Maria and Jacob were now walking side by side as they headed for the exit of the kingdom.
"Do civilians disobey the king often?"
Jacob thought to himself for a moment before responding.
"Only criminals defy the king's orders. Usually, people know what will happen to them if they disobey the king. Unfortunately, it seems like they're all getting too comfortable with the idea of disobedience."
"I see. How many more people do we have left to grab?"
"Just one, but to be honest with you, I'm worried it will be a worse experience than the bar."
"What makes you say that?"
"This is someone who worked for my dad. He possesses a rend ability. A scary one at that."
Maria seemed unbothered by this information.
"What kind of rend ability does he have?"
Jacob paused.
"You'll see when we get there. He doesn't like to hide it very much."
As Maria and Jacob left the kingdom, they were met with grassy fields that stretched beyond the horizon for miles. Flowers of every color were fully bloomed and swaying in the wind as they walked. To his left was a forest with trees that reached towards the clouds and rustled their leaves as if waving to the pair off in the distance. To his right was a sparkling body of water with a small cabin on its shores. That was their next destination.
As the pair drew closer, an older gentleman could be seen sitting on a pier holding a fishing rod. His hair was thick and gray, his eyes were a bit sunken as if he never slept enough, wrinkles wrapped around his face, his body was large and well defined with veins finding their way on his forearms.
"Still look as old and decrepit as I remember."
The older gentleman looked his way and formed a playful smile.
"Hey! Now that's no way to talk to your uncle you brat. And besides, I'm hardly 50 years old."
The older man sat up from his fishing spot.
"Anyway, what brings you here? You really missed me that much?"
"As if. The king summoned you to his palace. Something about needing extra hands for a project he's doing."
His uncle rubbed his hand under his chin.
"Interesting... would it be okay if we at least discuss this matter over a cup of tea first?"
Jacob thought to himself for a moment.
"Sure. You're the last one we need to grab anyway."
Upon saying this, his uncle walked towards the edge of the pier, facing the lake. Lifting both his hands up in the air, a powerful surge could be heard running through the water. Suddenly, the massive lake was being parted in two, slowly revealing more of its muddy bottom. As the lake continued to split, a large, rusted cabin was revealed to be at its center.
"That should do. I'll lead the way."
"Did you really need to show off? Why can't we have tea right here?"
His uncle looked at him embarrassingly.
"I left the kettle in my other place! Besides, I'd prefer to have tea in my real home one last time before my end."
Confusion painted Jacob's face.
"Your end? What do you mean before your end? You're just being summoned for labor."
His uncle continued forward, jumping down on to the mushy ground of the path he just made.
"I'll discuss it when we arrive. Also, can you tell your girlfriend to stop staring at me like that? It's creeping me out!"
Jacobs face flustered and turned bright red.
"W-what? My girlfriend? NONSENSE! She's just a servant! A meat shield I hired!"
His uncle laughed hysterically as he and Maria jumped down to follow him.
"I'm just messing with you. But seriously, that's one creepy woman you got there. I've never seen a person so emotionless! I mean, she didn't even bat an eye at my magic trick!"
As everyone started their decent towards the cabin, Jacob studied the massive walls of water preventing them from being crushed. It almost seemed like two waterfalls on each side, only at the bottom instead of flowing outwards, they flowed right back into the lake. When they arrived at the cabin, Jacob moved over to Maria.
"Just stay outside for now. This is more of a family matter."
Maria silently nodded and stood her ground facing towards one of the walls of water. She could see schools of fish swimming together, with an unlucky one falling out in to the freshly made land every now and then.
The home they were in was very dark, being in such a deep part of the lake. Even with the water parted, sunlight struggled reach into the immaculate depths where the cabin was situated.
"Ahh... this takes me back young Jacob. I remember when you were a kid you used to make me chase you while I squirted water at you. Your mom would get so mad at me!"
"Yah... I miss my mom."
"I miss her too. I mean, any brother would miss his sister."
"You're the one who got her killed, remember?"
His uncle gave him an intense gaze.
"My sister was killed because of your father's conquest for more power. How was I supposed to know that the enemy possessed such mastery over his blessing?"
"Because that was your job. You were supposed to be the one providing us intel."
"They tried snuffing me out more times than you can count. Do you have any idea how close I got to being killed over there?"
