Chapter fifteen

After hours of aimlessly exploring Rakushou -the Kou Empire's capital- Neah was exhausted. She had planned on heading to the palace much earlier than the time it was now, dusk, but she was curious about the way the citizens lived. Everything was color-coded. Each rank of the population wore a different color. Although in Neah's time, Rakuen didn't have color codes, the Kou Empire was reminding her of her time a lot. "I suppose that's what they were aiming for though..." The magi thought out loud.

Looking around, everything looked just like it did in her textbooks. The only difference was that the buildings surrounding Neah weren't half-destroyed, with their colors fading and roofs caving in. In her textbooks, most of the pictures were results of past wars, especially the civil war.

Neah realized she was near the palace and slowed her pace. She had no idea how to get inside without looking like she had other intentions than just talking. She breathed deeply and approached the main entrance, instantly being stopped by guards. "I need to speak with Prince Kouen." She stated.

"Name?" One of the guards asked.

"Neah Andson."

"Why would you need to speak with Prince Kouen at this hour?" The second guard asked.

"Ah, well, It's important private business," Neah tried.

"Sorry, we're not allowing you into the palace." The first guard shook his head.

"But-"

"If you come back with a letter or official document stating your need for an audience with Prince Kouen, we will consider."

Neah huffed and backed off. In the distance she heard someone call her name and footsteps rapidly approaching, "Neah!"

"Kougyoku?!" Neah exclaimed.

"Hello! I didn't think you'd come to Kou so quickly!" The princess smiled. Her assistant, Ka Koubun stood behind her. Kougyoku turned to the guards, "It's okay, she's expected."

Both guards bowed their heads, "Of course, Princess Kougyoku."

Princess Kougyoku led Neah through the palace, stopping outside of Kouen's office door. "I-I'm sure Brother Kouen is expecting you," The princess spoke, suddenly nervous and covering her mouth with her sleeve.

"Are you not coming?" Neah asked.

"N-No. You can go ahead."

Neah shrugged, "Alright. I'll come tell you how it went after." Kougyoku nodded in agreement and quickly left. Neah knocked on the office door and waited for an answer.

"Yes?" A man with messy red hair tied up into a pony tail opened the door. His face was decorated in acne scars, and his robes weren't very neat. He looked Neah over, very closely reminded of his country's magi, "Who are you?"

"Neah Andson," The magi answered. "Princess Kougyoku or Prince Hakuryuu might have mentioned me before. You're Prince Koumei, yeah?"

"Yes... I believe Kougyoku has mentioned you before, one second." Koumei disappeared inside the office for a few moments before returning, "Come in." He led Neah through the rather large room full of bookcases of scrolls and other documents.

"Neah Andson, I've been expecting you." Prince Kouen sat a desk, a map behind him and several scrolls on the desk before him.

"Hi," Neah greeted. Koumei walked to Kouen's side and both princes watched her. "Ah, I'm not sure what Princess Kougyoku's told you..."

"Not much," Kouen spoke, "I know you're here looking for my help, although I'm not sure why."

"Well, for starters, I'm a magi from the future." Neah began her story once again. "A future several years from now, where Al-Thamen is defeated...I'm also related to Judar, for reasons I'll explain later..."

Both princes look very interested. "Continue," Kouen urged her.

"Right..."

~

Eventually Neah got the two princes up to speed on everything that was going on. So far neither of the Ren's were showing much of a reaction. Weirded out by their lack of surprise or confusion, Neah broke the silence, "So, ah, would you be willing to help me fight MWS?"

"That depends," Kouen said. "What will I get in return?"

"In return?" Neah echoed. She decided not to be rude, "What do you want?"

"If my siblings and I help you, along with some of the Kou army and dungeon monsters, I'd like you to tell me everything there is to know about your time. And everything that happens in between."

Neah narrowed her eyes slightly. This was the same thing Sinbad and Hakuryuu had wanted. Knowing exactly what would happen, and how to change things to get what they want. She was completely against it, there was no way she was going to tell anyone that. She wasn't stupid. And yet... "Alright, deal." Neah outstretched her hand, then pulled back just as Kouen went to shake, "But don't bring any of those Al-Thamen assholes," She realized she swore when it was too late and decided to pretend it didn't happen. Woops. "And, I'm not telling you anything until after you help me."

"That's fine with me," Kouen agreed, shaking her hand.

"When do you plan on doing this?" Koumei asked. "And how do you plan on getting to your time again?"

"Actually, I've been doing some research on that on the way here," Neah dug through her bag and pulled out the book she had stolen from MWS' headquarters. "I got this from MWS just before I landed here," She explained, "It has information on all 72 djinn. All their magic types, powers, previous owners, everything." Kouen eyed the book greedily. "It's funny you asked, Prince Koumei, cause I have a feeling I might be able to get back using your djinn."

"My djinn?" Koumei echoed. "How?"

"Dantalion is a space-time djinn. You use him to move objects from one place to another, but this book hints at another power he has," Neah waved the book a little. "Like a few other djinn, Dantalion has a secret power that is much too strong for any human to be able to use. He was probably banned from being allowed to let his master use it, for fear of it being used incorrectly or for a bad cause. I think that power was the power to send people through time. I mean, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure...If that makes sense."

"So you're saying I have the power to time travel?" Koumei summarized.

"I think. There's a way I can find out, I guess," Neah chuckled lightly. I could nearly die again and go talk to Ugo. "But it would be a very hard thing to do. If Dantalion was sworn to not use the power, we might not be able to use that method."

"So what if we can't?" Kouen asked. "What's your backup plan?"

"MWS is more than likely trying to track me down. I mean, hell, they probably have an entire plan up their sleeves. I have no idea. But there's got to be a deeper reason than magicians being 'dangerous' for them to lock 'em up." The more Neah talked, the more excited she got for her plan to start, and the less she paid attention to her way of speaking. Both Kouen and Koumei noticed, but didn't think anything of it. They had grown used to informal speak from Judar and their younger brother, Kouha.

"Alright, then. You said you've requested Reim's help as well, are you traveling to any other countries?" Kouen asked.

"No, I don't think so." Coming down from her planning high, Neah began to realize how exhausted she really was. "I was wondering if I could stay in the Kou Empire for a little while? I plan on returning to Sindria, but I'm in no rush." The last thing she wanted to do was deal with 'King Idiot'.

"Of course. You may stay as long as you like, as long as our deal holds." Kouen allowed.

"Yeah, sure." Neah nodded. She had no intentions on telling Kouen anything.

~