The Crimson Prince： Awakening 92 A Second Prince

"Better late than never." Bianca said with as much playfulness as she could muster. Jake knew if she couldn't be as sarcastic as she usually was, something must be horribly wrong.

"Now that everyone is present, could you tell us what happened, Ava?"

Jake looked at a girl he hadn't noticed earlier. He had an inclination of who she was. Even before he saw her in formation, he knew of her.

When he took his corner where he pan handled, Ava was always nice to him, bringing food to him from the bar and making sure he had enough money for something later. It was as much a surprise for her as it was for him to see her in morning formation one day.

Though they hadn't become friends right off the bat, they still had respect for each other. They both knew just how hard it was outside of the crusade.

When she began the debrief, most of the leaders eyes went wide. She told them of the rip in the air which expelled the boy who introduced himself as Aiden Ragnos.

"Are you sure he said Ragnos?" Jake interrupted her mid sentence in her brief.

Ava nodded. "He started with the water affinity, but as his anger surfaced, he began to glow crimson and gold."

"So we have someone else with Will's ability." Michael sighed as he straightened his tie. "A few years ago, I thought just five wielders was unheard of. Now there are two who can bestow the aura upon others."

"Will would have told us if something like that was possible." Bianca thought out loud. "I'm sure Ragnos would have told him if something like this could happen."

"Are you sure his affinity wasn't like Alex's?" Jonathan was silent to this point, likely he spoke what must have been the other's thoughts. "Maybe his affinity was a mixed one, like the storm affinity. We didn't think such an aura existed until Will brought him and his sister from Crystallia."

"I'm sure it was the same aura as Will's." Ava shook her head. "I fought Aiden. Though i have never fought Will, I gave heard enough from the crusade to piece together what he must be like."

"You said he fell through a tear of reality." Jake said quietly. "I think I may have an idea of what we are dealing with."

All heads in the room turned to Jake at once. "I saw a little of Will's dream training with Ragnos as I trained with Aremesis." Most eyes went wide at his words. Some knew he had been training, yet they didn't know it was with the G.o.d of Darkness.

Jake raised a hand to cut off any conversation before continuing. "Will told us of another reality which he was an evil overlord, right? What if Aiden came from this place?"

"An alternate dimension prince? That could mean a tear in power if we aren't careful." Leo mused from his seat.

"How so?" Bianca put her chin on her folded arms on the table.

"He couldn't take away Ava's aura." Leo said simply. With those words, he gained the attention of everyone in the room. "In other words, Will won't be able to take the aura from those bonded to Aiden."

"Which means the aura is no longer exclusively our power." Jonathan sighed. "This just got a whole lot more complicated."

"Has anyone tried to reach Will?" Jonathan asked.

"He has somehow found the equivalent of putting us on hold with the aura." Leo smiled grimly. "I think it might be Maya's doing."

"She finally gets her vacation, and nothing else seems to matter." Bianca rolled her eyes. "Do we have any other way of finding him?"

"I might." Leo spoke up after a long pause. "Since I have the adviser aura, I can feel a slight tug in the direction Will is located. It's like a fis.h.i.+ng line pulling me to him."

"Good." Jake sighed as he stood from his chair. "You get him, and I'll talk to this Aiden kid."

"Just talk?" Michael raised an eyebrow as Jake took his black flame crest embroidered leather jacket from the back of his chair and put it on.

"He just came from a world where my brother is some sort of evil overlord." He gave a thin smile to Michael. "I used to be one of those, so maybe I can talk to him."

As he walked from the room, though he had black hair and not Will's brown, he never looked more like the Prince.