelry! This continued for about half an hour, and then a moment occurred that shook Middleworld once and for all.

  Horwann was sitting at the main table, a long table where all the rulers from the other kingdoms and their closests were seated. The table was set up so that people sat on only one side, to make it easier for the waiters to serve. Just as everyone was feasting on the cake that the cooks had just brought out, a purple oval appeared in front of the table... representing a portal. The portal opened right in front of Horwann, and a mysterious person stepped out of it.

  "Greetings, citizens of Middleworld! My name is Two... and I am your salvation."

  The entire celebration fell silent and fixed their gaze on the man who had just passed through the portal. His appearance was truly fascinating. An interesting fact about Middleworld is that people's hair color usually depends on where they live. For example, most citizens of Desert paradise have blonde hair. Citizens of Black earth have black hair, and so on. No one knows why this is, but there is a theory that the energy radiating from the Crystals has a large influence on hair color. Therefore, it was very interesting to see that the person standing in front of Horwann had black hair on the right side and red hair on the left side of his head... Two was not from Middleworld.

  Even though Two had interesting hair color, most people looked at his forehead... where he had a closed third eye.

  "W-what are you doing here?"

  "Please! Don't interrupt my speech, I have so much to say!" Two declared when the leader of Horwann's army, who as always stood by Horwann's side, asked a question that was surely on the minds of all those attending the celebration.

  "As I said, I have come to save you! Sooner or later, Middleworld will come to an end due to a threat from a distant place I come from! From a place called Endor. But don't worry, I will protect you!" - Two jumped onto the table right in front of Horwann, turned to the right, and began to continue telling his story as he walked across the table. Horwann thought about trying to silence him, but on the other hand, he was curious about what Two had to say.

  However, someone else tried to silence Two. The leaders of Horwann's army did not like the audacity with which Two jumped onto the table. The leader tried to grab Two by the shoulder and explain the principles of decent behavior to him, when suddenly a small bolt of lightning shot out of the purple portal at great speed, knocking off the leader's ear. Most people got up from their chairs, ready to evacuate or launch a counterattack, but Two calmed them down.

  "PLEASE, PLEASE! Stay calm, I come in peace! Of course, if someone tries to upset me badly, like Mr. One ear over here, my friends will defend me. But as you can see, my friend was only aiming for the ear FOR NOW!" - Horwann ran up to the leader and held a handkerchief to his ear, which he had originally planned to use to wipe food from his mouth. Everyone else was afraid to move or cautiously watched the situation.

  "Well, whatever. I'll continue, and I VERY much hope that there won't be any more complications, because that would really break my heart! As I mentioned, a GREAT threat is coming. Fortunately, here on Middleworld there are beautiful things that will help me defeat this threat... your beautiful Crystals! I chose this wonderful moment because I knew that most of the citizens of this continent who own Crystals would be here. And so I ask you, give me your Crystals so that I can protect you, and I will be your salvation!"

  Silence fell over the celebration until Bowler, ruler of the brown Crystal kingdom, began to laugh.

  "Hahahhaha, I didn't expect a clown to come to the celebration! I'll be happy to give you the brown Crystal... right up your ass!" The whole celebration began to make fun of Two, the guards prepared their shields so that another little lightning bolt wouldn't surprise them, and the rulers of the kingdom prepared the legendary weapons that help them control the Crystals.

  "Oh well! Unfortunately, I expected this, even though I REALLY hoped it wouldn't happen. I will save you either the nice way or the BAD way!

  Two raised his hands above his head, as if waking up in the morning and stretching. "Let's do this, folks!" Two said this as several purple portals began to appear above his head... the celebration was over.