When you're awake all night long, there will be some bad side effects to that. And they aren't pretty.

  On our way back, I keep having these headaches, and those little wounds that those creatures inflicted on me have started to hurt even more than before. Yeah, me and the pals can't hang out when we are in this condition.

  Claude will have to help me move every step, and that got the attention of lots of random pedestrians. If I was still fine, we would have returned in an hour or something, but now we could need more than an hour, plus the time for the subways and buses.

  "Hey Edward." Claude told me while we were in one of the buses. "Your performance yesterday was splendid. Trad, Owen and the representatives were impressed by your skills, and mainly by your selfless act by saving the princess of Skyremia and the other contestant, even if he did ditch you two afterwards."

  "Well, thanks." I replied. My older brother cleared his throat. "But the main point is, I'm proud of you, brother. You did so well in this year's Magician Games, I can tell that you'll make a great magician in the future."

  I held back the urge to sob.

  Yes, Claude has praised me many times in the past, like when I made a successful experiment on neutralizing sulfuric acid back when I was eleven. But this time, it felt different. Claude genuinely believed that I will become a great magician, he's proud of my skills, and I believe that he sees more potential within me.

  I hugged him, "Thanks, brother. I promise that I'll be a very successful magician in the future." Claude pated my head and smiled. "And a good king." He added.

  By the time we got back to our palaces lobby, it was almost noon.

  "We're back!" I exclaimed with relief. " Now, I can finally go and take a nice long bath and-" "You're back! Your Majesty and Your Highness!" General Kano rushed towards us, he panted furiously and kneeled down. "General, why are you in such a hurry? What's the matter?" Claude asked. Kano got up, and whispered something into Claude's ear. His eyes widened, "This is bad."

  Claude had vanished from his spot, leaving a cloud of dust behind (not cool, bro). I looked ahead, and Claude was already lightyears ahead of us, he's fast, way faster than those times that I had trained with him (now, that is cool, bro). "Your Majesty! Why can't you give me a break?!" Kano wheezed and started to follow Claude. "Brother!" I called out, and ran behind Kano.

  To his speed, we must have been like snails to him. I cringed every time as the pain in my wounds and minor cuts said hi. We had already lost track of him, and who knows where he has gone to now...

  "Young Highness." Kano said to me, "It is better off if you go and rest now, you had a rough time when you are participating in The Magician Games. After your peaceful-" "Uh, brother." Claude was standing right behind Kano, we didn't even realize where did he come from, or how long he was standing there.

  "Ah! Your Majesty. Did you-?" "Yeah." Claude replied. "The traps are still functioning, but someone must had fiddled around with their circuits, they don't work as effectively like the before." I have no idea on what's going on right now. Traps? What for? "Um... Sorry to break the seriousness, but what are we talking about?" I asked.

  Claude turned to me, "Edward, I'm afraid that someone has broken into our palace." That sentence shook me like an earthquake, someone had tried to break into our palace... one of the most secured kingdoms out there. "H-how did they-" "I'm not sure yet, they must be after one of our guarded secrets. Now, I want you to leave everything to us."

  "Brother! I'm not a little kid anymore, I can handle threats now." I replied, "I can help!" "Edward, the culprit behind this isn't like the tenghuang, the Pyro Rhinoceros, and the Corythopithikos that you see at the third game, he, or she is a very dangerous being, I can't allow you to deal with them alone." Claude said, "Now, I would want you to rest now, and if you see anyone or anything suspicious, notify us immediately."

  I wanted to argue back, to persuade Claude that I can handle threats, but the other part of me thought, that he is right. I bowed to Claude, "Yes, Your Majesty." I then set off to take a bath before resting.

  That night, I found some very, very important information.

  I was about to head into my bedroom, since I have nothing to do. Despite already going to the infirmary in the palace, my wounds still hurt, and the nurses said that it might take a few days for it to heal. Then, as I was about to close my door, three servants passed by, I recognized them as Noah, Oscar, and Audrey, the servants whom I helped during Christmas when I was twelve. I still hang out with them sometimes when we meet.

  They were having a deep conversation. And it had something to do with today's incident.

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  "This place isn't safe anymore." I heard Oscar spoke, I pretended to close the doors, but I was still secretly hearing into their conversation. "Someone has already broken into the dungeons and has gotten past one of the toughest obstacles, to steal The Orb of Wishes." Noah replied, The Orb of Wishes... I don't know what that is, but I am sure that to robbers, that is something that is worth stealing...

  "Hush!" Audrey hissed, before lowering her voice. "We shouldn't be leaking information out! The intruder could be listening to us right now!" There was a long silence, I looked around my surroundings, the silence gave me a dark thought, what if the intruder is here? I held my staff, and tiptoed around my room. I opened my closets, searched under my bed, flipping over carpets, yet no one was here...

  "Sorry," The guys apologized, "We should be more cautious about what we're saying." I heard their footsteps tapping until the footstep taps were faint and quiet for me to hear. The Orb of Wishes... Something that precious, I will need to find out what it is.