"Clearly not enough, because you're still here and my mom isn't."
"What about your dad, hm? Where was he when this all went down? That's right. Cowering behind his walls protecting his own hide."
"He had to protect the kingdom. He couldn't just leave us here while the enemy could slip past him and slaughter us all while he's away."
"And look how well that turned out. My sister is dead and all your dad did was buy us more time."
"He saved your life. He didn't need to banish you out here. You could've been publicly executed for what you did."
Just then, his uncle's face grew pale and uneasy. He noticed a dark figure, menacingly standing behind his nephew.
"Jacob! Behind you!"
Turning around Jacob let out a high pitch squeal and flew out of his chair. His hands started shaking while he quickly reached for his sword. When a beam of light reflected off the steel, the face of the figure was revealed. Maria stood there with the same cold gaze across her face. Pieces of seaweed and moss laid on top of her head.
"What are you a ghost? Stop sneaking up on me like that or I'll have your head chopped off!"
After taking a moment to regain himself, he looked at her again.
"Wait. What are you even doing inside? I thought I told you to wait out there. Wait, how did you even get in here?"
Maria looked at him awkwardly.
"I... I think I'm afraid of being underwater..."
Jacob rubbed his hand against his temple and put his sword away.
"Oh... and you left the back door unlocked."
Jacob's uncle looked confused at this remark.
"I don't have a back door."
The girl shuffled a bit.
"I made my own back door."
Confused, Jacob's uncle walked to the back of his house and saw a Maria-shaped hole in the wall of his kitchen.
"What the-?"
Next to the hole on the counter was a spilled tea kettle, leaking all over the cracked, granite floors.
"You have to be kidding me. Where the hell did you find this ball of destruction, Jacob? She hasn't even been here for five minutes, and she's made a mess of my house! I knew there was something wrong with her. Just look at her!"
Jacob's uncle was now pointing to Maria who quietly took seaweed off her head, sniffed it, then threw it in her mouth before chewing and swallowing it. Afterward, a burst of laughter escaped from Jacob's lips.
"Aw man this is priceless. Your house can't handle the strength of a nobody! How pathetic!"
After a few more chuckles, Jacob cleared his throat and continued.
"Forget the tea, let's continue our conversation. Maria, just stand in the corner and don't be creepy or I really will cut you down this time."
Maria followed his command and put herself in timeout in the corner.
"Listen Jacob, your father doesn't really plan on using those men or me for labor."
"How do you know?"
"Tell me, have you seen or heard from a single person that your father has taken away?"
This stumps Jacob for a moment.
"The project isn't finished. That is to be expected"
"And what is this grand project exactly?"
"It doesn't matter what it is. All I need to know is it will strengthen the kingdom."
"Wrong. It will only strengthen the king."
"What's the difference?"
"Your father is a truly selfish man who puts himself before his people. No king should rule like that."
"Well, being selfish is what has kept this kingdom alive for decades."
"Did it keep your mother alive?"
Jacob went silent at this last comment.
"Ugh. I think that's enough arguing for today. I will walk to the palace now, no need to worry about me putting up a fight. Just think about what I was saying Jacob."
With those final words, his uncle left his seat and made his way for the door. Jason went to gesture for Maria to follow him, but she was already trotting his way. As the three of them climbed the moist slope of the lakes bottom, Jacob made sure to watch his uncle's back, just in case he tried something at the last moment.
Finally reaching the dock, his uncle helped Jacob and Maria climb up. When they did, the walls of the lake slowly started coming back together, restoring the lake to its original shape. His uncle stared at Jacob one last time.
"Before I leave, I just have on last question."
"What is it?"
"How much do you really know about your father?"
A deafening silence surrounded the trio.
"I trust him enough."
"Interesting..."
With that, his uncle started his run back toward the kingdom.
After seeing his uncle disappear far ahead of him, Jacob and Maria started their walk back as well.
"My lord, take what you hear from him with caution. That man is dangerous."
Jacob looked at Maria while continuing his walk.
"You mean that rend power? I know. To be honest, I can't believe he has such a high mastery of it."
"That's not what I'm talking about...well, that's part of it, I guess."
"What do you mean?"
"My lord, the tea he was going to serve you was poisoned."