  A few days later...

  I had arranged a hangout with Felix and Aisha, we're going to meet up at the library in the palace. They did have some objections about that (about going to the library, they were exhilarated about visiting my palace for the first time) but after I said 'The Orb of Wishes', they agreed to that. I wish I can invite Eloise though, but I'm not sure where Skyremia is and I can't get in contact with her. I told the guards that Felix and Aisha are arriving to the kingdom and I told them that they are not a threat.

  Yeah, I might put them in harm's way, but the library is the only place where I can get information for 'The Orb of Wishes'. They arrived slower than I expected, it is already two in the afternoon when they set their foot into Paxsalam. "What's with the guards?" Aisha asked, "They are really strict for some reason. They kept asking for our information, like for our criminal history, for our driving licenses, for-" "Aisha, we get it." I have to do it. Who knows how many things she would have listed down if I didn't stop her?

  "Sorry." She apologized, "I can't blame them. Since there's an intruder in my palace." I replied, "What?" They both said, "I apologize for putting you guys in possible danger, but this library is the only place that I know that we can find the books about this..." "Why can't we use the public libraries?" Felix asked as we went up the lift.

  The library is almost the same as I remembered, with lots of shelves filled with books, and some of the servants will come here when they had completed their tasks. "What topic would be related to 'The Orb of Wishes'?" I wondered as I wandered around the shelves. Wish, wish, it must have something to do with wishes, as well as objects...

  Aha!

  I grabbed a book titled 'The Guide to Your Magical Objects'. We found a table to settle down together, Felix and Aisha had also borrowed their own books too. "Alright, so here's what we've got." Felix said as he flipped pages in his book. "Does it always have the 'The' in it?" "Well, they always said 'The Orb of Wishes', maybe to make it sound more awesome or frightening." I whispered back, to make sure that no one heard us, since this could be a bad thing.

  "Okay, so let me find 'O' first, O, O, O..." He mumbled as he flipped more pages, sometimes flipping some back. "Orb of... Orb of Fashion," Felix cringed after he said that, "Not sure on what good it'll do, Orb of Healing, Orb of, Found it! Check this out!" We loomed over Felix's book and saw the words 'Orb of Wishes' with the picture of a man holding a large, round crystal with gold surrounding him.

  Jackpot.

  "Now, The Orb of Wishes is a special type of special crystal that is produced once in a hundred years." Felix narrated, "It can grant any wish that you make, like any wish. Unless you wish for more wishes," He turned to our faces, which could possibly be filled with shock. "Yes, you can wish for like, a hundred wishes, that is possible. And, so you can only use one wish if you don't wish for more wishes, after that one wish, the Orb will disappear."

  The three of us sat in silence, awestruck by the facts of the Orb. "Oh!" Felix yelped, Aisha, as well as the servants and guards around us glared at him, giving him a sign to be quiet. "Oh, sorry." Felix apologized, "By the way, there's a safety precaution, the Orb can't be damaged, or it will blow up."

  "Not one scratch?" I asked.

  "Not even half a scratch." Felix agreed.

  "So, this Orb will grant any wish to you, there must be lots of people out there who wants to get their hands on this thing right?" Aisha said.

  "Anyone lucky enough to stumble upon it, robbers, crime lords... Man, the list is endless." I replied.

  "Edward, do you have like, some rival kingdoms against Paxsalam?" Felix asked.

  That is a very simple question to answer, "Nope, we had never got on other monarchs' bad side before." I answered. "So, rival kingdoms are off the list, what about any vengeful former workers?"

  "Dude, we don't abuse our servants. We treat everyone who work here fairly and nicely... I think."

  "You think" Felix shrugged his shoulders. "Fair enough. How about-"

  "Guys, it doesn't matter." Aisha interrupted before Felix could whisper any more questions. "Someone or something wants The Orb of Wishes, that's all that we need to know."

  We got the information that we need, I decided to defend the Orb of Wishes without Claude and the guards knowing. It's not like I don't trust my brother or something, it's just that, I feel that they need more defenses against the robber, the stakes are much higher than we think, and who knows what the robber wants with the orb...

  I won't let it fall into the wrong hands. Felix and Aisha protested that they will help me too.

  "Guys, I appreciate your offers, but you know that it will be very hard to break into Paxsalam in secret, the security will be twice as harder when they know that an intruder is here. But I have to do this alone, and I don't want you guys to get hurt." I replied after they offered their help.

  After we left the library and we hung out for a while, we said our goodbyes, and I started to think of a plan to catch the intruder, it will be an operation performed at night, where most of the servants will be asleep. But I will have to watch out for the guards, they won't let anyone sneak around in the palace, even if that someone is a prince of the palace they are guarding.

  I watched the afternoon sky, "Whoever or whatever you are, brace yourself. We will catch you." I spoke to myself.